Sometimes a poetry book crosses your desk that you know instantly is very special... this is a remarkable book written by a highly-skilled poet totally at ease with her craft.
Nigel Kent on Fool's Paradise
About Me
I live in Gloucestershire, England. My long poem for voices Fool's Paradise won the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition award for best poetry ebook 2013. My collection Owl Unbound was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in October 2020 and Fool’s Paradise was published as a print book by Black Eyes Publishing in 2022.
I have been widely published in print and online magazines. My poems have appeared in a number of anthologies, including Wagtail: The Roma Women’s Poetry Anthology (Butcher’s Dog) and Contemporary Surrealist and Magic Realist Poetry (Lamar University Press).
I am a director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, leading on the Festival’s year-round online programme. I have given readings at many poetry events, both online and in-person. For details see below.
Performing My Poetry
I really enjoy performing poetry and would love to read at more online events, podcasts and at in-person events.
I started my poetry performing career with Michael Horovitz and Poetry Olympics back in the 1990s! Here are some of the events/venues I have read at more recently: Subverse, Poetry at Heron’s (Bristol), Gloucester Poetry Festival, Poetry Café (Reading), Cheltenham Poetry Festival, Fenspeak as part of Ely Arts Festival, Poetry Teignmouth at the Mill, and Wirral Festival of Firsts.
Here is the animated opening to Fool's Paradise.
So if you are interested in my reading at your event, please contact me on the form below
Reviews
Sometimes a poetry book crosses your desk that you know instantly is very special. You don’t have to read very much of Fool’s Paradise... to recognise that this is a remarkable book written by a highly-skilled poet totally at ease with her craft... This is a profound, complex and expertly written poem that engages with personal, political and spiritual issues that have enduring relevance.
Nigel Kent
Don’t let the insouciant wit of Zoe Brooks’s title kid you. Fool’s Paradise is a dive into the uncanny: into that rich heritage of myth in which we find ourselves both far from home, and simultaneously at home. Brooks combines layers of folk cultural allusion with a clear and forceful language. The result is a dark parable, one of whose messages – like that of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage – is that life is perpetual journeying.
Fiona Sampson
A disturbing yet deeply thought-provoking read, written with succinct perspicacity. The voices in this poem deserve to be heard.
Jackie Law - Never Imitate
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Owl Unbound contains many poems which depict rural life and are reminiscent of the country ways of my own childhood. However, Brooks’ images are so beautifully observed that her language makes the unfamiliar relatable and will resonate with readers from any background....These poems enable the reader to reach through time to touch people, places and moments depicted with heart and tenderness.
Vic Pickup
Robert Frost described poetry as ‘a way of taking life by the throat’, and the fearless, vivid and immensely lyrical poems in Owl Unbound do just that. A masterful collection of poems by an extraordinary poet.
Anna Saunders
My word Owl Unbound is a powerful collection of beautifully wrought, timeless, moving poems... I finished Owl Unbound feeling that Zoe Brooks had shared a little piece of her soul with me, but that in return she’s stolen a bit of my own. This is a remarkable collection and I feel privileged to have read it.
Linda's Book Bag