The voices are distinct. The poems expand their own boundaries, geographically and emotionally. They contemplate the world with nostalgia, with anger, with sharp satirical wit. The core of the writing is distinct and strong, flavoured with wry honesty.

Urban and industrial, rural and semi-rural, warm and tough, frank and charming. A smelter of words.

Some 80 poems from 34 poets, selected by Cynthia Fuller and Kevin Cadwallender, SMELTER measures how far poetry in and about the Tees Valley has developed in the last decade.