Ellen Cranitch's Crystal reviews & interviews
'Utterly mesmerising... This is what poetry at its best and truest can do. A wonderful achievement.’ – Stephen Fry
‘Tender and profound… honest and brave’ – Hisham Matar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return
Ellen Cranitch's Crystal traces the arc of one woman’s experience after the discovery that her partner is addicted to crystal meth. In a highly original poetic act of reclamation, it plunders the drug itself and makes of it an overarching conceit to articulate the devastating impact of living with a loved one who is utterly changed. Deeply felt, tirelessly inventive, this collection gives voice to addiction’s explosive effect within a family. At the same time it speaks universally and with urgency of the power of poetry to take one through the darkest of times.
Crystal is Ellen Cranitch's second poetry book, following The Immortalist (Templar Press), which was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Prize for Best Collection 2018. Crystal was published by Bloodaxe in April 2024, and was launched online at Bloodaxe's joint reading and discussion event on 30 April 2024. Scroll down to see the video.
INTERVIEWS WITH ELLEN CRANITCH
PLANET POETRY PODCAST
Planet Poetry: Crystal | Clarity – with Ellen Cranitch – Season 5, Episode 7, 6 March 2025
Ellen Cranitch was interviewed on the Planet Poetry podcast of 6 March. She was in conversation with co-host Robin Houghton about her second collection Crystal, and read a number of poems from the book. Following the interview, Robin and her co-host Peter Kenny discussed Crystal, which Robin described as ‘a wonderful collection’ and ‘another banger from Bloodaxe’.
Ellen read and introduced her prose poem ‘Athens II’, her sonnet ‘Actaeon’, her poem ‘The Drive West’, and the pair of poems ‘Reactions’ and ‘Kinship’. She ended by reading the final poem from the collection ‘Minerals Gallery, Natural History Museum, London’. They also discussed ‘Grey’, and the importance of colour in the book. During her conversation with Peter Kenny, Robin read one of the quoted texts which appear in the book, ‘Definition of Enabling’ from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
At the end of the podcast, Robin read a poem by Tomas Tranströmer in celebration of the arrival of spring. The poem was ‘The Light Streams In’ from his 1996 collection The Sad Gondola, translated by Robin Fulton. It is included in Bloodaxe’s New Collected Poems (2011), also translated by Robin Fulton. Tomas Tranströmer (1931-2015) was Sweden’s most important poet of the past fifty years. He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.
‘A gleam of love in hard times. Our guest Ellen Cranitch shares poems from her Bloodaxe collection Crystal, a subtle, multifaceted work arising from the discovery that her partner was addicted to crystal meth. Expect beauty, flashes of resilience and the deft capture of moments that sustain a relationship through this extreme challenge. […] Then we sound a clarion note of Spring optimism from Tomas Tranströmer.’
Ellen Cranitch interview features at the top. Robin and Peter discuss Crystal from 36:00. The Tomas Tranströmer poem is read by Robin at 52:44.
https://planetpoetry.buzzsprout.com/1414696/episodes/16744733-crystal-clarity-with-ellen-cranitch
Ellen Cranitch was born in London of Irish parents. She mentioned in her Planet Poetry podcast interview that she will be touring Ireland in Summer 2025 with her Irish cousin, the musician and radio producer who is also called Ellen Cranitch. The latter has set some of Ellen's poems to music, and they will be touring a performance which will feature the musical settings with Ellen reading her poems.
IRISH RADIO INTERVIEW
Poetry People, RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday 22 September 2024, 7pm
A powerful and moving interview with Ellen Cranitch featured on the second season of RTÉ Radio 1’s Poetry People. She was in conversation with host Rachael Hegarty about her second poetry collection Crystal. Ellen read and introduced her poems 'The Stars', 'Reactions', 'Secrets' and 'What Held Me' from the collection, and spoke about her experience of living with a partner who was additcted to crystal meth. Ellen was born in London of Irish parents. She travelled to Dublin from London especially to do this interview. Rachael concluded by quoting Stephen Fry's comment that 'This is what poetry at its best and truest can do.'
'Ellen Cranitch and Jessica Traynor confront dark times through their poetry.'
