iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

So excited about my debut poetry collection, my nails have changed colour! @outspokenpress.bsky.social Get a signed copy here: simonmaddrell.sumupstore.com/product/lamp...

050

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Delighted to share the cover and publisher blurb for my debut poetry collection – out Feb 12th but available for pre-order from @outspokenpress.bsky.social www.outspokenldn.com/shop/rabbits

In Simon Maddrell’s wide and bracing world, childhood orbits the voice of a distant and sometimes dangerous parent. Memories of sex parties, dead friends and estranged lovers straddle the spaces between feeling and thought, loss and fatalism. lamping wild rabbits is a brave and expansive multiverse, exploring sexuality, queer desire, memory recall and testimony. With poems that pay homage to the late Derek Jarman, to verses which situate themselves in and around the Isle of Man, exploring Britain’s colonial presence through the subverted interplay of English and the Manx language.
A poly-vocal and multifaceted debut which is unafraid to confront the shame and stigma of HIV, while never allowing the poems to lose shape or pace, altering the lens to bring the reader’s attention to birdsong and the queer body in nature.
Maddrell has achieved a distinct and totally convincing sound through the literary geography of lamping wild rabbits, one that gives the impression it’s been everywhere and returned because it survived.

071

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Delighted to have another poem in La Piccioletta Barca #gaza #palestineaction #freepalestine

010

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

You only need to read the first poem of Natalie Shapero‘s Stay Dead to know how good her new collection from @outspokenpress.bsky.social is going to be.

093

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

New Pamphlet Alert!!!! Out July. 20% Off pre-orders. Jo & Ni Go Cruising Limited Edition of 100 This wonderful stitched pamphlet contains 'found poems' from the holiday journal of teacher, poet, playwright and activist Nigel Young (1946-2022). simonmaddrell.sumupstore.com/product/jo-a...

010

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Delighted to be in this Sídhe Press anthology available from here: www.sidhe-press.eu/books/to-lay... @sidhepress.bsky.social Proceeds to Gaza

Cover of To Lay Sun Into A Forest - Poems About Grief by Sídhe Press. There is a swirl of a painting, red, yellow, orange, you can see the brushstrokes. On it is the title in a handwriting font.

030

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

From 18-25 March, #BigGive is doubling every donation made to @creativefutureuk.bsky.social 📣 The Writers’ Award is the only free to enter national writing competition for ALL underrepresented writers. Your donation will help keep it free! Donate: donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05... #ArtsForImpact

020

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Delighted to appear as a TLC Showcase talking about the two Free Reads I received thanks to @newwritingsouth.bsky.social and @arvonfoundation.bsky.social for my new — but yet to be finalised — debut collection with @outspokenpress.bsky.social literaryconsultancy.co.uk/resources/sh...

083

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

I now have a website — supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England Thanks @artscouncilengland.bsky.social Link in bio www.simonmaddrell.com

031

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

ZOOM TONIGHT Online Launch of Patient L1 Monday 24th Feb –– 7.30 to 8.30pm Readings by Simon Maddrell & Jonathan Blake Q&A with Jonathan Blake Free Zoom Registration: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @polari.press @jonb-2149.bsky.social

Picture Jonathan Blake green sepia.
White text

Patient L1
Online book Launch
Monday 24th Feb –– 7.30 to 8.30pm

Readings by Simon Maddrell & Jonathan Blake

Q&A with Jonathan Blake

Polari Press

153

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Jack from Big Boys doing a Mike Jackson impersonation — meet the real one at Jonathan Blake @jonb-2149.bsky.social Patient L1 book launch at Positive East @positiveeast.bsky.social Fri 21st Feb tickets in bio Poetry & Perverts meet LGSM Legends #lgbthistorymonth #lgsm #HIV #bigboys @polari.press

051

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Probably a very apposite day to share some poems about Palestine published in the great @culturematters.bsky.social anthology 'We are All Palestinian' www.culturematters.org.uk/product/we-a... #FreePalestine #SayNoToEthnicCleansing

043

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Article in Manx Independent's 'Island Life' section sponsored by Isle of Man Arts Council about the book 'Patient L1' from Polari Press. Check out pre-orders and launch events at linkin.bio/simonmaddrell @polari.press @jonb-2149.bsky.social @thecommonpress.bsky.social @positiveeast.bsky.social

052

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

In Koli Jean Bofane (Congo Inc: Le testament de Bismarck, 2014) “When a fish cries in the water, do you notice?”

Quote on multicoloured pastel background
“When a fish cries in the water, do you notice?”

