Introducing Four Exciting New Voices
Monday 12th October, Dragon Hall, King St, Norwich NR1 1QW, 7.45pm, £5 on the door

Writers’ Centre Norwich has teamed up with Faber & Faber and Cafe Writers to bring you an event with four exciting young poets: Fiona Benson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas, Jack Underwood and Heather Phillipson. They are all just at the point of making their voices heard, and will be performing in Norwich as part of their nationwide Faber New Poets tour.

Joining them and introducing the event will be Faber Editor and poet Matthew Hollis and Norfolk based Bloodaxe poet George Szirtes. A number of guest poets will also be appearing and there will be drinks and cabaret style seating in the very beautiful Dragon Hall.

Biographies

Fiona Benson is an Anglo-Scottish writer currently living in Exeter with her husband James. She was educated at Trinity College Oxford and then St Andrews University, where she completed the MLitt in Creative Writing and a PhD on Ophelia as a dramatic type in early modern drama. She received an Eric Gregory award in 2006 and is working on her first book of poems.

Toby Martinez de las Rivas was born in 1978. He grew up in Somerset, then moved to the north-east of England after studying history and archaeology at Durham where he began writing. He first worked as an archaeologist and this, together with the landscape of Northumberland and the work of north-eastern writers such as Barry MacSweeney and Gillian Allnutt have had a significant impact on the development of his own poetry. He won an Eric Gregory award in 2005 and the Andrew Waterhouse award from New Writing North in 2008. His poems have appeared in a number of magazines.
He currently lives in Gateshead where he teaches English to asylum seekers and refugees.

Heather Phillipson was brought up in London and Wales. She has received commissions and awards for her writing, including the Michael Donaghy Poetry Prize in 2007 and an Eric Gregory Award in 2008. She is also an artist and exhibits nationally and internationally, with recent shows in London, Paris and New York. She has a PhD in Fine Art practice and received the Sir Leslie Joseph Young Artist Award 2009.

Jack Underwood was born in Norwich in 1984. He graduated from Norwich School of Art and Design in 2005 and is currently studying towards a PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, where he also teaches English Literature. He is a librettist, musician and co-edits the anthology series Stop Sharpening Your Knives. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2007. He lives in Hackney.

After the Norwich event, the poets will be visiting further venues nationwide during October. Visit the Faber and Faber website for dates and venues.

Funded by Arts Council England, Faber New Poets aims to identify and support emerging talents at an early stage in their careers.