The programme will remain available on the RTE website. Fellow Bloodaxe poet Jessica Traynor featured on the same episode, reading from her third collection Pit Lullabies.
Ellen features at the top of the episode (from 5:44), and Jessica from 20:55.
PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN CRANITCH
Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 45 - Ellen Cranitch, 13 August 2024
Ellen Cranitch was interviewed on the podcast Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar of 13 August 2024. The format is that the poet interviewed chooses a poem they love. Ellen chose a poem by JH Prynne, ‘Against Hurt’. Ellen began by speaking about the background to her book-length poem Crystal, her second poetry book, which was published by Bloodaxe in April 2024.
‘I love the poems in both the books [by Ellen Cranitch] because of the economic use of language, the powerhouse imagery, and the dazzling sense of memory that feels both authentic and imaginative at the same time.’ – host Arji Manuelpillai, introducing Ellen Cranitch
Ellen then read and discussed the poem ‘Against Hurt’ by fellow Bloodaxe poet JH Prynne (from 6.26).
Listen here.
IRISH REVIEW COVERAGE
Poetry Ireland Review, Issue 144, Winter 2024
Crystal was given a brilliant review in the Winter 2024/5 issue of Poetry Ireland Review.
‘In Crystal, Ellen Cranitch’s second collection, the poet traces a personal and familial journal that begins with the discovery of her partner’s addiction to crystal meth. […] Cranitch's project is to transform her suffering into something beautiful and of value. […] Though Crystal is a piece of art, a book of poetry, these moments remind us there is an actual family involved here, shouldering real risks to finances, safety, health, and life. To be in the midst of immense pressures and to strive to act in a way that is fair while maintaining a record for an audience who might need such a book, is transcendent and an act of genius.’ – Grace Wilentz, Poetry Ireland Review
In print only.
The Irish Times, Saturday 21 September 2024
Ellen Cranitch’s second poetry book Crystal was well reviewed in Declan Ryan’s new poetry round-up in The Irish Times of 21 September. The feature in the print edition was illustrated with the painting ‘Pontius Pilate washing his hands’ (circa 1617) by Hendrickter Brugghen. Pilate features in Crystal, and that poem is flagged up in the review.
‘Ellen Cranitch's new book, Crystal, is one in which personal dissolution, and chaos, are – at least to some extent – counteracted by fleeting, often occluded, moments of calm, and at times through the act of poetry itself […] Cranitch proves herself an adept formalist, and some of the writing here is beautifully rendered, well- seen and rich in clinching details’ –Declan Ryan, The Irish Times
In print. Available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2024/09/22/new-poetry-old-friends-the-strongbox-crystal-coco-island/
NICK HORNBY REVIEW ON HIS SUBSTACK A FAN'S NOTES
Nick Hornby featured Ellen Cranitch’s second poetry book Crystal on his substack on 13 July 2024.
'Crystal is certainly the most gripping collection of poetry I have ever read ... individual poems will break your heart, and your admiration for the determination to turn all this into art will never diminish.' – Nick Hornby, A Fan's Notes
https://nickhornby.substack.com/p/my-next-door-neighbour
POETRY BOOK OF THE MONTH REVIEW IN THE OBSERVER
The Observer, Poetry Book of the Month, Sunday 7 April 2024
Ellen Cranitch’s book-length sequence of poems Crystal was very well reviewed by Kate Kellaway as her Poetry Book of the Month in The Observer of 7 April. The half-page feature was accompanied by the poem ‘Trust’.
'What impresses most about Ellen Cranitch's courageous second collection, Crystal, on the subject of her husband's addition to crystal meth and its devastations, is her steady rigour in not compromising, not ranting or taking flight [...] There is, throughout, a – crystal – clarity.' – Kate Kellaway, The Observer (Poetry Book of the Month)
In print in The Observer. Available online via The Guardian website.
ONLINE LAUNCH READING, 30 APRIL 2024
Ellen Cranitch launched Crystal online at Bloodaxe’s joint live-streamed reading and discussion event on 30 April 2024, together with Helen Farish and
Okinawan-Irish American poet Brenda Shaughnessy.
Available to watch now via YouTube - click on the arrow below. Ellen read first in each set.
[07 April 2024]
