Self-Portrait as Othello

'In Jason Allen-Paisant's Self-Portrait as Othello we take a deep dive not only into the formation of a literary self but also into a compelling narrative of the body and its visual history. Brilliantly insightful and strikingly lyrical, it accrues significant emotional heft in its movements from Othello to self and back. But underlying it all is a rich seam of commentary on Othello's subtexts that makes you constantly reconsider who might be the exploiter and who might be the exploited. Exhilarating - I recommend it highly.'
Roger Robinson

'Jason Allen-Paisant's second collection, Self-Portrait as Othello, is an erudite and expansive reflection on how identity, political and artistic, is composed, consolidated and made fragile... There is a compelling, essayistic quality to these poems.'
Stephen Sexton, Irish Times

'Jason Allen-Paisant's Self-Portrait as Othello whisks its readers along like a confident lead (there is much dancing-related imagery to enjoy throughout), offering rich descriptions, lingual agility, and poignant social criticism along the way.'

Aaron Barry, World Literature Today

'Allen-Paisant's achievement is not in simply modernising Shakespeare's narrative; it is his addition of ambiguity, interiority, texture, and flesh that imbues the collection with an intellectual and emotional energy... Allen-Paisant has crafted a memorable collection with great emotional and intellectual span, while maintaining a linguistic playfulness that enriches its reading.'
Eric Yip, Poetry London

'Self-Portrait as Othello is a book with large ambitions that are met with great imaginative capacity, freshness and technical flair. As the title would suggest, the poetry is delivered with theatricality and in a range of voices and registers, across geographies and eras. It takes real nerve to pull off a work like this with such style and integrity. We are confident that Self-Portrait as Othello is a book to which readers will return for many years.'
T.S. Eliot Prize Judges Paul Muldoon (Chair), Sasha Dugdale and Denise Saul

'Self-Portrait as Othello is a collection which explores narrative from all angles, how a story is told and who becomes the main character through this telling. Allen-Paisant disrupts time and space, and asks what may be left behind, and/or what stands outside the frame.'
SK Grout, The Alchemy Spoon

'Part I of Self-Portrait as Othello is a tour de force of language slippage in a journey from Jamaica to Paris (the allure of 'French' and Europe, focalising later in the book around Venice). In a fusing of modes of irony and almost painful recollection, Allen-Paisant lets language suggest language, just as conditions suggest conditions... His method is to know language, remake it, call it out, shift into different streams of articulation.'
John Kinsella, Poetry Society

'A rich and twisty linguistic collection that finely balances the inner and outer space of black embodiment... a fine, fine accomplishment.'
Raymond Antrobus

'This indispensable collection explores Shakespeare's pernicious archetype, observing how "the Moor remains invisible, despite the obsession with his body". Yet Allen-Paisant makes the historical impasse an occasion for deep, generous interrogation of masculinity, and a linked elevation of the maternal that is at the heart of so many Caribbean and other families... Enriched by historical research, Self-Portrait As Othello celebrates representation, understanding and speech as acts of glorious resistance.'
Fiona Sampson, The Guardian

'Absolutely astonishing!... Self-portrait as Othello is a masterful second collection: part memoir, part self-invention, part lyrical interrogation of the self as "other". These poems force us to reconsider "the black male body", its presence and absence from the renaissance of Othello to present day migrants and the poet's own experiences of crossing the cities of Europe... Full of geographical crossings and liminal spaces, these poems confront difficult truths, upend stereotypes and the limits of language itself...'
Poetry Book Society