BAD BETTY LIVE MARCH 20TH

“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 from Pascale Petit (Mama Amazonica winner RSL Ondaatje, and Laurel prizes), Malika Kegode (Imison Award shorlist), Wayne Holloway-Smith (T.S Elliot Prize Shortlis), Rick Dove (Hammer and Tongue slam champion), Hilario Alves (GOBS) and music and words from Harkin.

Hosted by Bridie Squires and Jake Wild Hall.

BSL interpreted by Steph Lehrle.

Supported by Arts Council England.

VENUE & ACCESS:

This event is part of NAE's Friday Night Socials. It takes place in the ground-floor gallery space alongside the current exhibition by artist Simeon Barclay. A plant-based menu is available from the community kitchen. 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 ARTISTS:

Pascale Petit’s ninth poetry collection, Beast, published by Bloodaxe in 2025, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her novel, My Hummingbird Father, was published by Salt in 2024. She has published nine poetry collections, four of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Mama Amazonica won the RSL Ondaatje, and Laurel prizes. Her eighth, Tiger Girl, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize and Wales Book of the Year.

Malaika Kegode is an award-winning writer, performer and creative producer based in Bristol. She works across poetry, theatre, music and radio. Malaika’s work has been performed at venues such as Southbank Centre and The Scottish Storytelling Centre. She tells unexpected rural stories through creative collaboration and across mixed discplines.

Wayne Holloway-Smith is a British poet. He was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, and currently lives in London.

Holloway-Smith's first poetry publication was the pamphlet Beloved, in case you've been wondering, published by Donut Press in 2011. His first book-length collection, Alarum (2017), was a PBS Wildcard Choice for Winter 2017, and was shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2018 and the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize in 2018.

The final poem in the collection – "Short" – won the Geoffery Dearmer Prize in 2016.[1] His second pamphlet, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WENDING, was published by Test Centre in 2018. His poem "the posh mums are boxing in the square" won the National Poetry Competion in 2018.[2] His second full-length collection, Love minus Love, was shortlisted for the 2020 T.S. Elliot prize as well as being a Poetry Book Society Wild Card choice. His pamphlet, Lasagne, was published by Out-Spoken Press in spring 2020. Holloway-Smith is the current editor of The Poetry Review a lecturer in literature and Creative Writing in the School of Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire.

Rick Dove is a black, queer, and disabled writer and activist from South London. Widely anthologised since 2016, Rick has two solo collections with Burning Eye Books, Tales From the Other Box (2020), and Supervillain Origin Story (2023); he has toured nationally, including festival feature appearances at Shambala, Greenbelt, the Margate Bookie, and the Edinburgh Fringe; and was crowned UK Poetry Slam Champion in 2021. With eclectic work exploring themes of social justice, identity, and revolution, Rick has a vision of a fairer world and wants to take you with him.

Hilário Alves is an Angolan-Portuguese poet living in Nottingham. His writing examines identity, displacement, and the dialogue between cultures, drawing from the lived experience of the diaspora. Founder of FluentinBoth, a platform formultilingual and multicultural artists, he continues to shape conversations around belonging and expression in contemporary Britain. He is also a member of the GOBS Collective and the Nottingham Black Creatives Network (NBCN).

Katie Harkin is an English musician and songwriter originally from Leeds. She is best known as a founding member/songwriter of Sky Larkin and as a touring member and collaborator of Courtney Barnett, Sleater-Kinney, Waxahatchee, Kurt Vile, and Wild Beasts. Her self-titled debut solo album was released in 2020 on Hand Mirror. In 2022, she released her second solo album ‘Honeymoon Suite’, which she self-produced at home during UK lockdowns.

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.

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