Cling Film
by Bethany Handley
Description
Bethany Handley’s debut pamphlet Cling Film explores existing as a young Disabled woman in a crossfire of ableism. She invites the reader to travel in her skin, exposing the barriers that disable people with unfiltered honesty and wit.
A deep connection to nature is ever present in these poems. Swifts wheel across the sky, acorn shells crunch beneath tread, waves break against the shore and a wheelchair user leaves proud tyre tracks in the sand. Set in familiar Welsh places – from Cardiff’s Heath Hospital to Mynydd Mawr in Eryri (Snowdonia), these witty, perceptive poems challenge myths about disability in ways that are striking, astute and devastatingly exact.
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Rights Information
Worldwide rights available
Endorsements
“These poems are, apparently, for me because I laughed for an hour alongside Bethany Handley and, while I was laughing, I forgot about my pain.” – The Cyborg Jillian Weise
“Cling Film holds up to the white light of the page the multilayered micro-aggressions of ableism... be careful, these poems will change the way you see the world.” – Kim Moore
“A bold, urgent and gifted new voice in Welsh poetry.” – Owen Sheers
“At turns witty, surreal, razor-sharp, joyful, scathing, celebratory and unsparing, Cling Film brilliantly testifies to the mundane absurdities and ableist micro-aggressions of day-to-day life as a disabled person... Glorious, necessary reading.” – Polly Atkin
“…these poems aren’t just for those of us who have experienced ableism and discrimination, but for anyone who values life.” – Joshua Jones
“A breathtakingly raw and beautiful collection of poetic snapshots that scream of authenticity throughout.” – Connor Allen
Reviews
“Cling Film is a collection that lifts many veils and lets in much-needed light and air…” – The Guardian
“…deliciously rendered with vulnerability and rage, yanking us straight to the facts so that we cannot fail ‘to take [her] seriously’” – Poetry Wales magazine
Author Biography
Bethany Handley (she/her) is an award-winning writer, poet and disability activist from South Wales. She was named one of the ten most influential Disabled people working in politics, law and media in the Shaw Trust’s Disability Power 100 2024 and co-edited Beyond/ Tu Hwnt (Lucent Dreaming 2025), the first bilingual anthology of Welsh Deaf and Disabled writers.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Bethany Handley, 2025.
Seren Books
Seren Books is proud to be the leading independent publisher of English-language writing from Wales publishing fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Seren Books
- Publication Date February 2025
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781781727683
- Publication Country or regionWales
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 6 GBP
- Pages38
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Copyright Year2025
- Dimensions216 x 138 mm
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