This event will be held at the Maddermarket in Norwich [Entrance St John’s Alley, NR2 1DR]. Doors will be open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. We are suggesting a donation of £3 for those who attend. The venue includes a bar. It will be possible to sign up for an Open Mic slot when you arrive.
Jessica Mookherjee is a British poet of Bengali heritage who grew up in Waies and London and now lives in Kent. She has been published in many print and online journals and anthologies including: Agenda, The North, Rialto and Under the Radar. She was twice highly commended for best single poem the Forward Prize 2017 and 2021. She is author of four full collections and three short pamphlets. Her second collection Tigress [Nine Arches Press] was shortlisted for the Ledbury Munthe Prize in 2021. Her most recent full poetry collection is Notes from a Shipwreck [Nine Arches Press 2022]. She is also author of a long London prose poem Desire Lines published by Broken Sleep Books [2023]
Martin Figura’s collection and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the 2013 Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show. Other prizes include the Poetry Society’s 2010 Hamish Canham Prize and runner up in the 2017 RSPB/Rialto Poetry Competition. Shed (Gatehouse Press) and Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine (Cinnamon Press) were both published in 2016 and a new edition of Whistle (Cinnamon Press) in 2018. The spoken word show Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine, was shortlisted in the 2018 Saboteur Awards. He lives in Norwich with Helen Ivory and sciatica. Together during Lockdown, they began hosting Live from The Butchery Zoom readings with leading guest poets, winning the Saboteur Best Regular Spoken Word Night 2021 Award. In 2021 he was Salisbury NHS Writer in Residence, resulting in publication in The Guardian, inclusion on the Poetry Archive and a pamphlet My Name is Mercy with Fair Acre Press. The Remaining Men was published by Cinnamon Press in 2024. The show Shed is returning to the stage in April 2024, three years after its Covid Postponement.