Polygon is excited to announce that we will be publishing a compelling new collection, Get Closer, from award-winning poet Ryan Van Winkle next year. Polygon Editor Edward Crossan procured world all language rights direct from the author. Get Closer will be published in March 2026.

‘Get Closer is a collection that has been a long time coming,’ says poet Ryan Van Winkle, ‘It began in 2015 with the idea that I could write into my old snapshots. In particular, I had in mind the physical photos so many of us have stored haphazardly in boxes, books, and mixed-up, undated sleeves. Looking at that motley assemblage, it started to feel a lot like a life.

Like the snapshots that inspired many of the moments in the collection, these poems were all sent away for developing, and some took longer to process than others. A few came back as quick as Snappy Snaps, while others were discovered years later, unfinished, in old cameras. I couldn’t be more honoured to have this poetic photo album released by Polygon, a proudly independent Scottish publisher whose list includes many friends and writers whose work I’ve long admired. It is a pleasure to join the stable.’

‘Reading Get Closer is like coming across a shoe box of memories which vividly comes alive in poignant detail; it’s been a pleasure to spend time with this collection. I’m thrilled to be able to work with Ryan on this new book – a welcome addition to the Polygon poetry list.’

–Edward Crossan, Polygon Editor

Ryan Van Winkle is an award-winning author, artist and producer based in Edinburgh. He is currently the Artistic Director of StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival. He is an American who has been living in Scotland for over 25 years. Ryan has been Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh, the Citizen Schools Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the Reader in Residence at the Scottish Poetry Library.

His first collection, Tomorrow, We Will Live Here, won the Crashaw Prize. His second poetry collection, The Good Dark, won the Saltire Society’s 2015 Poetry Book of the Year award. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation and New Writing Scotland. He was awarded the Jessie Kesson fellowship at Moniack Mhor in 2018 and a Robert Louis Stevenson fellowship in 2012.