Andrew McMillan for PITY

Andrew McMillan's debut collection of poetry, physical, was described as 'the sort of once-in-a-generation debut that causes everyone to sit up and take notice.' physical was the only poetry book to ever win the Guardian First Book Award; it was also awarded a Somerset Maugham award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and in 2019 was voted as one of the Top 25 Poetry Books of the Past 25 Years by the Booksellers Association.

He co-edited the acclaimed anthology 100 Queer Poems, and is professor of contemporary writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Andrew joins us for his short and magnificent debut novel. Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, it's a lament for a lost way of a life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important, it had purpose. But what is it now?

Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex, is now in his middle age, and must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to mask. Simon is the only child of Alex and had practically no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.

‘A deeply felt and rich enactment of love, loneliness, and personal triumph that leaves an

indelible mark on modern Queer life.' - OCEAN VUONG

‘Tender and true. It explores with brilliance and deep empathy how our lives – and our secrets – are always intertwined with those who went before us’ - DOUGLAS STUART

‘Pity pays a great poet's tough but tender attention to the unspoken layers and historic fissures which lie beneath the wounded town of the self. This beautiful book about the marks that are left on people and places in turn leaves a deep empathic mark on the reader’ - MAX PORTER