We’ll hear a series of newly commissioned poems exploring various ways we might ‘queer’ Bristol: in the ways we navigate the city; its underrepresented queer pasts; our dwindling shared spaces. The commissions will celebrate Bristol’s queer artists and literature, visioning futures – human and beyond – of sparkling queer horizons. After the new commissions and an open mic for LGBT+ poets, there’ll be a chance to mingle and wiggle, with music and a bar.
The event is hosted by Caleb Parkin and Rowena Knight.
To sign up for the open mic, please buy an ‘Open Mic Ticket’ at checkout.
CALEB PARKIN
Caleb Parkin, Bristol City Poet 2020 – 22, has poems in The Guardian, Poetry Review, Magma and The Rialto. He holds an MSc Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes and tutors for Poetry Society, Poetry School and Arvon. Publications: Wasted Rainbow (tall-lighthouse); This Fruiting Body (Nine Arches Press, longlisted Laurel Prize), All the Cancelled Parties (Bristol Ideas), The Coin (Broken Sleep). He is currently a practice-based PhD candidate at the University of Exeter.
ROWENA KNIGHT
Rowena Knight’s poetry is influenced by her identity as a queer feminist and childhood in New Zealand. Her poems have appeared in Butcher’s Dog, Magma, The Rialto, and The Emma Press Anthology of Love, amongst others. Her debut pamphlet, All the Footprints I Left Were Red, is published by Valley Press. Rowena has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and at spoken word events across Bristol and London.
Presented as part of Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival 2023, and Bristol Pride 2023.
