Poetry in Herons: Esme Allman

For our October monthly poetry reading, we are delighted to Esme Allman, author of Sweet Bone Girl.

Esme Allman is a poet, writer and theatre director from South London. Her work explores history, imagined worlds, and desire within the context of black femininity. She has been commissioned to write poems for the Barbican Centre, English Heritage, the Institute of Contemporary Art with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6, NHS Arts and Heritage, Pace Gallery, and Poetry Vs Colonialism in conjunction with the London Metropolitan Archives. Sweet Bone Girl is her debut collection of poetry.

Sweet Bone Girl examines the intricate dynamics of desire as it intertwines with Black womanhood, negotiating the boundaries of history, culture, and identity. Esme Allman’s evocative poetry moves between the personal and the collective, interlacing the past with the present to investigate how desire is shaped and claimed. With striking introspection, Allman interrogates the influence of external forces—family, lovers, popular culture—and asks: where can desire be truly known? And when it is, can it ever be wholly one’s own? Bold and poignant, Sweet Bone Girl navigates vulnerability, agency, and the yearning for connection in a world that too often seeks to define rather than understand.

Free entry. Come for the poetry. Stay for the poetry.

Arrive at 5pm. We’ll offer you something fizzy. Usually a drink but perhaps one day it will be a sherbet fountain.

5.10-5.40ish, we’ll enjoy some poetry.

5.40-6pm, finish the fizzy things and perhaps buy the poet’s books.

Plenty of seating. It is free and unticketed but it would help if you let us know that you are coming. RSVP to read@heronbooks.co.uk