The Emma Press acquires debut collection THERE IS NO WORD ALIVE FOR WHAT I AM
The Emma Press announces There Is No Word Alive For What I Am: this debut poetry collection by Rachel Jeffcoat is an uplifting exploration of the emotions we often hide.
“I wrote There Is No Word Alive For What I Am as a handbook for unruly women who feel too much”
There Is No Word Alive For What I Am is an uplifting collection in which women stray from the given path to find agency and meaning. Rachel Jeffcoat leans unashamedly into desire, grief and the freedom that comes to women who honour the weirdest parts of themselves.
Full of odd encounters with speaking spring light, teenage lifeguards, ghostly authors, and garage-forecourt chicken shops, Jeffcoat has a brilliant eye for spiky detail and emotional landscape.
The Emma Press have acquired worldwide rights directly from the author.
What they said
Rachel Jeffcoat says: “I wrote There Is No Word Alive For What I Am as a handbook for unruly women who feel too much, willing them to see the power in their messier emotions: desire, grief, frustration, love. I can’t think of a better home for this debut collection than the Emma Press, who take risks and champion their writers with such respect and generosity. I’m incredibly grateful they’ve taken it on and hope it will find its place on the bookshelves and bedside tables of readers who most need it.”
James Trevelyan, Director of The Emma Press, says: “We’re excited to be growing our Poetry Collections list with a third title in as many years, and thrilled that Rachel Jeffcoat is joining the Emma Press stable. Rachel’s work is sonic, clear-eyed, and anthemic, and There Is No Word Alive For What I Am a debut of sparkling light – a full-throated song to life and hope.”
There Is No Word Alive For What I Am will be published by The Emma Press in Spring 2027.
About the author:
Rachel Jeffcoat is a poet and educator whose work has appeared in publications such as Under the Radar, Tears in the Fence, Banshee, The London Magazine, and Poetry Ireland Review. She has won or placed in competitions such as Poems of Light (Candlestick Press, 2024), the Kathryn Bevis Memorial Prize (2025), and the Winchester Poetry Prize (2025). Her pamphlet ‘Familiar’ will be published as part of Primers Volume Eight (Nine Arches Press, 2026). Raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire, she now lives in rural Hampshire, in an old house full of children and books.
About The Emma Press:
The Emma Press is an award-winning independent publishing house specialising in poetry, short fiction, essays and children’s books. It was founded by Emma Dai’an Wright in 2012 and is now based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK. We are dedicated to making literature and publishing as welcoming and accessible as possible. We want to provide opportunities for publication for writers and illustrators and create books which reflect as many people’s experiences as we can. In 2024 and 2025, the Emma Press was a Finalist for the British Book Awards Small Press of the Year [Midlands], and in 2024 shortlisted for the Independent Publishers Guild Awards in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award.
For further information or to request a review copy please contact:
Ella Foster, Publishing Trainee, The Emma Press
Image credit: Rachel Jeffcoat
