Hello, how are you?
So, here’s a quick post to let you know whats' been happening and whats next...
First off, we are going to be in Ireland in July. I’m very excited to be invited to perform at CAIRDE SLIGO ARTS FESTIVAL and WEST CORK LITERARY FESTIVAL and the tickets are LIVE for all shows!
It is a dream gig to bring my new poems and books to Ireland. I have been asking to come and visit but have not had an opportunity to come see the country since before times and have such happy memories of being there, exploring and writing and completing the final tweaks of Mrs Death Misses Death at the Curfew Tower in Cushendall, Co. Antrim in 2018.
I have published four books since my last gigs in Ireland in Dublin and Belfast back in 2019. How the years and books are flying by. I will post more about this trip, but for now confirming I will see you in Ireland in July
I'm busy writing books, and not doing my usual circuit of all the gigs and festivals this summer, so I will miss you and all that fun, but will be back on a UK tour in the autumn with the beautiful new paperback edition of With Love, Grief and Fury, this new edition will be published in October 2025 in time for National Poetry Day and BHM and I will post all my gig dates for this autumn tour soon, for now you can find some dates here
I am beyond excited to visit Ireland again! This will be a joy. Ahh loves, it’s gonna be a treat, see you on the sunny side, you beautiful people Xx
Tuesday July 8th:
Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
Yeats Building, 6pm
Join poets Saoirse Anton, Salena Godden and Alice Kinsella for an evening of poetry and conversation. From political optimism to parenting (arguably the same thing), and cat ownership to circuses (definitely the same thing), these poets cover creative continents. Between them, they bring award-winning fiction, memoir and poetry.
Salena Godden's debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death (2021) won the Indie Book Awards for Fiction and the People’s Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize. Her new full poetry collection With Love, Grief and Fury and literary childhood memoir Springfield Road - A Poets Childhood Revisited were published in May 2024.
Saoirse Anton is an Irish writer, performer and producer. She released her debut pamphlet Confetti Catching in February 2024, written while living with NoFit State Circus as Production Poet in Residence in Spring 2023.
Alice Kinsella’s books include Milk: On Motherhood and Madness (2023) and Wake of the Whale (2024) which was a Sunday Independent Book of the Year. The Ethics of Cats (2025) is her debut full-length poetry collection.
link: cairdefestival.comaped by lives lived on the road, on the margins and in the thick of it.
Friday July 11th:
West Cork Literary Festival
Marino Church, Bantry, 6.30pm
Salena Godden published her latest collection of poetry With Love, Grief and Fury in May 2024 and on the same day her memoir Springfield Road: A Poet’s Childhood Revisited was reissued. Salena’s electrifying live performances, at everywhere from literary festivals to the Women’s March and Extinction Rebellion protests in London’s Parliament Square, have earned her a devoted following and we can’t wait to witness her West Cork performance.
‘Read these poems then listen to Salena read these poems then go and watch Salena read these poems. She is a master of every incarnation this art form may take and I am constantly in awe of her. This collection brings so much joy and makes me determined to live more, lust more and love more.’ Hollie McNish
Salena will be doing a full solo show and reading her latest poetry and will also in conversation with fellow poet, Alice Kinsella
Sunday July 13th:
West Cork Literary Festival
Marino Church, Bantry, 6.30pm
Join West Cork Literary Festival and Poetry Ireland for an evening of award-winning poetry with Mona Arshi and Oluwaseun Olayiwola.
Mona Arshi’s new poetry collection Mouth will be published in July and it gives voice to the marginal women of Greek tragedy to present fresh perspectives on war and migration today. As a human rights lawyer, Mona saw power and its abuses, the structures of silencing set against refugees. As a poet, she charts the movements and migrations that change the course of our lives – from child to adult, from home to elsewhere, from grief to what lies beyond.
Strange Beach is the debut collection from poet and choreographer Oluwaseun Olayiwola. Intimate and erotic, ecological and philosophical, the poems in Strange Beach illuminate the body as a porous landscape across which existential dramas, filial fractures, and sexual reckonings occur.
This event will be moderated by fellow poet Salena Godden.
I’m in France from August 18th to teach a poetry and yoga retreat at Chateau De Sacy. Please book now if any of you would like to come and hang out and work on some poetry with me in a beautiful French chateau. If not for you, this might be an amazing gift to encourage a favourite poet in your life. There are a few places left, so grab your place now. I think it will be like a dream to be there for one magic week, sharing our love of poetry and books and taking a much needed healing breath.
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Tom, Lily, Oli and Salena, backstage
POET TOWN charity event for Refugee Buddy Project
June 19th 2025 |
T H A N K Y O U
I thank every one of you who came out to support Refugee Week and our glorious POET TOWN gig for The Refugee Buddy Project in Hastings. We raised the roof and raised about £900 for the charity with a sold out show, a dozen poets and two bands and a full heart and a full house. It was a beautiful show of solidarity and faith and passion and warmth and rage and I thank you all for supporting it, thank you for contributing and sharing in it all. Thank you.
Meanwhile, Moth Light Press still need our help and the POET TOWN anthology is still crowd funding, so if you would like to support us you can find all the info on the POET TOWN patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/c/PoetTown/posts
The Refugee Buddy Project will still need our community and help and funding all year around, please check out their work via their website:
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| Artwork, Lorraine Schneider, 1967 |
thanks for finding my page
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| Artwork by Dev The Pineapple, 2025 |
Roaring 20's Radio Show
We have a new lively LIVE show airing on Monday afternoon's once a month on Soho Radio. We have been running our show since November 2019 and we recorded our stunning June 2025 edition yesterday. You can listen again and find us via Soho Radio. Our next LIVE and lively show is Monday July 21st. Come find us on Soho Radio - Presented by Salena Godden, Amah-Rose Abrams and Matt Abbot, Roaring 20s Radio amplifies the best art and culture, books and poetry, music and activism, as we collectively ROAR through the unprecedented events of this tumultuous decade.
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| Artwork by Tiril Valeur, 2025 |
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