Suzannah V Evans online book launch with Eleanor Rees

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Poet Eleanor Rees. Photo by Elly Lucas.

6 May 2021 Entrance is free — Visit now

Liverpool-based poet Eleanor Rees will be reading at the online launch of Suzannah V Evans’s new pamphlet Brightwork, out on 5 May with Guillemot Press, publishing Eleanor’s own next collection in 2022.

Suzannah V Evans’ watery-inspired, word-led poetry also features in the recently published Carcanet anthology New Poetries VIII, edited by Michael Schmidt and John McAuliffe at the Manchester-based press.

As guest poet for the event, Eleanor promises to read new poems written over the last year – a taster, perhaps, of her fifth collection of poems, following up from The Well At Winter Solstice, which received a Northern Writers’ Award in 2018 and was published by Salt in 2019. A senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Liverpool Hope University, Eleanor Rees lives in Liverpool, having moved across the water from Birkenhead, where she was born.

Her poetry is described as “visionary” and “immerses you in another world from which you leave transformed”. Her debut pamphlet, Feeding Fire (Spout, 2001), received an Eric Gregory Award in 2002 while her first full-length collection, Andraste’s Hair (Salt, 2007), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize For Best First Collection and the Irish Glen Dimplex New Writers’ Award. Her second collection, also with Salt, was 2009’s Eliza And The Bear while her third collection, Blood Child (Pavilion), was published the same year, 2015, as her long pamphlet Riverine (Gatehouse). Selections of her poems have been translated into French, German, Lithuanian, Slovak and Spanish (Versopolis, 2016, 2019), and philosopher Rosi Braidotti says: “These are poems written in a state of grace, trusting in the infinite wisdom of the universe. And Rees gives us hope that all manner of things shall be well in the end, if we are only able to shift our vision.”

Following on from her debut double pamphlets Marine Objects / Some Language published with Guillemot Press in April 2020, and illustrated by Chloe Bonfield, Suzannah V Evans’ new pamphlet Brightwork is also informed by time spent at Bristol’s historic boatyard Underfall Yard, where she was its first poet in residence, in 2019. Some Language takes the sea as its starting point, with poems set by shorelines, inside creaking boats, and balanced above rockpools, looking closely at the life found in these places. Based on the artist Eileen Agar’s sculpture Marine Object (1939), Marine Objects is an ekphrastic sequence of poems that unfold via repetition and the gradual development of language, lines, sound and themes, and which poet Isabel Galleymore describes as to be “marvelled at”. Suzannah V Evans’ watery-inspired, word-led poetry also features in the recently published Carcanet anthology New Poetries VIII, edited by Michael Schmidt and John McAuliffe at the Manchester-based press, and well worth a look, featuring the work of over 20 writers, including Victoria Kennefick.

Suzannah V Evans has published poems in PN Review, Eborakon, The London Magazine, The Scotsman, Magma, New Welsh Review, Stand and elsewhere. She was longlisted for the 2019 and 2018 Ivan Juritz Prize for Creative Experiment, which she won in 2020, when she also received a 2020 Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North. She has read at Keats House, London, where she organised Keats House: New Poets, for York Literature Festival and StAnza Poetry Festival, and her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol. She is reviews editor for The Compass, a reviewer for the TLS and an AHRC-funded doctoral researcher at Durham University.

6 May 2021 Entrance is free Visit now

Where to go near Suzannah V Evans online book launch with Eleanor Rees

 Patrick, SpongeBob and Squidward at the UK's only Nickelodeon Land.
Blackpool
Tourist Attraction
Nickelodeon Land

Combine the thrill of an amusement park with the colourful world of Nickelodeon at the UK’s only Nickelodeon Land, located within Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort.

Leeds
Restaurant
Archive

Archive serving up speciality coffee and bespoke events to the people of Kirkstall, including craft fairs, vintage pop ups and exhibitions.

Ego Death
Manchester
Restaurant
Ego Death

Ego Death is a speakeasy-style secret bar in the Northern Quarter with a cocktail menu as good as its atmosphere.

Flat Iron Leeds
Manchester
Restaurant
Flat Iron Manchester

Relaxed restaurant in the centre of Manchester, serving impressively high-quality steaks at an affordable price point.

hotel2
Hotel
Hilton Liverpool

The riverside location of Hilton Liverpool makes it one of the most centrally placed hotels in the city, close to the all attractions, big and small.

hotel
Baltic Triangle
Hotel
Maldron Hotel

The Maldron Hotel is perfectly located on the edge of the Baltic Triangle and offers comfortable stays and luxurious breakfasts.

hotel4
Liverpool
Hotel
The Halyard

The Halyard is one of Liverpool’s newest hotels, with top floor suites offering sweeping views of the city and delicious treats in the restaurant.

shop
Liverpool
Shop
COW Liverpool

Cow Liverpool is one of the city’s favourite vintage shops, with clothing, accessories and homeware in a spacious shop on Bold Street.

Liverpool
Shop
Pop Boutique Liverpool

Pop Boutique houses Vintage, clothing, homeware and vinyl. This bold street shop is in the centre of the ropewalks area of Liverpool which is fast becoming the indie centre of Liverpool.

cafe
Lark Lane
Café or Coffee Shop
Press Bros

Press Bros is one of Lark Lane’s best coffee spots, with coffee made from locally roasted beans and delicious breakfasts.

What's on: Literature

Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photo by Nic Chapman
LiteratureManchester
Verbose Tenth Birthday at The King’s Arms

Verbose is one of Manchester’s longest-running spoken word events, and we’re delighted to have been invited to help celebrate its ten-year anniversary at a special evening on Monday 27 January.

free entry
LiteratureWest Yorkshire
Poetry at the Dusty Miller

Poetry at the Dusty Miller is a now regular night with invited readers, organised by Carcanet-published Carola Luther and Judith Willson in the Coiners’ Room in the Mytholmroyd pub.

free entry

Culture Guides

A man and a woman stood in front of a window at night look into each others' eyes
Cinema in the North

Hollywood greats and early bird film fest tickets are on our horizon as we start the New Year.

Olaf Falafel
Family things to do in the North

We might be past the holiday season, but Manchester and the North's arts and cultural calendar is still packed with brilliant events and activities for families

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Documentary performance, groundbreaking dance, world premieres and fresh takes on classic works - check out our early theatre highlights for 2025.

Music in the North

Warm, intimate storytelling is the thread connecting our new picks, which include a number of brilliant folk artists.

A sculpture of a dark brown dog looks to the right, hanging out of its middle and the back are what appears to be its insides (in cream) spilling out.
Exhibitions in the North

From genre-defying art film to vibrant embroidery and Surrealist sculpture, check out the best winter exhibitions to see right now.