000

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Nominated for an Oscar There is so much to break your heart in this film, but what really got me was seeing the Israeli Army pour concrete into a well and gleefully cut water pipes with chain saws. I nominate the Israeli Govt. as monsters. #freepalestine #stoptheoccupation

030

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

“On the face of it, this is a story about an incredible survivor… but it’s actually a story about love. And that ‘love is love’ in whatever shape.” www.iomtoday.co.im/news/enterta... @jonb-2149.bsky.social @polari.press

022

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Launches of Patient L1 from @polaripress Launch Event Tickets: linkin.bio/simonmaddrell Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England @artscouncilengland.bsky.social Photo: Mareike Günsche

Photo of Jonathan Blake with green filter overlaid with the following launch information.
Brighton Launch of Patient L1
Lunch Positive
Weds 19th Feb –– 7-8pm (Doors 6.45pm)

Reading by Jonathan Blake
with Simon Maddrell
Q&A with Jonathan Blake

London Launches of Patient L1
Positive East
Friday 21st Feb –– 7.30-8.30pm (Doors 7.00pm)

Reading by Jonathan Blake
with Simon Maddrell
Q&A with Jonathan Blake
and Mike Jackson, Co-founder, Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

The Common Press
Thursday 20th Feb –– 7 for 7.30pm

Reading by Simon Maddrell
featuring
Robert Hamberger reading Nude Against A Rock
And Q&A with Jonathan Blake

Online Launch of Patient L1
Monday 24th Feb –– 7.30 to 8.30pm

Reading by Simon Maddrell
Q&A with Jonathan Blake

281

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Honoured to feature in this anthology from @culturematters.bsky.social in aid of @medicalaidpal.bsky.social www.culturematters.org.uk/we-are-all-p...

050

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Patient L1 by Simon Maddrell from Polari Press 'I’ll live a lot longer than you think' This verse memoir speaks in the voice of a man called Jonathan Blake. #lgbthm #lgbthistorymonth #hiv Pre-orders: polari.press/shop/books/p...

010

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

London Launch of Patient L1 Positive East Fri 21st Feb –– 7.30-8.30pm Reading by Jonathan Blake with Simon Maddrell Q&A with Mike Jackson, Co-founder, LGSM Link: link.outsavvy.com/patient-l1-l... Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through @artscouncilengland.bsky.social

000

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

‘I’ll live a lot longer than you think’ Jonathan Blake, Patient L1 by Simon Maddrell Polari Press @polari.press

“From a nineteen-fifties childhood to activism with Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, via the very darkest days of the epidemic, Maddrell’s sparkling poems tell our ever-shifting queerstory in the most personal of ways.. They are luscious, witty and heart-felt.”
Neil Bartlett

020

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

‘I’ll live a lot longer than you think’ Jonathan Blake, Patient L1 by Simon Maddrell Polari Press @polari.press

010

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Readings February Café Writers (online) 10th Bijou Stories, Woolwich 27th April Kemptown Bookshop 4th More to follow...

000

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Launch Events February 19th Lunch Positive, Brighton 20th The Common Press, London 21st Positive East, London More to follow...

111

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Delighted that my new Polari Press pamphlet, Jonathan Blake, Patient L1, will be out on 10th Feb 2025. Check out the comments for more info and curreent launches and readings planned. @polari.press

110

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Date for the Diary: Delighted to be performing alongside Pascale Petit at Café Writers on 10th Feb on Zoom. @pascalepetit.bsky.social

292

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Be great to see any London friends. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/red-door-p...

031

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

After re-reading my WWII Mooragh Camp poem, just published in Acumen, I couldn’t help feeling the resonances. #gaza #palestine

031

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Delighted to have a Manx WWII Internment Camp poem in the iconic Acumen Journal #manx #internment

000

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Listening to the day-long tribute to #TheShippingForecast on BBC Radio 4 and can’t help keep thinking of my poem ‘The Species Forecast’ which, after three years of trying, was commended in the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty sub-section of The Gingko Prize. @bbcradio4.bsky.social

030

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Delighted to have my poem ‘The Death of a Manxman’ published by The Cannon’s Mouth. Lessons in Persistence [Part One] — it was the poem’s 26th submission!

030

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Even more delighted to find out that I got third place in the Hammond House Publishing Literary Prize with a poem I never thought anyone would publish.

030

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Congratulations to Peter Collins from Polari Press for winning the The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets 'Best Illustrated Pamphlet' with 'a finger in derek jarman's mouth' @polari.press #jarman

011

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

040

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Hats off to the likes of Polari Press Pilot Press and Prototype Publishing for still giving those stories light. #WorldAIDSDay #HIV #jarman

021

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Books telling the personal stories of those who lived, and sometimes died, during the HIV global epidemic in the US & UK. #WorldAIDSDay #HIV #jarman

160

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

In the early hours of this morning — World AIDS Day — I sent off my manuscript ‘Jonathan Blake, Patient L1’ to Polari Press for the third in my queer & HIV history trilogy of pamphlets. #WorldAIDSDay @polari.press

181

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Polari Salon Sweatbox Sauna The most unusual literary event I’ve ever been to — a gay sauna bar area — but Bette Midler would be proud (and Barry Manilow a little sheepish) as Jo Blake can testify under oath. But a wonderful array of work was shared — from sexy to unsettling, secret & sleazy

051

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Looking forward to these Bad Betty pamphlets — especially fellow Crocodile Collective member Rowan Lyster.

010

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Wonderful fifth collection, Nude Against A Rock, from my friend and expert sonneteer Robert Hamberger. Includes a sequence of poems in the voice of gay artist Keith Vaughan (1912-1977), TLM Poetry Prize winner 2023 ‘Funny Girl’, Guardian Poem of the Week 4 Nov. waterloopress.co.uk/books/nude-a...

120

Simon Maddrell @simonmaddrell.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Hearty thanks to The National Lottery and Arts Council England for supporting my Literature Project: Patient L1 — The Life of Jonathan Blake Special thanks to Polari Press for publishing the forthcoming pamphlet, Patient L1, out in February 2025. #nationallottery30 #hiv

110