Poetry Reading Group

Calling all poetry lovers in Edinburgh – come and join us once a month for our poetry reading group, VOICES. From Queer and BAME voices, to Native American voices and voices in translation, our reading group will be an opportunity to explore an eclectic range of poetry.

No need to have read every poem from a collection or every collection from a poet! Come along for a casual conversation, to share interpretations and find meaning together.

This March, our poetry reading group will meet to discuss Danez Smith's latest poetry collection Homie, in anticipation of their new collection coming out later this year. Danez is the prize-winning author of [insert] boy and Don't Call Us Dead, awarded the Forward Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie is a magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendships.

Danez' poetry collection is rooted in a search for joy and intimacy in a time where both are scarce. In poems of rare power and generosity, Danez acknowledges that in the United States, a country overrun by violence, xenophobia and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family - blood and chosen - arrives with just the right food and some redemption.

We hope you can join us for another evening of poetry in the bookshop, with something to drink and some nibbles!