“This is a poet…who really knows what she is doing.”
— The Poetry Review
“Each poem is a step into a new universe, and the journey is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.”
— The Poetry Book Society
“This is an exciting debut. (How to resist a collection that includes wrestling, Amy Winehouse, and jellyfish?) These are tender and astute poems that grapple with love, grief, ghosts, and motherhood...”
— Rachel Long
“…a deft, wise & exciting new voice in British poetry.”
— Rebecca Tamás
“Janine’s poetry is full of beauty and ache and humour.”
— Charlotte Shevchenko Knight
Dr Janine Bradbury is a BBC New Generation Thinker, writer, and academic whose work explores the intersections of pop culture, literature, and the Black experience. She works between poetry, non-fiction, and radio and her practice is driven by two central themes: feeling and understanding.
Janine’s research explores our emotional relationship to the culture we consume, how we attempt to interpret it, and (crucially) the limits and failures of that interpretation. Her writing sits in the gap between knowing and feeling.
Her work on Toni Morrison, Grace Jones, Nella Larsen, Key & Peele, Dave Chappelle, and American professional wrestling has been published by the Guardian, Bloomsbury, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, and others. She’s appeared on BBC Radio 3 and 4, on programmes like Free Thinking, The Essay, Woman's Hour, and Great Lives.
Her debut poetry collection, Sometimes Real Love Comes Quick & Easy, is a nostalgia-filled exploration of love, sentimentality, and pop culture. It was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She is currently writing a non-fiction book about love.