It’s National Poetry Day 2019, and poetry is thriving.

Glance at your phone and it’s easier than ever to find scribblings, videos, screenshots and links that send you off in all sorts of poetic directions. Spend any amount of time browsing on the Poetry Foundation’s website and you’ll be immersed in a whole galaxy of thrilling contemporary work. Head to any bookshop and you’ll find that the poetry section is bustling with treasures.

It’s no surprise, then, that we’re buying more poetry than ever before. In fact, recently released figures from the Nielsen BookScan showed that sales of poetry in the UK increased by 12% last year – with teenage girls and young women making up the majority of consumers.

It’s particularly interesting – and heartening – to see this trend being fueled by women, especially younger ones. There are all sorts of reasons for this sudden surge of success, from living in an age of acute political uncertainty, to increasing access to a range of diverse voices, to a general hunger for work that effectively distills modern life and opens up new worlds.

8 trailblazing female poets you need to add to your reading list, immediately