Hello my loves,

How are you?

I haven't posted on here for a while as I have just started a new Substack and have been doing my blogging there. My Substack page is titled 'With Love, Grief and Fury' and I have been sharing poetry and tour diaries there, you can follow and subscribe for free here:

https://salenagodden.substack.com/

Overall, May 2024 was a wicked flurry of double book launches, gigs and festivals, books and adventures, miles and trains, poets and joys. THANK YOU: Thank you to every single person that came to a show, that came to get a book signed and have a chat, that reviewed and shared my two new books. Thank you so very much to everyone working so hard to make these events and festivals happen with so much care and consideration. I have really been enjoying sharing the new work and poems.

This is all new work, poems I have never performed before. With every gig I learn new things. At every show I see how we gather and unite and share words and ways to heal and react and respond to our grief, trauma and fear, of past and present, the uncertainties of our now and here and our futures. I can feel a much bigger essay I want to write - All I can say for now is I love poets and feel very grateful. My heart spills over. So here I am just saying thank you. Thank you to everyone at this first leg of the tour and first batch of gigs with the brand new books. Thank you for everyone who came to say hello. Thank you for listening to my audio book. Thank you for checking in with me, thank you for roaring with me. I thank you for your beautiful hearts and messages. Thank you for your time, it is a luxury and privilege to write a book, to read a book, to seek hope and wonder and nourish dreams. Solidarity. You’re a lovely lot, thank you Canongate and OWN IT!

2024 Book tour continues this month with a batch of LIVEwire shows with Matt Abbott and Maria Ferguson in Manchester, Hull, Leeds and Weston-Super-Mare I hope to see you here and there, scroll down for dates...

NEW POETRY-FILMS: 'While Justice Waits' and '2084'

I have been collaborating with my Hastings crew, artist, filmmaker and musician Wolfgang Dubieniec and my dear friend poet and artist Oli Spleen. A poetry-film 'While Justice Waits’ was shared online last month and I am delighted to see an article in the Hastings Independent about it this week by Merlin Betts, thank you!

Link: hastingsindependentpress.co.uk

As I write this I note the date is June 8th 2024. It is the 75th Anniversary of ‘1984’ by George Orwell so it seems fitting we share our second collaborative piece ‘2084’ this weekend.

‘1984’ was published on June 8th 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's final book. I've shared the '2084' poetry-film and written a bit about it on the new Substack page.

Excited to add here, that both of these new poetry-films 'While Justice Waits' and '2084' will be included in an exhibition at The Garden of Tomorrow Festival, June 13-15, come along, find out more and get your tickets here

Link: houseofhackney.com

Coming up:

I continue my book tour with a fresh batch of LIVEwire shows, I will be on the road and on stage with my dear friends Matt Abbott and Maria Ferguson and all of these mighty and powerful and brilliant poets. I'm so looking forward to all of these shows. Tix are on sale now!

Link: livewirepoetry.org/events

• 13 June - The Edge, Manchester

• 14 June - Wrecking Ball Arts, Hull

• 15 June - Leeds Lit Fest, Hyde Park Book Club

• 20 June - Front Room, Weston-Super-Mare

Summer 2024 - Gigs & Festivals

4 July - Joelle Taylor & Salena Godden

in-conversation, Pages Of Hackney, London

6 July - Idler Festival, Hampstead, London

13-14 July - ALSO Festival, Warwickshire

2-4 August - Green Gathering, Chepstow

9-12 August - EIBF, Edinburgh

more on my linktree: https://linktr.ee/salenagodden

NEW Read: Last year I was invited to be a key note speaker for a conference on ‘consolation in contemporary literature’ at Lyon University. I had an incredible time in France, amazing conversations, and met with PHD student Héloïse Lecomte. Out this week is her incredible paper, a deep dive into the very heart and soul of my debut novel 'Mrs Death Misses Death' this is incredible. Thank you, Merci Xx

Chains of Consolation: Ghost-Writing Death’s Tales in Salena Godden’s Mrs Death Misses Death (2021)

Before I go offline again, here’s links to 4 delicious new listens and reads and things out now; a link for you to stream our packed out live and lively shows at Lyra Poetry Festival in Bristol, two very wonderful poetry podcasts, and a beautiful new poetry anthology, Poems As Friends by The Poetry Exchange:

NEW Watch: Lyra Festival

NEW Podcast: We, The Poets

NEW Podcast: Poetry Archive

NEW Anthology: The Poetry Exchange