PN Review Summer Launch at Castlefield Gallery

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Poet Lisa Kelly.

PN Review Summer Launch at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield 24 July 2019 Entrance is free

It was mooted as a bi-annual affair, and here we are popping the third launch of revered poetry and criticism magazine PN Review into our diaries. The latest event – held against the backdrop of Castlefield Gallery’s Everything I Have Is Yours exhibition – gives you the chance to get hold of the July-August 2019 issue; number 248 of the long-running publication.

Having started life as Poetry Nation back in 1973, the tome is still going strong under the editorship of Michael Schmidt (also the founder and editorial and managing director of Manchester-based poetry publishing house Carcanet Press), appearing bi-monthly brimming with news, articles, interviews, features, translations, reviews and letters, and, of course poems.

Last year’s PN Review launch saw the performance of newly commissioned Yorkshire Sculpture Park-inspired pieces by the nation’s new Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. This time, the summer launch will feature readings from recent PN Review contributors Joe Carrick-Varty, Andy Croft, Jennifer Edgecombe, Lisa Kelly, Stav Poleg and John Wilkinson.

Last year’s PN Review launch saw the performance of newly commissioned Yorkshire Sculpture Park-inspired pieces by the nation’s new Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

Joe Carrick-Varty won the 2018 New Poets Prize and his debut pamphlet Somewhere Far was published by The Poetry Business in June. Andy Croft has written and edited many books, and his own collections of poetry include Letters to Randall Swingler, out with Shoestring Press, and, forthcoming, The Sailors of Ulm. He curates the T-junction international poetry festival in Middlesbrough, runs the Ripon Poetry Festival and edits Smokestack Books. Jennifer Edgecombe grew up in Cornwall and now lives on the Kent coast. As well as in PN Review and elsewhere, her poems and reviews have appeared in Ambit, Caught By the River and Lighthouse.

Lisa Kelly is half-Danish and half-deaf. She is the Chair of Magma Poetry and co-edited issue 63, The Conversation Issue, and issue 69, The Deaf Issue. She is a regular host of poetry evenings and a creative writing teacher at the Torriano Meeting House in London, and her pamphlets are Bloodhound (Hearing Eye, 2012) and Philip Levine’s Good Ear (Stonewood Press, 2018). She is a freelance journalist specialising in technology, and her first full collection, A Map Towards Fluency, is out this month.

Also on the editorial board of Magma Poetry is Stav Poleg, whose poetry has been published on both sides of the Atlantic, including in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, Poetry London and Poetry Ireland Review. She teaches at the Poetry School in London, and her debut pamphlet, Lights, Camera, was published in 2017, with her first full-length poetry collection ready to go. Her graphic-novel installation, Dear Penelope: Variations on an August Morning, created with artist Laura Gressani, was acquired by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

John Wilkinson has published extensively and his most recent collection, My Reef My Manifest Array, came out earlier this year with Carcanet, while his Salt Publishing book of 2014, Selected Poems: Schedule of Unrest, pulls together pieces from his collections of poetry published between 1974 and 2008. He was born in London and grew up on the Cornish coast and on Dartmoor, but has lived in the States since 2005 and is a Professor in the Department of English and Director of Creative Writing at the University of Chicago.

The event is free, although you are encouraged to sign up via Eventbrite, and refreshments will be served from 6.30pm.

PN Review Summer Launch at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield 24 July 2019

Book Now

What's on at Castlefield Gallery

What's on: Literature

Sarah Autumn
Until
LiteratureLeeds
Radical Reading Book Group at Left Bank Leeds

Join the Radical Reading Book Group every six weeks to discuss a book from The Reading Room Library – which you can find at Left Bank Leeds in collaboration with London-based independent radical publishers Pluto Press.

free entry
Until
LiteratureLiverpool
Poetry Walk at The Reader in Liverpool

Every Thursday morning you’re invited to join the Poetry Walk with The Reader in Calderstones Park. Get into the great outdoors and escape the everyday, while exploring poetry and making the most of the beautiful surroundings in a safe and socially distanced way.

free entry

Culture Guides

Exhibitions

There's no rest for the art lover - this month brings outdoor sculpture, musings on water, political drawings and Liverpool Biennial 2023!

Music

We look towards a summer filled with quality festivals, from cultural behemoths to grassroots gems.

Winnie the Pooh at Manchester Opera House
Families

The sun has finally got his hat on! Enjoy our top picks of family-friendly events and activities, both indoors and outdoors.

Classical Music

Summer's classical music calendar is filling up nicely! Read our top picks of concerts happening in Manchester and the North.

Gerry Potter (credit Lee Baxter)
Literature

Books are big this summer, with festival readings, poetry slams, creative writing activities and famous faces all putting in an appearance.

Food and Drink

All signs point toward June being a scorcher of a month, so let’s take a look at all things summery food and drink.

Tours and Activities

From literary activities to brilliant independent shops, keep your minds and homes filled with the good stuff this month.

Theatre in Manchester
Theatre

Check out our updated guide for lively theatre festivals, rip-roaring rooftop circus and dreamy outdoor shows.