Mutton Rolls

Arji Manuelpillai hits the ground running with this debut and I freaking love it. His poems are funny, irreverent, hugely affecting. Hes fidgety, darts momentto moment youll rush after him, then suddenly find hes stopped, spun on his heel and youre face-to-face with his good-natured grin. Manuelpillai will dial up the volume just to whisper something damn beautiful beneath its surface. Every page of Mutton Rolls is tasty, and announces by increment a highly enjoyable new voice.' Wayne Holloway-Smith 'The poems in this brilliant, playful debut are multifarious though gratifyingly interlinked, addressing the subjects of Sri-Lankan British identity, masculinity, friendship, grief and love. The tone is sometimes satirical, but there is no hiding behind satire in Arji Manuelpillais work great tenderness and beauty characterise these poems, and the poets voice is completely original, entirely his own.' Hannah Lowe