Once again Hard Rain by Tony Hoagland graces the number 1 position on the UK Chapbook Chart. Hard Rain is consistently the most popular of chapbooks in the UK and remains a favourite amongst readers throughout the world.
Tony Hoagland is still little known in Europe and yet he made his way into the prestigious British encyclopaedia Contemporary Poets at a very early stage. Since then he has also published Donkey Gospel and What Narcissism Means to Me, books that have won him a swathe of awards in North America. As these titles suggest, Hoagland’s characteristic tone is marked by a deep devotion to hedonism in all its manifestations, humour being one of its mainstays.
New entries – The Cows by Lydia Davis at No.4 and Lost River by James Tate at No.5.
Leading publishers –Holllyridge Press, Sarabande Books and Pluto Press (2 entries each).
Leading author – Oscar Wilde (2 publications each)
TOP TEN UK CHAPBOOKS
1 (1) Hard Rain – Tony Hoagland (Hollyridge Press, 20 Oct. 2005)
2 (2) On The Kitchen Table From Which Everything Has Been Hastily Removed – Olena Kalytiak Davis (Hollyridge Press, 1 July 2009)
3 (3) Poems for Political Disaster –
4 (-) The Cows – Lydia Davis (Sarabande Books, 29 Mar. 2011)
5 (-) Lost River – James Tate (Sarabande Books, Mar. 2003)
6 (4) Soul of Man Under Socialism – Oscar Wilde (Pluto Press, 1 Jan 1987)
7 (5) Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde (Pluto Press, 29 Jun 1978)
8 (6) The Wedding Vows Chapbook: Sample Wedding Vows and Inspiration – Katharine Coggeshall (Independently published, 23 May 2017)
9 (9) Pack Mentality – Kneel Downe (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 11 April 2017)
10 (10) A Democrat’s Chapbook – A Quiet Woman (The Bodley Head, 1942)
Official UK Chapbook Chart 