Words can bring us together. They can also set us apart. Join Capital Letters for a unique evening of international and local poetry exploring how words connect people from very different parts of the world.

This special event proudly presents award-winning poets from Canada alongside poets who live and work in the Manchester and Salford area. Plus, you can meet the poets after the event. This event is free, but you are advised to arrive early, as it will get very busy.

From Canada:

Jeanette Lynes (pictured) is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently ‘Bedlam Cowslip: The John Clare Poems‘, which received The Saskatchewan Arts Board Poetry Award. Her first novel, The Factory Voice, was long listed for the Scotia Bank Giller Prize. Jeanette directs The MFA in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Winner of the International Festival of Authors’ Poetry NOW competition, Catherine Graham’s poetry collections Her Red Hair Rises was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Poetry Award and CAA Poetry Award. Graham now teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto. Her sixth poetry collection, ‘The Celery Forest‘, will appear in 2017 as will her debut novel, ‘Quarry‘.

Albert F. Moritz (A.F. Moritz) is the author of 20 books of poetry. His poetry has received numerous prizes: For his collection ‘The Sentinel‘, he was the recipient of the Griffin Prize, the world’s largest award for a volume of English-language poetry. He has also won the ReLit Award, Canada’s “anti-Griffin” best-of-the-year prize. ‘Night Street Repairs‘ was named one of 39 “books of the decade” by the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Ian Burgham is the author of six collections of poetry and has performed his work throughout Canada, the UK and Mexico. He is a past winner of the Queen’s Well-Versed Award and a past nominee for Canada’s Relit Award. A new collection of his poems is to be published in 2018.

From Manchester and Salford:

Scott Thurston lectures at the University of Salford where he runs a Masters in Innovative and Experimental Creative Writing. He co-runs The Other Room reading series in Manchester, edits The Radiator, a little magazine of poetics, and co-edits The Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry with Robert Sheppard. He has published three collections with Shearsman, and a volume of interviews with experimental women poets.

Amy McCauley’s current projects include: a book of poetry which re-imagines the Oedipus myth (Oedipa), a book of essays on language, violence and desire (Propositions) and a book of dialogues about Joan of Arc (CaNToS of JoaN). Amy works as poetry editor for New Welsh Review and is the recipient of a 2016 Northern Writers’ Award for poetry.

Tom Jenks has published seven books of poetry, including Repressed (Knives Forks and Spoons) and, with SJ Fowler, 1000 Proverbs (Knives Forks and Spoons). He has collaborated extensively with Chris McCabe, including Ubu Roi, I Boris, a re-write of Jarry’s Ubu Roi and Seaside Special, a collection of literary end of the pier postcards. He administers the avant objects imprint zimZalla.

This event is free – book your place here.