Will Burns is a poet and writer based in Buckinghamshire. He began publishing his poetry in 2014 when he was named a Faber & Faber New Poet, and since then he has also published poetry pamphlets with Clutag Press, Rough Trade Books and his first full collection, COUNTRY MUSIC, with Offord Road Books in 2020, which was Book of the Week in the London Review Bookshop.Will is a long-time contributor to the online nature-writing journal Caught by the River, and his work has been discussed in the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review and the Independent.
Will Burns has written a remarkable novel of the pandemic, told
from the perspective of an outsider wandering in the heart of the
country. His book is a boldly struck chord, one that contains many
of the dissonances, but also the harmonies, found in England
today
*CHRIS POWER*
Only a poet as talented as Will Burns could guide us through the
landscape of a transformed Britain and reveal with such vivid
language its complexity, cruelty and beauty'
*CRAIG TAYLOR*
The Paper Lantern captures the changing face of contemporary
village life in this spellbinding lament to the Chiltern landscape.
Will Burns is the new Defoe
*ADELLE STRIPE*
I always feel as if - Essex aside - the area surrounding London is
a big blank bonut when it comes to arts or literary non-fiction.
Finally here is a writer who captures the psychology and topography
of these weird market towns and villages where I grew up. We need
these nuanced conversations more than ever and in Will's writing I
get a real sense of an emerging discussion about what it is to be
English and a man in the 21st century. I found it hugely affecting
and timely
*LUKE TURNER*
Offers a portrait of contemporary England and Englishness which
manages to be critical and empathetic all at once
*WILL ASHON*
A complex portrait of this small Buckinghamshire town and the odd
twists of fate and place that bind people together... he's ended up
achieving something quite rare, capturing the unique personality of
the Home Counties, and the strangeness of how coronavirus might at
once affect everything and nothing in a small Buckinghamshire town.
This unique snapshot of time, place and particularly southern
English sensibility is a critique made is all the better for being,
in its own odd way, quietly celebratory. Perhaps even some of the
Paper Lantern's regulars might raise a glass and agree.
*THE QUIETUS*
This elegiac debut... exerts a steady power, opening an unexpected
conduit into the national psyche.
*DAILY MAIL*
Full of acute social observations, it's a time capsule in the
making.
*MAIL ON SUNDAY*
Individual moments are presented as opportunities to recognise the
self, the savour our individuality in the world, to experience
rather than merely endure
*Times Literary Supplement*
A remarkable achievement in a book that feels at once timely and
deeply considered, an antidote to the clickbait, flashing headline
style of journalism that has, perhaps understandably, proliferated
during the pandemic. From the first page, the insights come hard
and fast. There is a pared-back lyricism and clarity to the
writing, commentary that is both intelligent and sensitive to the
surrounding world . . . The backbone of The Paper Lantern is the
author's searing way of detailing the inequalities and issues of
modern society . . . There are meticulous arguments on climate
change, capitalism and class, particularly the "dull and rapacious
middle class" . . . The careful attention to nature and community
echo the novels of Sarah Moss
*IRISH TIMES*
Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don't make
enough of, fiercely intelligent, sensitive to the tiniest nuances
of politics or history, attentive to the light and shade of human
relationships, constantly addressing ideas of landscape and place
with gentle, warm introspection. He is a poet of the unglamorous
artificial English homelands, honest about class, memory, unease
and experience in a way that few contemporary writers are. He
doesn't try and sound clever in the line, he shows across his whole
body of work that he is truly wise
*MAX PORTER*
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