Bloodaxe poets at Push the Boat Out in Edinburgh
Several Bloodaxe poets are part of the line-up of this year's Push the Boat Out festival, which takes place in Edinburgh and online from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 November. Details of the full programme can be found on the festival website here.
On Saturday 23 November at 2.30pm, South Uist poet Niall Campbell joins Raymond Antrobus for a poetry reading event on the theme of fatherhood. Niall Campbell's third collection The Island in the Sound was published by Bloodaxe in September. His previous collection Noctuary (2019) reflects on what it means to be a young father and was shortlisted for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Collection. This event will be BSL interpreted and live captioned.
On Sunday 24 November at 1.30pm, Imtiaz Dharker will read from her new collection Shadow Reader, which was published in May. She will discuss the collection with host Harriet MacMillan and show projections of the drawings included in the book.
Naomi Shihab Nye will speak with Marjorie Lotfi about her poetry, inspirations, and how her work engages with her American-Palestinian identity and culture at an online event on Sunday 24 November at 2pm. Bloodaxe Books first published Naomi Shihab Nye's Tender Spot: Selected Poems in 2008, followed by an expanded edition in 2015 which includes later work.
Marjorie Lotfi will also read alongside Nat Raha at an event themed around 'Bearing Witness', which is taking place on Sunday 24 November at 3.30pm. This event is chaired and curated by Alycia Pirmohamed. Marjorie Lotfi was one of the three joint winners of the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021. Her first book-length collection, The Wrong Person to Ask (Bloodaxe Books, 2023) was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2024 and is shortlisted for Poetry Book of the Year in the Saltire Book Awards 2024.
The festival will close with an event in celebration of the life and work of poet, activist and musician Benjamin Zephaniah on Sunday 24 November at 6pm. Poets including Raymond Antrobus, Salena Godden and Dean Atta will come together to share their memories of Benjamin. In April 2025 Bloodaxe will be publishing Benjamin Zephaniah's Dis Poetry: Selected Poems & Lyrics.
Tickets and further details for all of these events can be found on the Push the Boat Out website here.
[01 November 2024]
