Poetry Reading Group

Calling all poetry lovers in Edinburgh – come and join us every second Monday of the month for our poetry reading group. From Queer and BAME voices, to Native American poets and poetry 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 June, our poetry reading group will discuss the stellar poetry collection Girls that Never Die from award-winning poet Safia Elhillo. Published a couple of months ago in the United Kingdom, and two years ago in the United States, Elhillo's poetry collection has already been praised by the likes of Roxane Gay and Ilya Kaminsky, commending it for its 'fearlessness and beauty,' as well as being 'incredibly moving.'

Girls that Never Die reinvents the epic to explore Muslim girlhood and shame, the dangers of being a woman, and the myriad violences enacted and imagined against women's bodies. Drawing from her own life and family histories, as well as cultural myths and news stories about honour killings and genital mutilation, she interlaces the everyday traumas of growing up a girl under patriarchy with magical realist imaginings of rebellion, autonomy, and power.

We hope you can join us for what promises to be another brilliant evening discussing poetry in the bookshop!