Poetry reading: Marilyn Longstaff and S. J. Litherland | Wednesday 5 March, 6.30pm

Marilyn Longstaff and S. J. Litherland are two key figures in the north-east based poetry collective, Vane Women. Join us for a fantastic evening of reading from these two poets and their most recent collections.

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Born under the star sign Gemini, thrust into an adult secular world from an unquestioning faith background, Marilyn Longstaff lives somewhere between the miraculous, the magical, and the everyday. Her new book Being Gemini (Smokestack, 2024) is about the two sides of everything - lockdowns, ageing, deafness, bereavement - and learning to be "neither one thing nor the other."

S.J. Litherland has published eight poetry collections all from North East presses: Flambard, Iron, Bloodaxe and Smokestack. A founding member of Vane Women writing, performing and publishing collective, she is a keen feminist and socialist. She is the recipient of two Northern Writers Awards and has twice been Commended in the National Poetry Competition.  Her latest collection is Marginal Future published by Smokestack Books in August 2024.