*Heat mitigation measures, please read! Due to extreme heat, readings will take place under the friendly shade of the big trees at George Jones Park (3 mins from EBB, just behind the Coach & Horses), starting an hour later, at 8pm. We'll meet at EBB from 7.30 for cold drinks (you are welcome to come earlier, we'll be open), and walk over to the park at 8pm. We can take chairs over for those who prefer to sit down with back support.*

We are thrilled to host Lila Matsumoto launching her new collection of poetry, *Talk a Blue Streak*, and Fatema Abdoolcarim reading from *Tremble* (2025), both published by Monitor Books.

On *Talk a Blue Streak*:

In 1990, a girl moves to the USA. She goes to school, learns English, becomes an American citizen, and aspires to become a writer. But what is she to make of the extravagance, bombast, and damage she encounters in the new country’s language and customs? And what about the shrink-wrapped hunks of frozen meat, hurricanes, and the cat-eye marbles scattered on the road?  Hugely pleasurable, in turns funny and dolorous, *Talk a Blue Streak* examines how the act of writing declares a selfhood, but one that is always performative, looped, and curlicued.⁣

On *Tremble*:

*Tremble*, Fatema Abdoolcarim’s debut collection of poems, is an intimate and involving sequence on fertility and faith. A memoir in verse, these poems relate encounters with the animal other, the uncertain, but always echoing the tender rituals of family, food, prayer.

Bios:

Lila Matsumoto’s publications include *Two Twin Pipes Sprout Water* (Prototype, 2021), which was shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize and recommended by the Poetry Book Society, *Urn & Drum* (Shearsman, 2018), and *The Very Nature of Materiality is an Entanglement* (In Other Words, 2024). She plays in the band Food People and teaches creative writing and poetics at the University of Nottingham.⁣

Fatema Abdoolcarim is an Indian-Pakistani Hong Konger who makes films and writes. Her films have been shown internationally, including at Locarno Film Festival, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and Osaka Asian Film Festival. *Tremble* is her debut collection of poetry. She lives in the Baltic Sea, on the island of Bornholm.

Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio) — Read more — Read less