We're delighted to announce our dynamic Autumn 2025 Selections. Founded by T.S. Eliot to share the joy of poetry, the Poetry Book Society leads the way in championing inclusive and innovative poetries. Curated by a panel of expert-poets, Yomi Ṣode, Victoria Kennefick, Shivanee Ramlochan, Alycia Pirmohamed and Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, the PBS Selections are a highly sought-after accolade marking the very best in contemporary poetry.
The Autumn 2025 PBS Choice is awarded to Mona Arshi for her ground-breaking third collection Mouth, an ode to all the silenced women in the margins of Greek mythology and beyond. A former human rights lawyer, Arshi’s fearless, contemporary retellings are a powerful testament to trauma and survival. As PBS Selector Victoria Kennefick describes, “it is a breathtaking achievement”. Arshi will take part in a series of PBS Showcase events and the PBS Autumn Podcast hosted by Arji Manuelpillai.
Speaking to the PBS, Mona Arshi said: “Mouth is my third collection of poems and the first time a book of mine has been awarded the PBS Choice… It's an honour but also deeply humbling to know that so many readers will engage with this book over the course of this year” – Mona Arshi, PBS Choice
AUTUMN 2025 SELECTIONS
AUTUMN CHOICE: Mouth by Mona Arshi (Chatto)
RECOMMENDATIONS: New Cemetery by Simon Armitage (Faber)
The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside (Cape)
After Party by Dean Browne (Picador)
Joy is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
SPECIAL COMMENDATION: Something New: Alternative Poems for Weddings, edited by Rachel Long and Caroline Bird (Picador)
TRANSLATION CHOICE: The Heart Is Not a Creator by Yordan Efftimov, translated by Jonathan Dunne (Broken Sleep Books)
PAMPHLET CHOICE: What She Said by Ilisha Thiru Purcell (Verve Poetry Press)
Autumn Recommendation and UK Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage added: “My first ever collection Zoom! was a PBS Choice. It was a thrill to be selected then, and it still is. It’s all about books and reading - feels like the perfect endorsement”
PBS Selector Yomi Ṣode described “The Autumn selections (as) the perfect gateway in what's been a difficult period for me. These collections, ranging from joy to grief, are poems to escape, think and at times breathe through. Very timely. I'm thankful.”
Victoria Kennefick, PBS Selector added: “This Poetry Book Society season is ripe with books about space and place, death and life, dark and light - and all those in-betweens that only poetry can truly illuminate. Be not afraid and step into the leaves of these magnificent books - they will bring you joy, they will tide you over.”
The Autumn 25 selections are testament to the vitality of poetry today. Watch this space for the next big thing, our Selectors have their fingers firmly on the poetry pulse.
Join the Poetry Book Society today for your copy of Mouth by Mona Arshi in the Autumn Book Box.