I, Ursula, my second full collection of poetry was published by V.Press Poetry, January 2020. My debut full collection, Queen, Jewel, Mistress, was published by Eyewear, 2015.
My pamphlet, Fox Boy, was published by Dancing Girl Press, 2014, and my poetry memoir How to Wear Grunge, was published in 2018 (and it was shortlisted for best pamphlet at the 2019 Saboteur Awards) .
Writing with another poet, Katy Wareham Morris, we created a poetry sequence titled Inheritance, and it won the 2018 Saboteur Award for best collaborative work.
My most recent pamphlet, Viola, the Virgin Queen was published August 2020. A collaboration with Desdemona McCannon, it examines Elizabeth I through the lens of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.
I work as a lecturer at University of Worcester teaching poetry, memoir, and the short story. I also tutor and lead workshops; you can find out more on the Woo Writers page.
You can follow me on twitter @MermaidsDrown
Fiona Sampson: “Today’s new publishing lists are giving readers what they want, though old habits of coverage can die hard. Disproportionately overlooked are non-metropolitan poets such as Ruth Stacey, whose second collection, the mysterious and fabular I, Ursula (V. Press £10.99) appears from an award-winning West Midlands micropublisher. The book conjures a Dantesque lost forest, where foxes and wild children wrestle amid the spells and rhymes of oral tradition: “Apricot is the colour / of a setting ball of / flame, my beloved.” But in this piercingly unsentimental report from Angela Carter territory, the most dangerous “beast” is already “in the house”.”
Carolyn Jess-Cooke: “The significance of this book (Queen, Jewel, Mistress) as a work of art, however, is in its reclamation of history from the female perspective. That the poems themselves are brilliant, almost all of them adroitly executed, makes me want to stand up and give the book a round of applause. There is mastery here, boldness, and a lively assertion of what poetry can give to the historical imagination. This is a book that deserves widespread acclaim.”
Youtube: reading the poem Actions Speak from my latest book I, Ursula
Poetry for Lunch: Birmingham Library
The Quiet Compere Tour at the Mac, Birmingham
“Ruth Stacey weaved delicate verse and then hit us with “the bear who brings white roses that smell of other girls”. Sarah Dixon
Ruth Stacey 