I’m delighted to be running another French-themed event and I can’t wait to hear what these brilliant Francophile poets will read on the night. Let me know if you want to come along to this unmissable evening!
Poster designed by Jane Wilkinson
Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore to an English mother and a Pakistani father. She grew up in Hertfordshire. Three of her collections of poetry The Country at My Shoulder (OUP, 1993), Europa (Bloodaxe, 2008) and At the Time of Partition (Bloodaxe, 2013) were shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Her poetry books include Homesick for the Earth (Bloodaxe, 2011) her versions of the French poet Jules Supervielle. Peter Sirr wrote in the Dublin Review of Books: ‘What marks her versions out is their down-to-earthness, their sense that in the tricky journey from French to English, the sensibility of the poet is ferried safely across’. Moniza is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sharon Black is from Glasgow and lives in a remote valley of the Cévennes mountains. Her poetry is published widely and has won prizes including the Guernsey International Poetry Competition 2019 and The London Magazine Poetry Prizes 2019 and 2018. She has published 4 full collections of poetry and a pamphlet, Rib (Wayleave, 2021). Her latest collections are The Last Woman Born on the Island (Vagabond Voices, 2022), set in Scotland and exploring the landscapes and heritage of her home country, and The Red House (Drunk Muse, 2022), set in her adopted homeland of the Cévennes. Since 2016 she has been editor of Pindrop Press. www.sharonblack.co.uk
Kate Noakes‘ eighth and most recent collection is Goldhawk Road (Two Rivers Press, 2023). Her pamphlet, Chalking the Pavement, was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2024. She was awarded a PhD in critical and creative writing by the University of Reading in 2023. A new collection, Sublime Lungs, is forthcoming from Two Rivers Press in 2026. Her first non-fiction title is Real Hay-on-Wye, part travel guide, part memoir, and was published by Seren in 2022. Kate was elected to the Welsh Academy, as a notable writer of Wales in 2011. Kate was founding president of Paris Lit Up. Her collection centred on the six years she lived in Paris is Paris Stage Left (Eyewear 2017).
Kate moved home to Bristol from London earlier this year. She is an inveterate traveller and has lived in Australia, California, South Africa and France. Her website is www.boomslangpoetry.blogspot.com, which is archived by the National Library of Wales.
Originally from Montréal, Lisa Pasold has spent much of her adult life in Paris. She is the author of six books and has been writing daily poems as the touchstone of her creative process for two decades. Her poetic narrative, Any Bright Horse, was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. Lisa is the host and co-writer of Discovery World’s TV travel show “Paris Next Stop” and has written about the City of Light for diverse publications including The Chicago Tribune and The Globe and Mail. Her podcast Improbable Walks focuses on the history of Paris streets. For more information, please visit www.lisapasold.com
