Carcanet online book launch: Like a Tree, Walking by Vahni Capildeo

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

Book now

Like a Tree, Walking by Vahni Capildeo: Online Book Launch

1 December 2021

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Vahni (Anthony Ezekiel) Capildeo
Poet Vahni (Anthony Ezekiel) Capildeo.
Book now

You don’t even need to step out into the cold, dark evening to celebrate the launch of Vahni Capildeo’s latest poetry collection, Like A Tree, Walking, as Manchester’s Carcanet Press are very kindly streaming the event live to a small screen near you. We’ve seen Vahni Capildeo read IRL here in Manchester in days of yore, and they are definitely worth checking out again, with a mesmeric quality to their voice, not to mention the rhythmic patterns of their poems.

Vahni (Anthony Ezekiel) Capildeo FRSL is a Trinidadian Scottish writer of poetry and non-fiction, Writer in Residence and Professor at the University of York, a Visiting Scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and an Honorary Student of Christ Church, Oxford. Their eight books and eight pamphlets include 2020’s Odyssey Calling (Sad Press) and The Dusty Angel, which came out with Oystercatcher Press earlier this year. The 2021 Poetry Book Society Winter Choice, Like A Tree, Walking is Vahni’s fourth collection with Carcanet, following 2019’s Skin Can Hold, the Forward Prize for Best Collection-shortlised Venus As A Bear (2018) and Measures Of Expatriation (2016), which won both the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. They are also co-editor of the Carcanet-published Brotherton Poetry Prize Anthology I (2020) and Brotherton Poetry Prize Anthology II (upcoming in 2022).

We’ve seen Vahni Capildeo read IRL here in Manchester in days of yore, and they are definitely worth checking out again, with a mesmeric quality to their voice, not to mention the rhythmic patterns of their poems.

Vahni Capildeo’s Like A Tree, Walking has been described as “a fresh departure, even for this famously innovative poet”. Taking its title from a story of sight miraculously regained, this book draws on Capildeo’s interest in ecopoetics and silence. Many pieces originate in specific places, from the alternating series of Walk, Nocturne and Lullaby poems inspired by the hilly Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobego, to Vahni’s so-called “stillness exercises” recording microenvironments – emotional and aural – around English trees. Vahni takes guidance from vernacular traditions of sensitivity ranging from Thomas A Clark to the participants in a Leeds libraries project on the Windrush. There’s a remix of Iain Crichton Smith’s Deer On The High Hills (1962), there are crossings-out, there are examples of erasure poems. And it’s a hefty tome, so there’s plenty to get from it.

The event will feature readings and discussion, and Vahni will be joined by Eric Gregory Award-winning poet Padraig Regan, a contributor to Carcanet’s New Poetries VIII anthology, whose much-anticipated first collection, Some Integrity, is due out with Carcanet in January 2022. Padraig Regan was born in 1993 in Belfast. They are the author of two poetry pamphlets: Delicious (Lifeboat, 2016) and Who Seemed Alive & Altogether Real (Emma Press, 2017). They hold a PhD on creative-critical and hybridised writing practices in medieval texts and the work of Anne Carson from the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast. Vahni says of their work: “To look up from Padraig Regan’s words is to find oneself gently re-fitted into the world.”

As always with Carcanet Press events, extracts of the text will be shown during the reading so that you can read along, and audience members will have the opportunity to ask their own questions. Registration for this online event is £2, redeemable against the cost of Like A Tree, Walking – attendees will receive a discount code and details of how to get hold of the new book during and after the event.

Like a Tree, Walking by Vahni Capildeo
Like a Tree, Walking by Vahni Capildeo

Where to go near Carcanet online book launch: Like a Tree, Walking by Vahni Capildeo

The Loft
Manchester
Music venue
The Loft

The Loft is an intimate, industrial-style club tucked away on the edge of Manchester city centre. Known for its impeccable sound system and low-key vibe.

Stables Tavern
City Centre
Restaurant
Stables Tavern

The Stables Tavern is an olde style pub in the St John’s neighbourhood of Manchester, where the Rovers Return once stood.

Manchester
Restaurant
Ban Di Bul

Ban Di Bul is a longstanding Korean restaurant in the very centre of Manchester.

Bridge Cottage
Port Sunlight
Gallery
Bridge Cottage

Bridge Cottage is one of Port Sunlight’s most charming and architecturally distinctive Arts & Crafts homes. Often hold art Exhibitions and Tours.

A projected image of the Stockroom.
Stockport
Library
Stockroom

Stockroom is Stockport’s new centre for culture and creativity, with a library, a children’s play area and a whole host of exciting events.

Inside main hall Birch Community Centre, showing high hammer-beam ceiling.
Manchester
Theatre
Birch Community Centre

Housed in a striking neo-Gothic former parish hall, Birch Community Centre is a hidden gem on Brighton Grove, just opposite Platt Fields Park. Its vaulted wooden ceiling and arched windows…

A series of microphones hang from the ceiling with a muted warm light in the background.
Rochdale
Event venue
RISE Inavate Centre

RISE Inavate Centre will be used for a thought-provoking sound installation by Shilpa Gupta at Manchester International Festival 2025.

Interior Decorations - Viet Deli
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Viet Deli

Viet Deli is a small venue, not the kind of place for a sit down meal. Serving only bánh mì, traditionally street food in Vietnam.

Levenshulme
Restaurant
My Nawaab

Eye-catching banqueting hall in Levenshulme, with a wide-ranging buffet showcasing freshly-prepared Indian and Pakistani cuisine.

SB_BreweryTour - Taproom One
Manchester
Brewery
Seven Bro7hers Brewery & Taproom

Discover the heart of Salford’s craft beer revolution at the Seven Bro7hers Brewery & Taproom—a spirited, family-run brewery where the brewing kettles gleam and the atmosphere buzzes with energy.

What's on: Literature

Andrew McMillan and Maria Ferguson
Until
LiteratureLeeds
Leeds Lit Fest 2025

The award-winning Leeds Lit Fest is back, this year running from 14 to 22 June 2025, and bringing together local talent and big-name authors for a lively programme.

From £0.00
SLAMCHESTER Poster
LiteratureManchester
SLAMCHESTER at 53Two

This June, Manchester welcomes the launch of SLAMCHESTER, a one-night-only spoken word slam featuring a a special performance by Jardel Rodrigues.

From £6.00
JE NE SAIS BLAH
LiteratureManchester
Je ne sais Blah at Cafe Blah

Je ne sais Blah is a brand-new spoken word night at the recently revenued Cafe Blah in the heart of Withington Village.

Free entry
Poet Tom Sastry.
LiteratureManchester
Verbose at The King’s Arms

Verbose is one of Manchester’s longest-running spoken word events, and welcomes Tom Sastry and Molly Naylor for June.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Harry Baker
Literature Events in the North

From environmental to experimental, our poetry and prose picks from around the North are focused on the unusual and the fun.

Exhibitions in the North

Captivating, urgent and intimate - we bring you our top exhibition picks, with even more art festivals, artist-led shows and new venues.

Helena Hauff
Music in the North

Shape-shifting bands, scorched-earth techno, and off-grid festivals. Our latest music picks catch the live scene at its most urgent, inventive and alive.

Cloudwater Production One
Tours and Activities in the North

Go forth with wild abandon to dance the pavements, dabble with the paint and down the pints in this month's tours and activities guide.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Experimental performance, thought-provoking new writing and our picks of Manchester International Festival - here’s what’s taking centre stage this summer.

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.

A young boy with a white sash around his left arm cries.
Cinema in the North

Outdoor cinema announcements, a major retrospective at HOME, and the best of indie cinema.