AFK #13: A SPAM Press Poetry Reading and Book Launch
About this Event
SPAM's free reading series, AWAY FROM KEYBOARD (AFK), returns to Glasgow for November! This one is also a book launch, celebrating Fuse Box: Triple Sonnet Crown by Sam Rodilosso.
This event will feature a live poetry readings. There will also be a limited edition zine available, featuring work by our performers. Copies of Sam's new book will be on sale for £9.
Entry is FREE with donations for the zine towards Target Ovarian Cancer (£2 or more suggested donation).
We recommend you arrive from 6:30pm to secure the best seats, but you are more than welcome to drop in and out throughout the evening (there will be a break).
A plea! Ticketing is limited to ensure we comply with venue capacity. Please release your ticket on Eventbrite if you can no longer make it, so somebody else can.
THE LINE UP:
Endija Lukstina is a Latvian poet and translator based in Glasgow. Their work has been published by sincere corkscrew press, Ambient Receiver, Discount Guillotine and hearsay journal, and is upcoming in Anthropocene and cutwifemag. They are a poet mentee in Clydebuilt 18 under the mentorship of Alycia Pirmohamed. Recently they were a runner up in WayWORD’s Ekphrastic Poetry Prize.
Tom Bailey is a poet and editor based in Edinburgh. His debut pamphlet, Please Do Not Touch or Feed the Horses, won an Eric Gregory Award in 2025 and a Somerset Maugham Award in 2026. A co-recipient of the 2026 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, he works as a support worker in Midlothian and edits the online poetry magazine And Other Poems.
Hong Kong-born and Glasgow-based, Tim Tim Cheng is the author of The Tattoo Collector (Nine Arches Press, 2024) and Tapping at Glass (Verve, 2023). Poems are exhibited as part of Dial-A-Poem and shortlisted for the Forward Prizes. They co-edited Magma 93: Liberation(2025) and Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology (Verve, 2023).
A mentee with American Literary Translators Association, they translate between Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) and English. Literary translations are featured by Wasafiri and Books from Taiwan. Work-in-progress is supported by Edwin Morgan Trust’s Open the Doors Fund, Breadloaf Translators’ Conference, and Words without Border’s Momentum Grant.
Julie Laing is a writer and artist from Glasgow. Her debut poetry collection, some possible endings & beginnings, was published in 2026 with Art Riot Press and her pamphlet, the edge of rhizome, came out with Red Squirrel Press in 2025 following her award of The William Bonar Poetry Prize 2023. Her work has appeared in Magma, New Writing Scotland and Gutter magazine and she won The Wigtown Poetry Prize 2022. She co-hosts off-page visual poetry development and exhibition programme. is a writer and artist from Glasgow. Her debut poetry collection, some possible endings & beginnings, was published in 2026 with Art Riot Press and her pamphlet, the edge of rhizome, came out with Red Squirrel Press in 2025 following her award of The William Bonar Poetry Prize 2023. Her work has appeared in Magma, New Writing Scotland and Gutter magazine and she won The Wigtown Poetry Prize 2022. She co-hosts off-page visual poetry development and exhibition programme.
Dr Nat Raha is a poet and activist-scholar. She is the author of four books of poetry include apparitions (nines) (Nightboat Books, 2024), of sirens, body & faultlines (Boiler House Press, 2018), and countersonnets (Contraband Books, 2013). With Mijke van der Drift, Nat is co-author of Trans Femme Futures: Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds (Pluto Press, 2024, finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards 2025) and co-editor of Radical Transfeminism zine. Nat’s poetry is anthologised in 100 Queer Poems, We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, and Versus Versus. She teaches at the Glasgow School of Art.
Born and raised on the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, Sam Rodilosso studied International Relations and Creative Writing at American University in Washington D.C. before transferring to the University of Edinburgh to study English Literature. Since then, he has received a certification to teach English from Cambridge University, and has studied Chinese at Peking University. Sam is interested in the prospects of translation and global literary exchange.
Donations: A zine with work by the readers will be available on the night, for a donation towards Target Ovarian Cancer, a cause that is close to SPAM's heart. From the charity: 'At Target Ovarian Cancer, we target what’s important to stop ovarian cancer devastating lives. We're the only ovarian cancer charity working across all four nations of the UK. We work with everyone affected by ovarian cancer and health professionals to ensure we target the areas that matter most for them.'
https://targetovariancancer.org.uk
Access: Unfortunately, the Doublet upstairs bar and toilets are not wheelchair accessible. Seating is first come, first served, but if you have access needs for seating, email us at [email protected] and we will reserve.
We will be livestreaming the event on our Instagram @spamzine.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
