Project archive: Poetry
Our most recent projects are shown first
Rachel Blum Poetry
Divi-based microsite for American spiritual poet Rachel Blum – including the full text of her new collection, Talisman, available to read on the website.
We also designed the cover for Talisman (created by Bookswarm associate designer Freya Fisher).
Brambleby Books
Brambleby Books specialises in natural history, with an emphasis on biodiversity, conservation and the environment.
Seren
Seren is Wales’ leading independent literary publisher, specialising in English-language writing from Wales for over forty years. With a list spanning poetry, fiction and non-fiction, their aim is to bring Welsh literature, art and politics before a wider audience.
The new Seren site uses WooCommerce to provide a full retail experience, including the ability to purchase book subscriptions for yourself or as a gift.
“Working with Bookswarm made developing our new website an exciting and enjoyable project. We were involved in every step of the process and worked safe in the knowledge that Simon and his team had our vision and interests at heart. The new site feels refreshed whilst keeping everything we loved about the old design. I can highly recommend working with them.”
Sarah Johnson, Deputy Publisher, Seren
Barbican Press
The Barbican Press list holds poetry, drama, writing for children, and compelling nonfiction too, including vivid tales of maritime communities.
The publisher is the writer Martin Goodman. He knew what sort of publisher he would like to find for his own work, and so created it for others. The Press was born in Plymouth – hence the name ‘Barbican Press’ for the Barbican in that city, and a sense that a Barbican is a strong and protective space in which writers with a fighting spirit can take shelter.
Barbican Press were already using WordPress, but we worked with them to create a completely new look-and-feel and content structure, including the ‘Where in the world?’ map, which plots the key settings of all of their books.
“A sweet aspect of Bookswarm is their focus on books. They bring wide and relevant experience to the table. That gave us clear direction in creating Barbican Press’s new website. In our meetings there was real focus on understanding how we want to communicate with our readers and the book industry. Our site feels distinctly ours, meets our needs, looks good, works cleanly, and the support in finessing it once it went live has been prompt and effective. We’ve been really happy to recommend them to others.”
Martin Goodman, Publisher, Barbican Press
Alice Allen
Poet Alice Allen was born in London, grew up in Jersey in the Channel Islands and lives in the UK. We created a website for Alice to support the publication of her debut collection, Daylight of Seagulls, which is informed by the experience of her Jersey family who lived through the Nazi occupation, and the stories she would regularly hear when spending time on her grandparents’ farm as a child, as well as the Jèrriais language spoken by her grandmother.
New Welsh Review
Founded in 1988 as the successor to The Welsh Review (1939-1948), Dock Leaves and The Anglo-Welsh Review (1949-1987), New Welsh Review is Wales’s foremost literary magazine in English.
After undertaking an initial consultancy exercise funded by the Welsh Books Council into the options for digital publishing that would work best for NWR, we designed and built a new website for New Welsh Review, which uses WordPress and WooCommerce to allow them to sell books, magazines and subscriptions – with subscribers also receiving access to an extensive archive of online articles, and a library of digital back issues delivered via our partner Circular Software’s Masterplan system.
The site also acts as the home for the New Welsh Writing Awards, and as a submissions portal for non-fiction, short fiction and poetry.
Mark H. Fitzpatrick
Author microsite for Toronto-based Mark H. Fitzpatrick, author of Made of Stars, an epic poem in prose, a modern ode to the traditions of Homer and Dante, Spenser and Milton.
“Simon exceeded all of my expectations. He quickly grasped the vision I had for my author website and took it to another level, both in terms of aesthetic and feature set. He was responsive from the get-go and added value at every step, from initial consultation to post-publishing technical support. Simon and the Bookswarm team are world class. I am confident that any writer hiring them would be well served.”
Mark H. Fitzpatrick, author of Made of Stars
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts has won the Forward Prize, the Costa Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award, and been shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize. He has received major awards from the Arts Council and the Society of Authors. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and of the English Association.
“It was a pleasure to work with Simon and the team at Bookswarm. They were professional, creative and efficient, always happy – and swift – to answer my stupid questions. The fact that they specialise in writers and publishers made the whole process so much easier.”
Michael Symmons Roberts, British poet, writer and broadcaster
Gerard F. Kennedy
Author website for architect-turned-writer Gerard F. Kennedy.
“I really enjoyed working with Simon; he was extremely supportive throughout. And to my surprise I was able to manage my website very easily. In short the process was painless, and I have a perfect website to prove it. The back up service is excellent. For an IT simpleton like me, that’s important.”
Gerard F. Kennedy, writer
Paul Bright
Paul Bright is a children’s writer and poet, who has published many picture books for children as well as poetry for kids. Paul has also written for school reading programmes, CBeebies radio and BBC web sites, and had stories broadcast on CBeebies TV and CITV’s Bookaboo. We designed and built a website to showcase Paul’s work, including his contribution to the official Winnie-the-Pooh sequel The Best Bear in all the World.
Academy of New Zealand Literature
The Academy of New Zealand Literature / Te Whare Mātātuhi o Aotearoa is a writer-led initiative developed to help New Zealand’s active practitioners sustain themselves – creatively, intellectually, psychically, practically – through a writer’s life.
Bookswarm developed the brand identity for the Academy and applied it to new website that was designed to present a contemporary picture of the New Zealand literary scene.
Green Bottle Press
Brand design and web development for startup poetry publisher Green Bottle Press, which aims to publish work that is unusual and deserves representation but might not appeal to the more established presses.
“It was so straightforward and easy working with Bookswarm to design my website. They really listened to what I needed and kept my costs down. I especially liked that they love books too and seem to understand what writers and publishers are looking for.”
Jennifer Grigg, Publisher, Green Bottle Press
Rachel Blum, poet
Rachel is a poet who lives in in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Working with Bookswarm made creating my poetry website such an easy and enjoyable process. Simon graciously blended my ideas with his own artistic vision to produce a site that is perfect for sharing my work. Their reliable accessibility contributed to my ease throughout the project.”
Rachel Blum, poet
The Thought Fox
Responsive re-design of Faber’s blog, which is named after a famous poem by Ted Hughes. Back in 2009 Simon worked on the first iteration of this project – technology has moved on since then, but the appetite for quality content on the web has not diminished!
Salted
Blog design for innovative independent publisher Salt Publishing.
“Bookswarm’s technical and aesthetic experience clearly shines through in their work. When this is matched with a clear understanding of books and readers, it’s a powerful combination. We’re delighted with the results.”
Chris Hamilton-Emery, Operations Director, Salt Publishing
Patrician Press
Branding and website design for startup independent publisher
