The Way of the Poet Book Launch - Roy McFarlane

Join us at the bookshop for an evening of poetry to celebrate Roy McFarlane's new book published by Nine Arches Press: The Way of the Poet.

Part memoir, part meditation on the art of poetry and what it is to be a poet in the modern age, The Way of the Poet by Roy McFarlane is a journal following the daily life in creative practice. Full of guidance, encouragement and reflections on the personal, political and radical nature of the craft of writing in troubled times, this will be a ground-breaking book from one of the new millennium’s most inspiring and socially-engaged writers.

Roy McFarlane is a poet, playwright and former Youth & Community worker born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage, living in Brighton. He’s the National Canal Laureate, a former Birmingham Poet Laureate and was one of the Bards of Brum who performed in the Opening Ceremony for Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. His debut collection, Beginning With Your Last Breath, was followed by The Healing Next Time, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. His third collection, Living by Troubled Waters, was published in 2022.

Ray Shell has been a permanent fixture in the West End since 1978 when he starred in Oscar Johnson & Lon Satton’s LITTLE WILLIE JR’s RESSURECTION. He has starred in productions such as STARLIGHT EXPRESS, MISS SAIGON, THE LION KING and THE BODY GUARD. He is also the author of ICED, CAROLINA RED, SPIKE LEE: THE ETERNAL MAVERICK and the BBC Radio3 drama JUBILEE with GARTH BEARDSLEY. Ray has his own imprint, Street Books www.streetangelsbooks.co.uk  

SEA SHARP is a British-American poet, performer, and playwright whose work explores themes of home, trauma, identity, and anything else that makes them feel uncomfortable. They are the author of 'Black Cotton' (Waterloo Press, 2019) and of the Prairie Seed Poetry Prize-winning book, 'The Swagger of Dorothy Gale & Other Filthy Ways to Strut' (Ice Cube Press, 2017).

The event will be hosted by local poet Jackie Wills.

Jackie Wills is a poet. Her work has been described as darkly British, surreal and elegant. While many of her poems are narrative, she is also a poet of ideas, exploring relationships, female experience, memory and place. Her first collection Powder Tower (Arc, 1995) was shortlisted for the 1995 T.S. Eliot prize and on publication of Fever Tree (Arc, 2004) Mslexia magazine selected her as one of the top 10 new women poets of the decade.

NB: We apologise for the inconvenience but our bookshop is currently not wheelchair accessible. 

The toilets are located on the ground floor. 

The event space/bookroom café is located at the top of a staircase (17 steps).

Please do get in touch if you’d like to know more details to plan your visit ahead. 

Email is: salomee@kemptownbookshop.co.uk