In her debut collection, Even the Trees, Roshni Gallagher asks what can be seen, named, or remembered. From Scotland to Guyana, the poems explore the porous boundary between the past and the present, and how ecological landscapes and landscapes of the mind and body are permanently altered by migration and memory. The elegiac series of poems Kala Pani reflects on the history and legacy of Indian indentured labourers in the Caribbean. Following the experience of women in the moment of rupture as they cross the ocean, these poems hover at the border of what is known and unknown. Other poems navigate stories from Gallagher’s mixed heritage, from the Windrush generation to the sod houses in Ireland. She explores the tension between historical and personal silence – what can and can’t be spoken about. But stories are retained in the objects around us, from a pair of earrings made from stolen gold to a painting of a waterfall in the childhood home. The poems look through windows, emerge from darkness, and traverse spaces ‘on the edge of things’ where land gives way to water. Seeing and being seen are often painful, yet there is beauty, healing, and connection in what we choose to give our attention to. Joint winner of the James Berry Prize 2024 shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection 2026 (Forward Prizes).

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Roshni Gallagher’s Even the Trees is a powerful and evocative collection, particularly in its use of space and form, highlighted through the ‘Kala Pani’ sequence. [...] It’s a beautiful, difficult, complex poem, and works well as the centrepiece of the collection. [...] from the sod houses of Ireland to the Yorkshire dales, the sky in Fife and the sea in Guyana, Gallagher’s use of place and landscape never strays too far from anger at worldly injustice…