Books

The Last Corinthians, Crooked Spire Press, 2025, poetry collection, available to buy here.

Praise for The Last Corinthians:

‘Matthew Paul has a painter’s eye for colour and vivid detail. The poems in The Last Corinthians are exquisitely wrought and often hilarious. This is an expansive, open-hearted and tender collection populated by characters who settle in and stay in the memory. This is wonderful writing.’
– Vanessa Lampert

‘There’s an exhilarating range of work in this collection and whether writing about the Guildford bombings, Mike Yarwood, the UK’s first roadhouse–nightclub at the southern end of the Kingston by-pass, or the birth of his child, Matthew Paul writes with an unflinching clarity, an attentiveness to language and a sureness of touch that makes The Last Corinthians a sheer pleasure to read.’
– Cliff Yates

‘Matthew Paul turns his prodigious talents to excavate the stories of people who have made up the fabric of this country. Paul’s skills as a poet – his precise use of words and images; his deft syntax and phrasing – combine with his meticulous care as an archivist to allow the voices from our collective past to sing. A necessary book for our times, this collection is a poignant record of those who have slipped into the shadows of history.’
– Shash Trevett

A delightful book, imbued with warmth and love.’
– Mary Mulholland, The Alchemy Spoon

These vivid narrative poems merge precise historical details with emotional charge to a place or a person to illuminate the contemporary world. Matthew Paul is the Al Stewart of poetry!
Jeremy Worman

The poems [. . .] are like little coils of super-8 film which have been found by chance and restored with care, and we watch them to see ourselves grow up and grow old.
Philip Rush

Front cover of
The Last Corinthians

Reviewed by Ali Thurm here. Reviewed by Jane Routh for The Friday Poem here. Reviewed by Philip Rush here. Reviewed by Rowena Somerville for The High Window here.

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The Evening Entertainment, Eyewear Publishing, 2017, poetry collection, available to buy here.

Praise for The Evening Entertainment:

‘Whether you’re looking for something for the commute or for the weekend, these delightful, dazzling poems will titillate even the most jaded palate.’
– Clare Pollard

Front cover of The Evening Entertainment

Reviewed by Greg Freeman for Write Out Loud here. Reviewed by Billy Mills here. Reviewed by Julie Mellor here.


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The Lammas Lands, Snapshot Press, 2015, haiku and senryu collection, available to buy here.

Reviewed by Caroline Gourlay for Modern Haiku here.

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The Regulars, Snapshot Press, 2006, haiku and senryu collection, available to buy here.

Reviewed by Michael Dylan Welch for Modern Haiku here.

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Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku, Snapshot Press, 2008 – anthology co-written/co-edited with John Barlow, available to buy here. Chosen by Stephen Moss in the Guardian among his science and nature books of the year in 2008 here.

Reviewed by Paul Miller for Modern Haiku here. Reviewed by Carole MacRury for Frogpond here.

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I was one of the 12 contributors of haiku in Off the Beaten Track, Boatwhistle Books, 2016, available to buy here.

Reviewed by Rachel Hadas in the Times Literary Supplement here.

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A selection of my nature haiku was included in Where the River Goes, ed. Allan Burns, Snapshot Press, 2013, available to buy here.

Reviewed by Scott Mason for Frogpond here

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If you would like a signed copy of any of these books, please get in touch with me via the ‘Contact’ page, here.