Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Three recipients of the most esteemed UK poetry award converge in a display of the current high peaks of lyricism and performance. Featuring vital young Somali-British voice Momtaza Mehri, Malika Booker’s passionate diaspora reflections and Bohdan Piasecki’s electrifying deliveries. "
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A event on Sunday 14th April. The event starts at 17:00.
Date: Sunday 14th April
Venue: St. George’s Bristol (Glass Studio)
Time: 17:00 - 18:00
Price: £8/5
BSL Interpreted ✔
Live Streamed + Captioned ✔ (please note: only the live stream will be captioned, not the in-person performance)
We are delighted to welcome three of the 2023 Forward Prize for Poetry recipients, including Momtaza Mehri (Best First Collection), Malika Booker (Best Single Poem - Written) and Bohdan Piasecki (Best Single Poem - Performed). Enjoy back-to-back readings of some of the finest works in UK poetry today, followed by a short discussion and Q&A with the writers.
This event will be BSL interpreted.
The event is also available to watch via live stream. Please book a ‘Live Stream Ticket’ at checkout.
Presented in partnership with Forward Arts Foundation.
Momtaza Mehi:
Momtaza Mehri is a poet and researcher working across criticism, education, and radio. She is a former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London and Frontier-Antioch Fellow at Antioch University (Los Angeles). Currently, she is the Poet-in-Residence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and a columnist for Tate Etc, the arts magazine published by the Tate network of galleries. Bad Diaspora Poems, her debut poetry collection, recently won the 2023 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.
Malika Booker:
Malaika Booker (RSFL), Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer, co-founded Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. Her pamphlet Breadfruit, received a Poetry Society recommendation and her collection Pepper Seed was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre 2014 prize. Awarded the Cholmondeley Award (2019) for outstanding contribution to poetry. She is the first woman to win the Forward Prize for Best Single poem twice: The Little Miracles (2020) and Libation (2023)
Forward Arts Foundation:
Forward Arts Foundation awarded the first Forward Prizes in 1992, with the Best First Collection that year going to a little-known, working-class, Northern poet, Simon Armitage. He was joined on the stage by Thom Gunn (winner, Best Collection) and future Scottish Makar Jackie Kay (winner, Best Single Poem). Over 32 years, Forward has worked hard to break down barriers in the poetry world, and we have become the most influential awards for new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. The Prizes have lauded some of the most ground-breaking names in poetry including Seamus Heaney, Claudia Rankine, Kei Miller, Malika Booker, Danez Smith and Caleb Femi.
Filters:
Live Event
Captioned
Online/Streamed
BSL Interpreted
Part of #LyraFest
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Venue: St. George’s Bristol (Glass Studio)
Time: 17:00 - 18:00
Price: £8/5
BSL Interpreted ✔
Live Streamed + Captioned ✔ (please note: only the live stream will be captioned, not the in-person performance)
We are delighted to welcome three of the 2023 Forward Prize for Poetry recipients, including Momtaza Mehri (Best First Collection), Malika Booker (Best Single Poem - Written) and Bohdan Piasecki (Best Single Poem - Performed). Enjoy back-to-back readings of some of the finest works in UK poetry today, followed by a short discussion and Q&A with the writers.
This event will be BSL interpreted.
The event is also available to watch via live stream. Please book a ‘Live Stream Ticket’ at checkout.
Presented in partnership with Forward Arts Foundation.
Momtaza Mehi:
Momtaza Mehri is a poet and researcher working across criticism, education, and radio. She is a former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London and Frontier-Antioch Fellow at Antioch University (Los Angeles). Currently, she is the Poet-in-Residence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and a columnist for Tate Etc, the arts magazine published by the Tate network of galleries. Bad Diaspora Poems, her debut poetry collection, recently won the 2023 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.
Malika Booker:
Malaika Booker (RSFL), Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer, co-founded Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. Her pamphlet Breadfruit, received a Poetry Society recommendation and her collection Pepper Seed was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre 2014 prize. Awarded the Cholmondeley Award (2019) for outstanding contribution to poetry. She is the first woman to win the Forward Prize for Best Single poem twice: The Little Miracles (2020) and Libation (2023)
Forward Arts Foundation:
Forward Arts Foundation awarded the first Forward Prizes in 1992, with the Best First Collection that year going to a little-known, working-class, Northern poet, Simon Armitage. He was joined on the stage by Thom Gunn (winner, Best Collection) and future Scottish Makar Jackie Kay (winner, Best Single Poem). Over 32 years, Forward has worked hard to break down barriers in the poetry world, and we have become the most influential awards for new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. The Prizes have lauded some of the most ground-breaking names in poetry including Seamus Heaney, Claudia Rankine, Kei Miller, Malika Booker, Danez Smith and Caleb Femi.
Filters:
Live Event
Captioned
Online/Streamed
BSL Interpreted
Part of #LyraFest
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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