Amy Acre is a poet and editor, born in London and living in Nottingham. Her debut collection, Mothersong (Bloomsbury, 2023) is shortlisted for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, and was named a Book of the Year in The Telegraph, The Financial Times and California Review of Books. She runs award-winning indie publisher, Bad Betty Press.
Amy is the author of pamphlets, And They Are Covered in Gold Light (Bad Betty, 2019) and Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads (Flipped Eye, 2015), both selected as a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She’s written for Radio 4 and featured on The Last Dinosaur’s 2020 track, ‘In The Belly of a Whale’. Her work has been selected as a BBC Pick of the Week and a London Review Bookshop recommendation.
Jemma Hathaway Book Launch Friday 7th June Doors 7pm for 7.30pm on the Lightship
Jemma Hathaway likes to put words next to one another and see if they hit it off. Her poems have been featured on BBC Radio Bristol, BBC iPlayer and @bbc on Instagram. Jemma is a multiple slam-winner, was the 2020 Hammer & Tongue champion for Bristol and is a Button Poetry Short Form contest winner.
Jemma has supported Joelle Taylor, Jasmine Gardosi and Roger McGough, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and appeared on Sky Arts Life & Rhymes. She self-published her first poetry pamphlet, January in 2021. Her poems are a sticky dancefloor for the ongoing dance-off between her head and her heart. She hopes you like her moves.
About The Book
I’ve been looking everywhere for you is full of big four-letter things – life, love, loss, time and ultimately, hope. It’s a book of hellos and goodbyes, bad days and blessings, it is a healing and a homecoming … and it hopes to come home with you.
These poems take us from melanin to mountains, from stars to submarines, from hard times to soft words and set us down somewhere in that healing space between far-off galaxies and close-up magic.
This collection longs to be read in a different light – the light of midnight porches, of torches beneath blankets, of lighthouses that exist solely to warn you away from the rocks. All the lights that say, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.
‘Big things happen in small moments, writes Jemma Hathaway, and proceeds to show us just how much life can be found stuffed in the cracks of our existence.
Casting a witty, irreverent eye over the subject of her poems, Jemma chooses a playful touch which enables her to explore serious subjects without ever feeling worthy or preachy. The collection doesn’t shy away from the world’s sharp edges- racial microaggressions, homophobia, grief and mental health are some of the things she touches upon- but remains ultimately and defiantly hopeful.
The imagery swings between the expansive and the everyday, where melanin holds light like Galileo’s telescope holds the moon and Queer lives are singing kettles. Throughout, Jemma reminds the reader that love in all its various, ridiculous, wonderful forms exists in the most mundane of places.’ Kat Lyons
‘Jemma Hathaway is a beacon of light guiding you back home to yourself. Her collection is unapologetically itself and encourages you to be the same. Metaphors and similes soar, seeking to be deciphered into insightful notes of acceptance, reminding you you’re alive, and deservedly so. A vivid, compelling and compassionate collection.’ Jemima Hughes
Jemma will be supported on the night by three fantastic poets from the South-West:
Kathryn O’Driscoll Kathryn O’Driscoll is a queer, disabled poet, mentor and editor from Bath. She was the 2021 U.K. Poetry Slam Champion and a World Slam Finalist. She was longlisted for the Disabled Poets Prize and the Outspoken Prize for Performance Poetry in 2023, and the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Artist in 2022. In 2021 she was one of the featured poets on the (BAFTA winning) Sky Arts spoken word TV show Life and Rhymes. Her debut collection ‘Cliff Notes’ is available from Verve Poetry Press.
Jo Eades Since her first performance set at the inaugural Hotwells Festival of words in 2021, Jo has become a regular on the Bristol spoken word scene. She has been featured four times on BBC Radio Upload, performed on the Milk Poetry stage at Valleyfest and was headliner for Heron Books anniversary celebration last Christmas. In 2023 she won both a Rhyme Against the Tide and Milk Poetry Slam and in April this year, won the Lyra Poetry Festival Grand Slam.
Jaidah Jaidah’s written & spoken works are undeniably compelling, ask questions of us collectively & hold the primary focus of advocating alongside promoting human welfare & connection. Jaidah’s journey into writing started 3 years ago in a sanctuary of solitude, which stimulated vastly journeying the world within herself & most importantly she has been inspired by listening to the language nature speaks. Vulnerable yet powerful Jaidah’s quiet commanding presence & delivery are outward reaching & embody a courage built through her own hard-won experience. Continuously thought provoking, her words are colourful & within those colours live the essence of divine human nature.
Eryn McDonald is a multi-disciplinary artist from the South-West. They write a lot about gender, sexuality, politics and, more recently, health and burnout. They are currently co-creating a show about transness, masculinity and girlhood with Satellite of Love’s very own team members Aish Humphreys and Cal Wensley.
They recently completed a short poetry film commission for Apples & Snakes, and are the director of a short documentary on drag and gender identity called Queer Is A Tender Feeling.
They are driven by political rage, love for community, and a burning desire to infiltrate capitalism.
Eryn’s promotional picture was provided by Kathryn O’Driscoll
I’ve been sat behind this guy for hours now, wonder what his name is?
