A event on Thursday 23rd September. The event starts at 19:30.
Join us for a live, virtual launch of Stephen Lightbown’s, second poetry collection The Last Custodian. Set in a post apocalypse world where the last survivor on Earth is Luke, a paraplegic.
Stephen will be joined by host Suzannah Evans and featured artists Miss Jacqui and Rachel Nwokoro. There will also be a short open mic featuring 3 poets. To request a space in the open mic please email Liz Counsell, [email protected].
Tickets are available from Headfirst as Pay What You Can from £0. Mark your calendar, set your alarms, and wear something red or orange. This is an event not to be missed, coming to you on 23rd September from 7.30pm to 9pm.
All poems will be live captioned and BSL interpreted and copies of poems can be made available in advance on request.
You will receive instructions on how to join the event upon registration. A recording of the event will be made available to attendees after the event.
If you have any questions before the launch or trouble joining on the night please email [email protected].
To buy a copy of The Last Custodian ahead of the launch please go to https://stephenlightbown.bigcartel.com/products.
“A compelling and formally inventive collection of poems. The Last Custodian chronicles crisis, and questions our ideas of memory and survival. Coming, as it does, in this moment of global pandemic, The Last Custodian will touch many a reader with its unrelenting, questioning, echoing voice. A moving, inimitable book.”
Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
Stephen Lightbown is a Blackburn born, Bristol based poet. Paralysed following an accident in 1996 when he was 16 Stephen uses his poems to give a voice to his disability. He has spoken at events across the UK and at festivals such as Shambala, Womad, Camp Kin and Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival. Stephen is the author of two poetry collections The Last Custodian and Only Air and in August 2021 he performed his first commission for theatre, a piece about applying for the PIP disability benefit. Stephen is also trying to find a home for his first middle grade novel and is the Chair of the international dance company Candoco. He can be found via most social media channels via @spokeandpencil.
Suzannah Evans lives in Sheffield. Her pamphlet Confusion Species was a winner in the 2012 Poetry Business Competition and her debut collection Near Future was published by Nine Arches Press in 2018. She was the winner of a Gladstone’s Library residency in October 2019 for Near Future, and her poem ‘Helpline’ has been Poem of the Week on The Guardian. She is a winner of a 2021 Northern Writers' Award for her second collection, Space Baby, forthcoming in 2022.
Miss Jacqui, a Poet and Songwriter, knows a lot about working with the cards that you are dealt. Especially because she is someone who always tries to challenge societal perceptions, like what it actually means to be a black woman with a disability. A wheelchair user herself Miss Jacqui wants her poetry and music to help her listeners see the world differently, and inspire others to feel confident in being themselves. Miss Jacqui has performed at various locations like the 2012 Paralympic Team Welcoming Ceremonies, Southbank Centre and Roundhouse. “When you are a minority in a minority in a minority, you have no choice but to stand out.” – Miss Jacqui
Rachel Nwokoro is a London-born, Biafra-made neurodivergent, disabled & queer babygal who plays as an award-winning Multidisciplinary Storyteller, Arts Activist & Organiser. She has collaborated globally as an Actor, Director, Performance Poet, Artist & Public Speaker for more than ten years. While graduating from drama school in 2019, she authored her debut book “Little You”. She campaigns for peace & liberation through her work as Founder & Creative Director of Black Mind, a grassroots Art-as-Activism organisation that centres the collective Mental Health, Wellbeing, Justice and Joy of Black People in Britain.
Images description: First image - Stephen seen from shoulders up, a black background behind him. He is a white man in his forties with short greying hair and green eyes. His face and t-shirt are covered in rust-red powder. Second image - Suzannah is a white woman in her 30s with dark curly hair and glasses. In this photo she's wearing a shirt with birds on and looking out of a window. Third image: Miss Jacqui is a Black woman with lots of black curly hair. She is looking at the camera and is wearing a beige coloured top with matching bottoms. She is seated outside in her powered wheelchair surrounded by trees and plants. Fourth image - Rachel is a Black woman in a side profile with an ichafu on her head. She is wearing a green top and has her arm raised. Her right arm has an infinity tattoo and she is wearing large blue ankara trousers.
