The UK Poet Laureate Reads From His Own Cemetery: Simon Armitage's Audiobook Arrives

The UK's poet laureate has recorded the audiobook of his latest collection, and the subject is a graveyard built next door to his house.

Simon Armitage's New Cemetery — published in hardback by Faber & Faber and in the US by Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House — is now available as a 70-minute audiobook read by the poet himself, according to The Guardian's review published on 3 September 2026.

The collection has an origin story rooted in lockdown and loss. During the Covid pandemic, Huddersfield council proposed converting local grazing land near Armitage's home into a municipal cemetery. Some residents objected. The construction coincided with the death of Armitage's father.

In the introductory essay to New Cemetery, Armitage notes that the dead would be ideal neighbours for a writer who enjoys quiet. Faber's marketing copy describes the book as one that "chronicles the extraordinary transformation of landscape both outer and inner," while an earlier page on Armitage's own site frames the poems as facing up to "the bylaws of local planning committees and the laws of the universe" (simonarmitage.com).

Each poem in the collection is named after a species of moth — Common Quaker, Dark Brocade, Pine Beauty, May Highflyer — and all are written in three-line stanzas. The structural discipline is typical of Armitage, who was born in West Yorkshire and holds the title of Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds, according to Faber's author biography (faber.co.uk).

The audiobook runs one hour and ten minutes, with Armitage narrating. For a collection so bound up in place — a specific field, a specific town, a specific bereavement — hearing the poet's own voice adds a layer that a silent reading on the page cannot match. Faber's editorial copy for a featured poem, Chevron, describes the collection as one where "The Poet Laureate makes peace with the dead" (faber.co.uk).

The hardback is listed at £14.99, discounted to £12.99 on Faber's site. The US edition from Knopf carries an ISBN of 9780593804018 and was published on 20 January 2026 (Penguin Random House). Armitage also appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August to read from the collection, according to his official site.

Armitage has served as UK poet laureate since 2019, a role appointed by the British monarch on the recommendation of the government. The position carries an annual stipend and, traditionally, a quantity of sherry — though the poetry is what endures.

New Cemetery is a book about what gets buried and what grows back. Moths, in Armitage's hands, become both the subjects and the witnesses. The audiobook, at just over an hour, asks for less time than a film and offers something a film cannot: a poet reading his own grief, aloud, in the voice it was written in.