Waiting for Godden

HOT Summer Dates:

Hello, here's a post to let you know about some summer events:

It Sounds Like Courage: Music and Solidarity - 26.06.2026, 7.30pm.

Music and spoken word shaped by migration, co-curated by Anoushka Shankar and Counterpoints Arts. Hosted by comedian Nish Kumar, this performance brings together award-winning Palestinian singer, composer, and flautist Nai Barghouti, conducted by Robert Ames with the London Contemporary Orchestra. There are also musical performances from renowned Kora virtuoso Seckou Keita, Afrofusion rapper MoYah, Mercury Prize-nominated songwriter Nadine Shah, and soul singer and songwriter Nectar Woode. Plus, poetry from award-winning poets Inua Ellams, Nikita Gill and Salena Godden. Featuring artists with lived experience of displacement, musicians with migrant heritage and high-profile allies in the fight for justice and equality, It Sounds Like Courage is a night to imagine new possibilities together, with community and solidarity at its centre.

tickets: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk

June 26th: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank

June 27th: Ledbury Poetry Festival

July 19th: Maryville with Joelle Taylor

July 23 - 26: Latitude Festival

August 24th - 29th: Arvon with Nikita Gill

September 9th: Manchester, The Good Immigrant

September 12: Hastings Book Festival

September 13th: London, The Good Immigrant

September 15th: Bristol, The Good Immigrant

September 19: Morecambe Poetry Festival

This September is the 10th anniversary of The Good Immigrant. And we are celebrating its induction into the British Literary Canon. Canongate has selected it for their iconic The Canons series. Very excited about this good news. Beautiful new cover. We are publishing the book in September 2026, ten years to the day after its post-Brexit release in 2016. Ten years have passed, we keep fighting the good fight. Thank you Nikesh Shukla.

Pre-order is available now and to mark the book’s 10th anniversary, editor Nikesh will chairs a series of live panels bringing together original contributors to The Good Immigrant, to reflect on what’s changed in Britain in the decade since publication, what hasn’t. To book your tickets and re-discover the collection that lit a fire and gave voice to a generation, click the links here and visit the Fane website: https://www.fane.co.uk/nikesh-shukla

All you fascists bound to lose.

I'm honoured to have a poem 'Is There Anybody Out There' featured on this new album, Natural Symphony's HUMAN | NATURE

HUMAN | NATURE translates movement, rhythm, and biological signals into music, blurring the boundaries between technology, humanity, and environment. Find out more about HUMAN | NATURE, stream on all major platforms, or purchase the gift set from Natural Symphony. A multi-genre, storytelling electronic music album.

The gift set contains:

1 x Hand made wooden case with glass lid

1 x Crystal/wood USB stick

1 x 100 page picture/story book

1 x USB is loaded with the Human | Nature album and bonus Amazon Rainforest documentary by Remi Bumstead featuring Natural Symphony

100% of all Royalties are going to Earth Sonic and Seeds of Sound environmental projects around the world.

label: https://naturalsymphony.co.uk/products/human-nature-album

Sharing art that captures the now, the new Banksy:

See the man in his suit, blinded by his flag, marching into the abyss.

See you all this Midsummers, see you at these beautiful events at the RFH Southbank and at Ledbury and at Latitude. I'm a bit like a hermit crab right now, quietly working on my new books. Trying to make time to stare at big skies, take deep breaths, dream big dreams, grow flowers and patiently birth new worlds. Please take care, eat your greens, drink plenty of water, rest when your body tells you to, and we keep on keeping on, fighting the good fight,

With love, grief and fury,

Xxsg

REST IN PEACE MARJANE SATRAPI

REST IN PEACE DAVID HOCKNEY

REST IN PEACE SONNY ROLLINS

Click here to read my latest substack

Latest on YouTube: My Heart Is A Boat

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MARCH 2 - BARNSLEY BOOK FESTIVAL -

Performing with my old N&T family at LIVEWIRE in Yorkshire, alongside gorgeous Toria Garbutt and Matt Abbott, it will be wonderful and this one is free entry too! #supportlibraries

MARCH 12 - MANCHESTER, SOUNDS OF SOLIDARITY - Hurricane Melissa Fundraiser for Jamaica with the beautiful talents of J Chambers, Lisa Moorish, Genesis Elijah, Tsana, and many, many more, come along to Band On The Wall, help us help Jamaica!! #HurricaneMelissa

MARCH 21 - LONDON, HACKNEY EMPIRE -

We return to the Hackney Empire alongside Hollie McNish, supporting the release of Hollie’s brilliant new poetry book VIRGIN with the spectacular Michael Pedersen, come and watch LIVE, glorious venue, big stage, it’s gonna be epic.

These are my first gigs for 2026: Catch me if you can, please come, say hello. Not long now, spring soon come, soon come. I sense a big shift for all of us. I can feel it, taste it, the world is turning, changing, the universe is shifting. I know this dark shadow will pass one day, and winter will end, so for now please keep on keeping on, keep reaching for the light, and remember to eat your greens and lead with love, always lots of love xxsg

APRIL 30 - QEH, SOUTHBANK - SYMPOESIA

The London Sinfonietta and London’s premier live poetry night Out-Spoken come together for a raw, unflinching meditation on the state of the world. Poets including Jay Bernard, Salena Godden and Out-Spoken’s Anthony Anaxagorou and Joelle Taylor are joined by the contemporary chamber orchestra in a performance that weaves together poetry and music. Featuring a brand-new commission alongside notable modern works, this is an evening of urgent storytelling and virtuosic performance.

Tickets: southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/sympoesia/