Poetry

Our monthly pre-prandial poetry reading in the shop. In February we are delighted to be hearing from Jan Swann and Anna Maughan. No tickets, free entry, just do get in touch if you'd like to attend so that we have an idea of numbers.

Our monthly pre-prandial poetry reading in the shop. In March we are delighted to welcome Maisie Franklin, Lisa Lopresti and Tony D'Arpino to read their poetry. No tickets, free entry, just do get in touch if you’d like to attend so that we have an idea of numbers

Our monthly pre-prandial poetry reading in the shop. In April we are delighted to welcome Robert Walton and Jessica Haines to read their poetry. No tickets, free entry, just do get in touch if you’d like to attend so that we have an idea of numbers.

Join us for the launch of Come Here To This Gate by Rory Waterman.
Rory will be reading from his new collection. With a reading also from wonderful poet Zoe Brooks.

Join us in the Arcade after hours for our monthly poetry reading. 6pm, 15th June.
Ralf Webb is our featured poet in June. Also on the bill is Florence Grieve.

Ralf Webb is the author of the poetry collection Rotten Days in Late Summer, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. His poems, essays, and short fiction have appeared in Fantastic Man, Granta, the Guardian and the London Review of Books. He tutors in creative writing at Goldsmiths. Strange Relations: Masculinity, Sexuality and Art is his first nonfiction book, and publishes this July. 

Join us in the Arcade after hours for our monthly poetry reading. 6pm, 13th July.
Jonathan Edwards is our featured poet in July.
Jonathan Edwards’s first collection, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren, 2014), received the Costa Poetry Award and the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award. It was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. His second collection, Gen (Seren, 2018), also received the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award, and in 2019 his poem about Newport Bridge was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem.
The evening will begin with a reading from Adam Elms, followed by Jonathan's reading.

Join us for Poetry In Herons with Glyn Maxwell

6pm, Saturday 12th October.
Glyn Maxwell’s most recent poetry books are The Big Calls, a broadside against recent UK government, and How The Hell Are You, shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize in 2020. Seven of his poetry collections have been shortlisted for the T S Eliot, Forward or Costa Prizes, and The Nerve won the Geoffrey Faber Prize.

You can buy tickets in advance online or in the shop.
Tickets are £4 or free with the purchase of either The Big Calls or How the Hell Are You. All tickets include a glass of something sparkling on arrival.

The evening will begin with a reading from Kaycee Hill, followed by Glyn's reading.

Kaycee is a working-class, mixed-heritage poet studying for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Bristol. She won the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize and received mentorship from Malika Booker. Bloodaxe recently published her debut collection, Hot Sauce.