This startlingly original debut delves into the surreal, concealed moments of a young womanhood. Helen Quah's voice is in part a deep-calling into the complex distances between mother and daughter, in part a twisted venture into the contradictions of romance. Dog Woman, named after the series of artworks by Paula Rego, contorts language, opening up a playfully dark and often humorous space of the fantastical and otherwise unexplained.

Helen Quah grew up in Romford, Essex. She is a poet and junior doctor working in North London. She's a prize winner in this year's Verve Poetry Competition.