UK Poetry Sales Top £8 Million in 30 Weeks as Nolan's The Odyssey Sparks 13.3% Jump
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 14
UK Poetry Sales Top £8 Million in 30 Weeks as Nolan's The Odyssey Sparks 13.3% Jump
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 14
Summary
UK poetry sales passed £8 million in the first 30 weeks of 2026, up 13.3% from a year earlier and putting the category on track for a record year, NielsenIQ data showed.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is driving the surge, with readers saying the film pushed them toward Homer, translations by Emily Wilson and other classical texts, museum visits and even plans for classics study.
US demand is rising too: print sales of The Odyssey across all editions are up 76% this year, according to Circana BookScan, with Wilson’s 2017 translation the bestselling edition.
Wilson sharply criticized Nolan’s film as shallow and gimmicky, but still credited it with bringing audiences back to cinemas and widening interest in ancient Greek literature.
Bookshops are also benefiting from spillover demand for Greek retellings and female-centered works such as Ithaca, Circe and Clytemnestra, suggesting the film’s impact is spreading beyond Homer.