Photo credit for Stephen © James Lightbown
Entry requirements:
Stephen will be joined by host Suzannah Evans and featured artists Miss Jacqui and Rachel Nwokoro. There will also be a short open mic featuring 3 poets. To request a space in the open mic please email Liz Counsell, [email protected].
Tickets are available from Headfirst as Pay What You Can from £0. Mark your calendar, set your alarms, and wear something red or orange. This is an event not to be missed, coming to you on 23rd September from 7.30pm to 9pm.
All poems will be live captioned and BSL interpreted and copies of poems can be made available in advance on request.
You will receive instructions on how to join the event upon registration. A recording of the event will be made available to attendees after the event.
If you have any questions before the launch or trouble joining on the night please email [email protected].
To buy a copy of The Last Custodian ahead of the launch please go to https://stephenlightbown.bigcartel.com/products.
“A compelling and formally inventive collection of poems. The Last Custodian chronicles crisis, and questions our ideas of memory and survival. Coming, as it does, in this moment of global pandemic, The Last Custodian will touch many a reader with its unrelenting, questioning, echoing voice. A moving, inimitable book.”
Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
Stephen Lightbown is a Blackburn born, Bristol based poet. Paralysed following an accident in 1996 when he was 16 Stephen uses his poems to give a voice to his disability. He has spoken at events across the UK and at festivals such as Shambala, Womad, Camp Kin and Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival. Stephen is the author of two poetry collections The Last Custodian and Only Air and in August 2021 he performed his first commission for theatre, a piece about applying for the PIP disability benefit. Stephen is also trying to find a home for his first middle grade novel and is the Chair of the international dance company Candoco. He can be found via most social media channels via @spokeandpencil.
Suzannah Evans lives in Sheffield. Her pamphlet Confusion Species was a winner in the 2012 Poetry Business Competition and her debut collection Near Future was published by Nine Arches Press in 2018. She was the winner of a Gladstone’s Library residency in October 2019 for Near Future, and her poem ‘Helpline’ has been Poem of the Week on The Guardian. She is a winner of a 2021 Northern Writers' Award for her second collection, Space Baby, forthcoming in 2022.
Miss Jacqui, a Poet and Songwriter, knows a lot about working with the cards that you are dealt. Especially because she is someone who always tries to challenge societal perceptions, like what it actually means to be a black woman with a disability. A wheelchair user herself Miss Jacqui wants her poetry and music to help her listeners see the world differently, and inspire others to feel confident in being themselves. Miss Jacqui has performed at various locations like the 2012 Paralympic Team Welcoming Ceremonies, Southbank Centre and Roundhouse. “When you are a minority in a minority in a minority, you have no choice but to stand out.” – Miss Jacqui
Rachel Nwokoro is a London-born, Biafra-made neurodivergent, disabled & queer babygal who plays as an award-winning Multidisciplinary Storyteller, Arts Activist & Organiser. She has collaborated globally as an Actor, Director, Performance Poet, Artist & Public Speaker for more than ten years. While graduating from drama school in 2019, she authored her debut book “Little You”. She campaigns for peace & liberation through her work as Founder & Creative Director of Black Mind, a grassroots Art-as-Activism organisation that centres the collective Mental Health, Wellbeing, Justice and Joy of Black People in Britain.
Images description: First image - Stephen seen from shoulders up, a black background behind him. He is a white man in his forties with short greying hair and green eyes. His face and t-shirt are covered in rust-red powder. Second image - Suzannah is a white woman in her 30s with dark curly hair and glasses. In this photo she's wearing a shirt with birds on and looking out of a window. Third image: Miss Jacqui is a Black woman with lots of black curly hair. She is looking at the camera and is wearing a beige coloured top with matching bottoms. She is seated outside in her powered wheelchair surrounded by trees and plants. Fourth image - Rachel is a Black woman in a side profile with an ichafu on her head. She is wearing a green top and has her arm raised. Her right arm has an infinity tattoo and she is wearing large blue ankara trousers.
Photo credit for Stephen © James Lightbown
Entry requirements:
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