{"id":727622,"date":"2026-08-04T22:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T22:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/727622\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T22:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T22:24:12","slug":"christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-gives-uk-poetry-sales-an-epic-boost-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/727622\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey gives UK poetry sales an epic boost | Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK poetry sales are on course to reach a record high this year, buoyed by the success of Christopher Nolan\u2019s blockbuster film adaptation<\/a> of Homer\u2019s The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

Poetry sales surpassed \u00a38m during the first 30 weeks of 2026, an increase of 13.3% on the same period last year, according to data from market researchers NielsenIQ.<\/p>\n

The category is expected to exceed \u00a315m in annual sales for the first time since accurate records began and could reach \u00a317m if its current momentum continues through the autumn.<\/p>\n

Homer\u2019s 2,700-year-old epic poem has accounted for a significant share of this year\u2019s growth after Nolan\u2019s adaptation \u2013 starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway \u2013 brought the ancient Greek epic to a new audience. UK print sales of The Odyssey<\/a> increased by 1,400% in the four weeks to 25 July compared with the same period in 2025, after the film\u2019s release in the middle of the month.<\/p>\n

Editions of The Odyssey and The Iliad have generated \u00a3980,000 in poetry sales so far this year \u2013 equivalent to \u00a31.20 of every \u00a310 spent on poetry books in Britain.<\/p>\n

Nolan\u2019s adaptation stormed the global box office,<\/a> taking $264m (\u00a3198m) during its opening weekend, marking the director\u2019s best ever opening.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson<\/p>\n

Homer could now challenge the record for the highest annual sales by a poet in the UK. The current benchmark was set by Canadian poet and Instagram sensation Rupi Kaur,<\/a> whose books, such as 2015 hit Milk and Honey, generated \u00a31.2m through NielsenIQ BookScan\u2019s Total Consumer Market in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Nolan effect is also being felt in the US. Print sales across all editions of The Odyssey are up 76% so far this year, <\/a>according to Circana BookScan figures.<\/p>\n

But the poetry boom extends well beyond ancient epic. Even when sales of The Odyssey and The Iliad are removed from this year\u2019s and last year\u2019s figures, the category is still up 7.2% and remains on course for its best year. The three years from 2023 to 2025 were the category\u2019s most lucrative on record.<\/p>\n

Much of this has been driven by more commercial, social media-friendly poets. Scottish writer Donna Ashworth remains Britain\u2019s bestselling living poet of the decade, with her 2025 collection To the Women selling almost 34,000 copies this year. However some traditionalists have questioned whether her uplifting, aphoristic work is poetry or self-help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poetry sector was already enjoying an upwards trajectory before Chris Nolan tackled The Odyssey, helped in recent years by the popularity of Instapoets, including Rupi Kaur, repositioning the poetry sector from a more academic category into a lifestyle, gift and self-development genre,\u201d said Philip Stone at NielsenIQ.<\/p>\n

The year\u2019s breakout poetry bestseller is from the London-based actor and poet Lucas Jones, whose debut collection, I Still Believe in Miracles, is 2026\u2019s bestselling poetry title by value, generating \u00a3400,000, according to the Bookseller.<\/p>\n

Classicist Emily Wilson\u2019s acclaimed 2017 translation has been the main beneficiary of The Odyssey\u2019s surge in sales.<\/p>\n

Wilson herself made headlines last week when she criticised the film,<\/a> saying \u201cit has nothing convincing to say\u201d and that it \u201clacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a scathing article for the London Review of Books, she wrote: \u201cNolan\u2019s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great \u2026 The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiobook versions of The Odyssey have also experienced renewed interest: Stephen Fry\u2019s reading has entered Spotify\u2019s UK audiobook top 10, while Ian McKellen\u2019s narration has appeared in the equivalent US chart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK poetry sales are on course to reach a record high this year, buoyed by the success of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-727622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}