Georgie Jones is a poet and performer known for her humour and heart. Praised for her ‘formidable stage presence and compelling way with words’ (reviewshub) Georgie’s poetry feels like a really good chat with a really old friend (lifelong as opposed to ancient).
She explores the exquisite messiness of modern existence through poetry, stories and just a smidge of oversharing, with abundant wit and warmth in tow. Georgie can’t promise any answers, but she’ll do her best to make you feel better about not having them.
Caitlin O’Ryan’s debut collection is a journey of mirror smashing and everything we have come to accept being called into question. With deep vulnerability and wit, she invites us to look inside of ourselves and to interrogate what we find there. Fuelled by the times that we are living in, her poems vibrate through the pages, grabbing you with a sense of urgency that says “you are not alone, I also feel this”.
Taken from her live performances and featuring her viral poem ‘AT WHAT POINT’ which has amassed millions of views online and culminated in her being invited onto BBC Woman’s Hour, this book will light a fire in you that will continue to burn long after you have put it down. Caitlin is also known for her recurring role in the hit TV series Outlander.
‘Caitlin’s words are as powerful on the page as they are on the stage.‘ Harry Baker
‘A devastatingly heartfelt, intelligent, witty and turbulent ode to female friendship, fears, hopes and dreams … the book I wish I’d had in my twenties but so glad to have now in my forties, where I still swim in the uncertainties of this beautiful and confounding life.‘ Catriona Balfe
Join Holly Moberley and friends in the launch of her debut pamphlet ‘Kinder Parasites’ with stripped back support sets from local musician JuJu and poet Raina Greifer at the Lightship.
Holly Moberley (she/they) is a queer poet and poison berry from the South East. She is a Poetry Society Young Critic and has been published in fourteen poems, Bi+Lines, Butcher’s Dog & The North. She is Bristol’s 2021 LYRA Slam Champion and identifies her work as feminist diary entries from your weird cousin. Avoidantly confronting, delightfully despicable, Holly’s poetry welcomes readers into the dark dark forest of tumblr pages for hands and lesbians in the US cabinet. ‘Kinder Parasites’, published by Broken Sleep Books, is her debut pamphlet.
‘Kinder Parasites’ Summary:
‘Kinder Parasites’ is a feminist séance with pop-culture’s most infamous. Influenced by queer theatrics and by personified feather boa — Hera Lindsay Bird, this pamphlet aims to strike a match and wake the dead; exploring the mariana trench of lesbian love and loneliness. In ‘Kinder Parasites’, Megan Fox has a heartbeat Shostakovich can’t bear and the gravedigger digs a hole during the speed dating event. What begins as a fun exploration of blood suckers, the natural world and pop-culture descends into a clamber through human rituals and the complicated queer experience; “meow this cosmic joke!!! this spider’s leg I eventually made crawl!!!”
JuJu Hailing from Bristol & London, JuJu (she/her) draws influence from the likes of PJ Harvey, Florence Welch and Kate Bush. Juju is a gothic force who merges heavy synths and thunderous guitars. Conjuring up moody and queer alt pop-rock anthems, JuJu’s dark lyricism and powerful stage presence both charms and mystifies. She will be bewitching listeners with an acoustic set on launch night.
Raina Greifer (she/they) is a performance maker, producer, and frequent party planner. They were shortlisted for the SH24: Sexual Health Awards 2022 as Young Person of the Year and were a BBC Words First Finalist in 2021. Her solo show MANIC won Best Solo Show at Fuse International in 2022 and was shortlisted for the 2023 Saboteur Awards. Often found reading erotica or putting on cabarets, Raina’s work is some of the boldest and sexiest there is.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
Jo Eades performs regularly on the Bristol spoken word scene. In 2023, she performed on the Milk Poetry stage at Valleyfest and was selected as one of eight emerging poets from the South West to be part of Apple and Snakes’ Future Voices project. In 2024 she was the Lyra Bristol Poetry Slam Champion and won the Hip Yak Poetry Shack Slam at WOMAD Festival. In 2025 she featured at Keynsham Music Festival, won the Ledbury Poetry Festival Slam and came fourth in the England SLAM! Championships.
Flanked: From the horrors of toddler classes to the complexities of grief, Flanked is a smorgasbord of maternal experience and emotion. A scrutiny of motherhood across generations and an exploration of loss as both heart-wrenching and liberating.
Tinged with doubt, regret, guilt, acceptance, joy and love, Flanked captures the intricate dynamics of mother / daughter relationships — where roles morph and history repeats. A reflection on letting go and looking forward.
Flanked will be published by Burning Eye Books in October 2025
JEMMA HATHAWAY Jemma Hathaway likes to put words next to one another and see if they hit it off. She writes about big four-letter things: time, hope, love, loss – and the innumerable ways they touch our lives. She hopes to reach yours today.
ADAM ELMS Adam Elms is a visually impaired creative whose work has been published in over twenty books, journals, and magazines. Adam won the Waltham Forest Poetry Award in 2023 with his poem, ‘The Last VHS Player in England’, and has been nominated for the 2025 Forward Prize.
ERYN MCDONALD Eryn is an interdisciplinary artist working across poetry, dance, theatre and film. They were part of the 2024 Apples & Snakes South West Cohort along with Jo, during which they created a poetry film about queerness and leaving home in search of community.
BEN VINCE Ben Vince is a Bristol based poet and performer, the winner of the 2025 Lyra Festival Slam, and a finalist for the Mind Over Matter national slam. He has been published in Horizon, The Mays and Dawntreader (forthcoming) and is currently completing a PhD in queer ecological literature at the University of Bristol.
ALEXIS BROOKS Her poetic narratives explore the crevices and characters that we often bypass, shun or cross the road to avoid. Alexis peels back their layers until all that is left are the glimpses and reflections of ourselves. Alexis is a SLAM-winning poet who has been described as “one of the most exciting fresh forces in poetry in the South West.
Aidan Andrew Dun will be reading from his new collection of 108 modern sonnets titled Excommunications.
Aidan A D has read at the Royal Albert Hall (for the launch of his epic poem Vale Royal in 1995) the Festival Hall, the Ledbury, Cheltenham, and Swindon literary festivals and he has lectured at the British Library on the Kings Cross Mysteries.
Other published works include:
India Cantos -Universal 2002 The Uninhabitable City 2005 Salvia Divinorum 2007 McCool 2010 Unholyland 2016 Excommunications 2025
AAD’s triad installed at Granary Square, Kings Cross, reads: “Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!” This triad was originally spray-painted on the walls of Battle Bridge just before it was demolished. The developers noticed it there and asked AAD if they could install the poem in Granary Square.
T.S. IDIOT presents a very special evening of punk-tinged poetry in celebration of their debut collection, BACK TO THE FUCHSIA. Featuring a special selection of their very favourite Bristol poets and a unique improvised collaborative set with musician Louie Newlands (Mildred Maude, Eva May, Double Pelican).
Although known for his high energy, humour laced performances seen at comedy nights, punk gigs and poetry shows across the UK, this collection shows a more intimate side of T.S. IDIOT. Written between 2019 – 2022, these poems document a fictional 12 hour window as the poet walks through 3 years worth of grief for lost friends, broken relationships, mental breakdowns – and ultimately, the scraps of love, resilience and belonging found along the way that might just help us get through this.
Books will be available for sale at this event!
Doors are at 19:00 with entertainment starting at 19:30. The event finishes at 22:00.
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.
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