Brush the air with words and make some rain only to spiral down like sycamore seeds over dosing on angst – therapy poetry! With a fuck or two you – strangled by shouts swap one self for another who? Mike, he said it
one day will be the last time you see yourself in the mirror my own one man show do not adjust the mike it’s fucked he sipped and sipped, gently, satisfied The world is a magnificent place for those who give it the time of day Aish can only adjust the mic stand yeah yeah yeah that’s trigonometry done
Go-Pro vertigo as commotion scroll through Dante’s Inferno is it possible to get seasick on a moored boat? Back of the van! I have a dirty finger you regurgitate your animal like a tapeworm pulling it between your teeth more women will have the guts, their vibrations will roar
(shouted) lettuce, lettuce, lettuce
we really need to make a list shoe news, new shoes! tip tappity tap I’m swimming in my own lane
The wind blew wild as the cat and the dog chased the mouse through the woods – while the tree swayed no one seemed to notice the man on the bike, dressed as a Zebra
I can’t believe another lady took a shit on the floor at 9.30 am
Jonathan Kinsman (he/him) is a bi, trans, polyamorous poet. He is a slam champion and has published three poetry pamphlets. Last summer, he did a full run of his debut solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe and his debut collection The Fireman’s Daughter is out now with Broken Sleep Books.
Overcaffeinated Princess Leia chats shit backstage while waiting for her cue at the village panto
When Darth Vader was the dame I never did master the art of the gag reflex on his “microphone of love” – he’d say, “as anyone seen my “Barbie?” Even my Grandma does burpees. Oh, she’s like fish with a coral allergy!
My cat makes an excellent meringue with her moles! Deep underground, coming up when they hear a sound, from all around.
Last week, kneeling on the cocktail bar with my fingers down my throat, I thought, how darling, how Y2K, how B-Lister in a black dress and Giotto Turbo Maxi Bob was in it saying “I wanna stick it up your jacksy in a minute!” and “All I need is another man to break the law!”
I was hoping to be inspired in the toilet. I wandered lonely as a cloud savouring memories of mammaries rarely found. Summer’s earth doth seldom claim the frigid mirth of my worn name… It’s like they took the embodiment of literature and made it take a piss behind the lonely fucking curtain. Shit! It’s time. Somebody got the shouty man.
Jasmine
In all these falling scraps of paper, what words can we manage to catch? A girl from Ecuador blowing cigarette smoke into her best friend’s tear-gassed eyes. Wild jasmine: approximate burning time 25 hours. A cormorant alights the ship, confused by the pretty lights. The dead cling to my skin like rain-sodden silk. Leo’s full moon, new transit for Pluto. Bright burn with realisations – I pray it’s done How was it? she asks and the stars shuddered as one.
Everyone say glove I really dropped the ball today – wonder if anyone will notice I am flippantly tossing tables as the barman pours another whiskey shot – sing to me Do you like guacamole? I am scaling furniture when the beds break I’m carbon dating my journals Mr Blobby, dead at 53 Paul’s being a poopy poop Mouldy bananas Bodies of water Paul loves wrestling Not very relatable is it My glasses are a shield and I can’t take them off After sixteen years of appropriate onstage attire the Satellite team finally stopped mentioning the nudity rule A rainbow flag runs up the stairs
*******************************
Cold nights drawing in reflected in dark waters We are finger bitten Afloat in a sea of memories I am out of words. I have scraped the jar clean, licked the lid, and sit here full and silent.
Jemima Hughes is a multi slam winning performance poet who will sweep you up and drag you through the “mindfield” of the unorthodox, swiftly spinning it into the ordinary. She brings you into the storm, pauses for breaks in the clouds, and sits with you in the aftermath to discuss how to rebuild. Jemima’s debut poetry collection ‘Unorthodox’, published with Verve Poetry Press in 2020, challenges perceptions of living with sexual trauma and mental health issues through personal experiences. Her new 2023 collection ‘Into The Ordinary’ aims to change perspectives on how we can make the world a more accepting, understanding and comfortable place for those living with these experiences.
Some mornings your room is a rain cloud My old boots are letting the puddles in The pillow cradles my skull and forms a crucible for my dreams Are we nearly dead yet? Darkness on the quay Ghost-gulls fly and lights are reflected in the water The pre-loved bin bags of Halloween rustle ominously in the gloaming First time jitters once again Her dress was made of music Sparkling lights water my eyes The boat turned poets into angels with bright halos Inspiration, community, friendships, and smiles. All afloat on this boat.
Out of context seagulls (a one-way conversation with Shrek)
SHREK! You crushed the last piece of my shattered heart. Little did you know you lost a strong girl. I’d pay £1,200 for a new mic stand or an exorcist and I still think contactless is magic. SHREK! There’s an out-of-context seagull troubling the roof of an urban semi. My cat is awesome. Speak your truth, Eric! The fun is in the egg TOMATOES. MIC DROP
Stand-up poet and lo-fi theatremaker Jonny Fluffypunk has been dragging his art around the UK and occasionally beyond for over 25 years, deafly fusing bittersweet autobiography, disillusionment and wonder into an act that has established him as a firm favourite at gigs, festivals and housing benefit offices everywhere. He has two volumes of poems, micro-fictions and threadbare philosophy published by Burning Eye, and his solo ‘no-fi’ stand-up spoken word theatre shows, including his latest, If We Just Keep Going, We Will Get There in the End, have toured extensively around theatres, pubs, garden sheds, summer houses, record shops and Britain’s other ad-hoc performance spaces in a blatant championing of homespun DIY culture. When not performing, Jonny runs workshops, putting shapes and colours into the minds of young and old alike. He’s a crucial third of Hip Yak Poetry Shack, ‘the south west’s favourite pop-up poetry event’, and also runs Mr Fluffypunk’s Penny Gaff, an alternative cabaret in his adopted home town of Stroud.
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