Poets & Players 2014

‘Raise high the roofbeams, here comes a strong new presence in poetry,’ Lorna Goodison wrote of Kei Miller in 2006. Join us for a rare opportunity to hear these two gifted Jamaican-born poets read together. Lorna Goodison, winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and Musgrave Gold Medal, writes ‘poetry that is both innocently free-ranging and intellectually sharp, sensuously abundant yet elegantly restrained’, whilst Kei Miller, currently shortlisted for the Forward Prize, offers ‘radiant utterance… (which) speaks of island experiences and gender politics from a deep well of understanding, with empathy, humour and insight’. Music will be by Manchester-based trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader Matthew Halsall whose unique sound was described as ‘rain-streaked spiritual jazz’ by The Independent. He will be joined by Rachael Gladwin on harp and Gavin Barras on double bass, playing music from their latest album, When The World Was One, which draws on the legacy of Alice Coltrane.

Please note Matthew Halsall can no longer appear and Mammal Hands will be appearing instead. With Nick Smart on piano, Jesse Barrett drums and percussion, and Jordan Smart on saxophones, Mammal Hands draw on influences from Steve Reich to Bonobo and Pharoah Sanders to Cinematic Orchestra, alongside elements of North Indian and African music.Their debut album, Animalia, is released on 15th September.