Charlotte Grønbech, assistant editor at Akoya, has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to the debut poetry collection Freakshow by Benjamin J. Larner for publication in August 2027. Larner is represented by Alice Welby at YMU Group. 

Giving a powerful voice to the experience of illness and disability, the erased history and lived reality of (dis)ableism, and the complexities of a mixed heritage, Freakshow is a powderkeg of feeling, a protest in free verse, and a declaration of identity, self-discovery and self-acceptance. 

Charlotte Grønbech says: ‘When I first encountered Ben’s poetry, I was immediately captivated by his unflinching portrayal of identity. His tone is vibrant, distinct and so rich in emotion, it nearly sizzles off the page. Ben is an exciting emerging voice in contemporary poetry and we can’t wait for readers to discover Freakshow next August.’

ABOUT BENJAMIN J. LARNER

Benjamin J Larner is a disabled poet of Iraqi-Chaldean, Irish, and Ashkenazi-Jewish heritage. His poems have been published in The Poetry Review, Magma, The Rumpus, Poetry London, Epiphany Magazine, Gutter Magazine, Prototype 7 and The Aftershock Review, amongst others.

Ben has placed second in the 2025 Spread the Word and CRIPtic Arts Disabled Poets Prize and the 2024 King's College London and Mahler & LeWitt Ivan Juritz Prize, and has been shortlisted and longlisted for numerous other prizes, including the Texas Review Press Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize, the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Poetry Prize and the Oxford Poetry Prize.