Helen Calcutt with Hayley Frances: Feeling All the Kills

Head to Voce Books for a summer celebration with acclaimed Birmingham poet Helen Calcutt as she launches her devastating & raw new collection Feeling All the Kills. Helen will be joined by fellow Midlands-based poet Hayley Frances, for an evening of performance & conversation hosted by Shantel Edwards, Festival Director & Creative Producer of the Birmingham Literature Festival.

HELEN CALCUTT is a poet, dance artist, and choreographer. Her pamphlet ‘Somehow’ (VERVE Poetry Press, 2020) was a PBS Winter Bulletin Pamphlet, and Poetry School Book of the Year. Her anthology, ‘Eighty-Four’ (VERVE Poetry Press, 2019) was a Saboteur Award shortlist, and a Poetry Wales Book of the Year. Helen’s cross-arts dance adaptation of Max Porter’s, ‘Grief Is the Thing with Feathers’ is being funded by Arts Council England and supported by the Birmingham REP, The Arena Theatre, and One Dance U.K. Her new poetry collection, ‘Feeling All the Kills’ is published by Pavilion Press, April 2024.

HAYLEY FRANCES is a poet from Birmingham who uses poetry as a therapeutic medium. Her first collection Administer the Laughing Gas will be published by VERVE Poetry Press in September 2024, and she is the founder of OdeHeart, a multi-poetry movement encouraging self-authorship for creativity, awareness, strength and healing.

This is one of our ‘Verse’ events where you can hear from the names right at the forefront of Birmingham’s rich poetry scene as they step up to the mic to share new words & new work.

Tickets for the event are free, but we kindly ask that you place a reservation here on our Eventbrite page.

For further enquiries about the event, or to discuss any access requirements please email [email protected]

Host or Publisher Voce Books