Step into the Dark by Julie Stevens Hedgehog Press

“Julie Stevens speaks with the true voice of feeling, wrestling hope out of pain and celebrating every small instance of joy. Her experience of long-term illness draws her into many unlit areas of emotion. She illuminates these dark places with subtle cascades of metaphor. She is a genuine poet.”

– Steve Logan,  musician and poet

“It’s not just the striking images, the startling turns of phrase that are so arresting within Julie’s poetry – it’s the bold and candid detailing of her battle with illness that make the poems impossible to put down. And despite the sometimes painful subject matter, these are poems of such resilience and bravery that they are energizing and empowering to read and full of an unextinguishable vitality.”

– Anna Saunders, Founding Director Cheltenham Poetry Festival

“‘I am here and I am holding the dark.’ This collection is a glimpse behind the everyday movement we take for granted. Julie Stevens has identified the wolf in the darkness and here, in these poems where brave lays down next to broken, she is willing to step outside, no matter how difficult that is. There is no sugar coating here; the truth weighs heavy and the wind mocks but the honesty etched into every line reveals itself, as a resilience that will not be simply blown away.”

– Damien B Donnelly, poet and podcast producer

“Throughout this collection, we’re granted a rare and precious intimacy – drawn time and again into the poet’s vulnerability and fragility, yet these poems sing with fierce strength and determination. This is a powerful, incisive and devastatingly honest collection; Julie’s gentle voice pierces the reader time and time again, but she never shuts us out. We’re drawn with her through each difficult moment and through each soaring dream. It’s exquisite.”

– Anne McMaster

Hedgehog Press