‘Fizzing with insistent energy… full of crystalline images and metaphors…. Frears is excellent on sexual politics, the end of girlhood.’ ––– The Guardian
‘Frears’ work is ideal for poetry newbies – the intriguing narration will immediately draw you in. She splices humour with thought-provoking imagery and Fleabag-style talk-to-camera- moments that will make you feel seen.’ ––– Stylist Magazine
‘This poet is a bit special. She’s exciting, a bit scary and sort of brilliant’ –– Frank Skinner
Ella Frears is a poet and artist based in London. Her debut collection, Shine, Darling, (Offord Road Books, 2020) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Her latest pamphlet I AM THE MOTHER CAT written as part of her residency at John Hansard Gallery is out with Rough Trade Books (2021).
In 2022, Ella was named first ever Poet in Residence for the Dartington Trust’s grade II listed Gardens, selected by Alice Oswald. She is a trustee and editor for Magma Poetry and has been Poet in Residence for the National Trust, Tate Britain, The John Hansard Gallery, K6 Gallery, SPUD (the Observatory), conservation organisation Back from the Brink, and was poet in residence at Royal Holloway University physics department, writing about the Cassini Space Mission.
Her collaborative installation with artist Ben Sanderson, The Six Pillars of Modernism, was on show at Tate St.Ives 2017-18, and Ella’s poems about the St Ives Modernists are currently on display at Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum & Garden.
Ella has had poetry published in the London Review of Books, Poetry London, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Ambit, The Rialto, and the Moth among others. In 2019, she was one of four finalists for the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Poetry and was commended in the National Poetry Competition.
Ella has written commissioned poems for Cartier, Koi Bird, Jo Malone, Penhaligon’s, Cadogan Estates, London Fire Brigade, among others.
Ella is a tutor in poetry and creative writing at City Lit, was an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths University for the BA English with Creative Writing, has taught for Falmouth University and University East London, and runs freelance workshops for various spaces and organisations including Arvon, the Guardian, the Poetry School, the Poetry Society, Kew Gardens, Dartington, and Spread the Word.
Ella is currently Creative Fellow at Exeter University working with the Maritime Environmental History Department. She hosts Tears for Frears on Soho Radio.
Ella Frears 