An Evening with Rachel Long

Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our 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 Rachel Long, whose first collection My Darling from the Lions (Picador, 2020) was shortlisted for the 2020 Forward Prize. Rachel’s unique and original way of writing about the body and her exploration of both intimacy and distance in subject matter and approach to language provides our theme for this month’s event. William Wordsworth’s work also explored the idea of the body in a landscape and the body at work in his poems about the people he met during his walks – but he was also interested in the division between the body and the self – he once wrote that ‘we are laid asleep in body /and become a living soul’.

Our open mic theme this month is to write about the body – whether this is trying to articulate the difference between the body and the soul or addressing the body directly.  Please feel free to interpret this theme widely – and we look forward to hearing your work.

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!

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.