Arji
Manuelpillai hits the ground running with this debut and I freaking love it.
His poems are funny, irreverent, hugely affecting. Hes fidgety, darts moment
to moment youll rush after him, then suddenly find hes stopped, spun on his
heel and youre face-to-face with his good-natured grin. Manuelpillai will dial
up the volume just to whisper something damn beautiful beneath its surface.
Every page of Mutton Rolls is tasty, and announces by increment a highly
enjoyable new voice. Wayne Holloway-Smith

The
poems in this brilliant, playful debut are multifarious though gratifyingly
interlinked, addressing the subjects of Sri-Lankan British identity,
masculinity, friendship, grief and love. The tone is sometimes satirical, but
there is no hiding behind satire in Arji Manuelpillais work great tenderness
and beauty characterise these poems, and the poets voice is completely
original, entirely his own. Hannah Lowe