Poetry Festival

Newham Poetry Festival 2024 Programme

Weekly sessions at Stratford Library, 3 The Grove, London E15 1EL
Wednesdays, 6.15pm - 7.45pm
Limited spaces. To register email [email protected] specifying date/dates or book directly on Meetup or Eventbrite.

Venue accessibility details (entrance, parking, reception, inside access, toilet, etc) here.

Sessions open to registered participants only.

July & August

Guest poet:
Aryam Marafi
Aroace and queer Kuwaiti refugee. She is also a medical student, a writer, and an award-winning activist with a focus on domestic violence and healing after trauma.
Wednesday 17th July

Guest poet:
MIRI
MIRI’s lyrics weave stories of songs discussing injustices and the challenges we face. Her work has been played on BBC6 Music and have featured in films, TV and the documentary 'I AM Gen Z'.
Wednesday 24th July

Guest poet:
S-bars
A queer spoken word/movement artist and actor. Their work is often raw, reflective and comedic.
Wednesday 31st July

Guest poet:
Hannah Stanislaous
A published/performance poet who was a Churchill Fellowship awardee in 2023.
Wednesday 7th August

Guest poet:
Jess Murrain
Theatre-maker, actor, filmmaker and co-founder of Theatre with Legs, a queer, experimental theatre company. Winner of Ledbury Poetry Prize 2021 and Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry & Poetry in Film 2023.
Wednesday 14th August

Guest poet:
Alice Motta
A queer physical theatre actor and poet published in Brazil and the UK exploring sexuality, belonging, and freedom. In 2023, she won Poet Stellium’s competition on mental health.
Wednesday 21st August

Guest poet:
Hasti
Writer and poet living in South East London, and is the winner of the 2023 White Review Poet's Prize.
Wednesday 28th August

September & October

Guests poets for Wednesday 11th and 18th September will be confirmed soon.

Guest poet:
Joelle Taylor
Author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring. She is a co- curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, and tours her work nationally and internationally. She is also a Poetry Fellow of University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023.
Wednesday 4th September

Guest poet:
Oluwaseun (Seun) Olayiwola
Poet, critic, choreographer and performer based in London; published by The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, and other prominent media outlets.
Wednesday 11th September

Guest poet:
Isabel Punto
Isabel was born a migrant and has been writing poetry and songs since childhood. She wants to change the world with others, with you. Peace and social justice. Together. For her, intersectional feminism rocks!"
Wednesday 25th September

Guest poet:
Travis
Writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. Travis wrote and performed in their debut show Burgerz which won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, sold out at Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre and toured internationally. It was also voted one of The Guardian Readers Top Shows of The Year. Travis debut book None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary was published in 2022 and in the US by Feminist Press in 2023. It won the Jhalak Literary Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and was listed in TIME Magazine’s 100 books of 2023.
Wednesday 2nd October

May & June

Guest poet:
Lalah-Simone Springer
Lalah’s debut poetry collection,
An Aviary of Common Birds was
published by Broken Sleep Books
in August 2023
Wednesday 15th May

Guest poet:
Shardine Blackman
Shardine’s first book, Pawn in a game of life, was published this year
Wednesday 29th May

Guest poet:
Abdul Aziz Arsyad
A London-based Malaysian doctoral student who finds his solace, security and seclusion in prose and poetry. Abdul wrote: Insomniac Heart
Wednesday 5th June

Join the Queen of Poetry, Charlynne Bryan, and immerse yourself in a five-week poetry workshop to explore the creative, healing, and colourful world of poetry. Starts on Wed 12th June.