Bad Betty Live, 20th November
About this Event
“Fierce and bristling with life” – The Guardian
“The very best of contemporary poetry” – The Book Hive
Award-winning publishing house Bad Betty Press presents poetry and music.
Featuring poetry from Victoria Kennefick, Aditya Narayan, Aaron Kent, Mandisa Apena, Zoe McWhinney and music from Umblica.
Hosted by Bridie Squires and Jake Wild Hall.
BSL interpreted by Steph Lehrle. A digital transcript of poems and lyrics will be available to download at the start of the event.
Supported by Arts Council England.
Book a ticket for just the show, or combine it with a workshop ticket to save on both. Combined tickets also give you access to Karen Mccarthy Woolf's masterclass.
VENUE & ACCESS:
This event is part of NAE's Friday Night Socials. It takes place in the Performance Space of New Art Exchange, on the first floor. NAE has a lift and accessible toilets. The building is fitted with induction loops for enhanced sound. Disabled parking is available on request. Full accessibility info here.
New Art Exchange (NAE) is the UK’s largest gallery dedicated to contemporary visual arts from the Global Ethnic Majority. Based in Hyson Green, Nottingham, NAE champions inclusivity and equity in the creative industries, nurturing and celebrating talent from diverse backgrounds About Us page on our website.
ABOUT THE ACTS
DR VICTORIA KENNEFICK
Dr Victoria Kennefick is a writer, poet, editor and teacher from County Cork. She completed a PhD in English Literature at University College Cork and was a Fulbright Scholar at Emory University and Georgia College and State University. Her research on the short stories of Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Connor was also funded by an IRCHSS Scholarship and a MARBL Fellowship. Her debut poetry collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and the Butler Literary Prize. It was a Book of the Year in The Guardian, The Irish Times, The Sunday Independent and The White Review, and was also selected as one of The Telegraph's Best Poetry Books to Buy 2021. Her second collection, Egg/Shell (Carcanet Press, 2024) was a Poetry Book Society Choice for Spring 2024, BBC Poetry Extra Book of the Month for March as well as a Book of the Year in The Telegraph, The Sunday Independent and The Poetry Society UK. In 2023 she was an Arts Council of Ireland/University College Dublin Writer in Residence as well as Poet in Residence at the Yeats Society Sligo. In 2024, she was Cork County Council Arts Office Writer in Residence. She is currently the Arts Council of Ireland/Trinity College Dublin Writer Fellow 2025.
ADITYA NARAYAN
Aditya Narayan is a spoken-word poet performing for over 2 years in the UK. His work explores migration, language, identity and belonging. In 2025, he won the Roundhouse Slam and the Loud Poets Grand Slam, establishing himself as an exciting emerging voice within the scene. This year, he also became the Scottish National Slam Champion. His debut show, My Name Is a Two-Person Sport, sold out at London’s Roundhouse Studio Theatre, and his work has also featured on BBC Radio 4.
AARON KENT
Aaron Kent is a working-class poet, publisher, and teacher from Cornwall. Alongside his wife he runs the indie publishing press Broken Sleep Books, and advocates for the degentrification of the creative arts. His debut Angels the Size of Houses was released by Shearsman in 2021, followed by The Working Classic with the87press in 2023. He has had work published in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, and The Rialto among others, and has worked with MIND and Stroke Assocaition ads a mental health advocat
MANDISA APENA
Mandisa apena is a cancer sun from south london. they write their dreams down (sometimes), they meditate (badly) and they have once three-day-hiked a mountain - most of their poems revolve around themes in this realm. they have a self published poetry book called 'and twice as bitter' (2016), and have an upcoming pamphlet 'the world's darling' due for release with Bad Betty Press in late 2026. they have been described as 'hilarious' ‘sexy’ and 'quite strange'.
ZOË MCWHINNEY
Zoë McWhinney works in a multimodal multi-linguistic research lab and socio-linguistics research projects, giving a perspective on the deaf communities’ places in societies and the daily micro-negotiations deaf people live through. Her British Sign Language (BSL) poetry is her creative response. She also organizes BSL poetry slams.
UMBLICA
Umbilica (she / they) is a queer poet, songcrafter and musician whose poetry chapbooks ‘And They Say That We Are Strange’ (2025) and ‘PleasureLand’ (2021) were published by Big White Shed. They have performed in GOBS' Earth Showcase, featured at Nottingham Poetry Festival and Derby Poetry Festival, and have performed poetry to music audiences without getting booed offstage.She has been a facilitator of songcrafting and writing workshops, a tutor of young musicians, a leader of IWD Derby Rebel Women’s Choir and in 2019 released the album of songs ‘Where The Land Meets The Ocean’. She was one of three co-founders of performance collective She Speaks and plays in dream-pop band Grawl!x. She lives with one beloved partner and one belligerent cat.
ABOUT BAD BETTY:
Bad Betty Press is an award-winning independent poetry publisher, and curator of live literature events taking place across the UK. London-born, Nottingham-based, Bad Betty was set up in 2017 with the aim of showcasing risk-taking poetry, supporting poets’ artistic development and celebrating stories less often told.
Bad Betty was Highly Commended in this year's British Book Awards' Small Press of the Year category, has been a Midlands Finalist the last 3 years, won the Michael Marks Publishers' Award in 2022, and is the parent of pamphlet imprint, Little Betty.
“The epitome of bold independence” – The Big Issue
“Serious quality” – LeftLion
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 7.21 to GBP 16.96
