An Evening with Amy Acre

Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our online contemporary poetry reading series ‘Go to the poets, they will speak to thee’ continues throughout 2023. We will be listening to what poets have to say about our turbulent times, and how poetry can cross borders to challenge, delight and inspire us. Each event in the series is part reading, part open mic – and the theme of the open mic changes every month! 

Our next event will feature poet and founding editor of Bad Betty Press Amy Acre. Amy’s recent debut collection is Mothersong, published by Bloomsbury Books. Motherhood is a thrilling, gritty, moving excavation of early motherhood, grief and how we create a community. In The Prelude William Wordsworth writes ‘A babe, by intercourse of touch/I held mute dialogues with my Mother’s heart’. The centrality of the body and physicality to the importance of mothering is a thread that connects these two writers together, despite the hundreds of years that divides them.

Our open mic theme this month is to bring a poem which responds in some way to motherhood – whether this is exploring the act of mothering, or being mothered, of losing a mother or finding one in the strangest of places – feel free to interpret this theme widely!

Open mic slots are limited and must be booked in advance.  Each open mic poem should be no longer than two minutes. Email Kim Moore at wordsworthreadingseries@outlook.com for a slot.  Slots do book up quickly, so don’t leave it to the last minute! (Update: the open mic is now FULL.)

How to book and attend

Please read our guide to booking and attending online events before you purchase a ticket.

This event is a Zoom Webinar and the audience will not appear on screen. If you have bought a ticket and signed up to the open mic your audio and video will be enabled during the open mic.

Five free tickets are available for each session for those experiencing financial hardship that would otherwise not be able to attend. This is on a first come first served basis with no questions asked about your situation. Please email Hannah at h.catterall@wordsworth.org.uk.

Live captions will be provided by Otter.ai.