Sam Riviere

Lessons from the School of Night


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Interview by Michael Grieve


Sam Riviere is the author of the poetry collections 81 Austerities (Faber & Faber, 2012), which won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, Standard Twin Fantasy (Eggbox, 2014), and Kim Kardashian’s Marriage (Faber & Faber, 2015). He has also written an ‘unprintable’ book with the novelist Joe Dunthorne, The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Visual Editions, 2016).  He studied at the Norwich School of Art and Design, and holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. Since 2015 he has run the micropublishing project If a Leaf Falls Press. In 2009 he received an Eric Gregory Award.

Michael Grieve is a student, poet, and improviser who recently graduated from the University of St Andrews, and is soon to begin postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge. As a poet, he has performed for Topping & Company Booksellers and his work is featured in an exhibition of Chinese-Scots translation at the Museum of the University of St Andrews.


Lessons from the School of Night are an irregular series of video or audio interviews and tips from poets and writers who visit St Andrews.

The School of Night – inspired by the group which included Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh – is Topping & Company Booksellers’ Year-Round Poetry Festival in St Andrews. Curated with the help of Don Paterson and playing host to poets as varied as Paul Muldoon and Lorraine Mariner, Simon Armitage and Annie Freud, it is anchored to a regular fixture on the last Tuesday of the month. The School of Night offers the chance to explore and discuss the work of some of the best poets on the contemporary scene. For more details on these and other events, please visit the Topping & Company website.