Patricia Lockwood returns with first poetry book in 12 years
Patricia Lockwood is back with poetry after 12 years. Her double book, Agate Head / Stone Soup, was reviewed by The Guardian on 8 October 2026 The Guardian. The review identifies it as her first poetry collection since Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, published in 2014.
The edition is presented tête-bêche, meaning the two volumes are bound upside down and back-to-back so each has its own front cover. Turn the book around. The second collection starts. Penguin Random House, the publisher, lists it under ISBN 9780143139485, the 13-digit code that booksellers and libraries use to track a single edition Penguin Random House. That listing was published on 6 October 2026.
The new book holds more than 60 poems, a figure given in an interview published on 5 October 2026 Another Magazine. Lockwood is credited elsewhere as the author of six books, including Agate Head / Stone Soup. That count appears on her contributor page with The New York Review of Books, dated 3 March 2026 The New York Review of Books.
Readers new to Lockwood may know her novel No One Is Talking About This. Penguin Random House notes that the novel was a Booker Prize finalist, a place on the shortlist for the British-based fiction award, and won the Dylan Thomas Prize. It was also named one of the 10 Best Books of 2021 by The New York Times Book Review and one of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the past 100 years.
Her earlier books include Priestdaddy, a memoir, meaning a work of non-fiction drawn from the author's own life. Her poem Rape Joke became a viral sensation, meaning it spread widely and rapidly online. Lockwood has collected fossils and minerals since an early age and has spent time learning metalsmithing with her husband.
In September, Lockwood appeared with writer Laura Kolbe in a conversation event celebrating The Decadent Movement and Agate Head / Stone Soup. The listing for that event was published on 10 September 2026 n+1.
For fans, this means two starting points in one volume. Open one cover for Agate Head. Flip it over for Stone Soup.
The Guardian review, published on 8 October, is the most recent account among the dated sources for this book. Earlier listings and interviews provide background on the text, the author record and the September event.
