Imtiaz Dharker and Amanda Dalton
A celebratory reading of their new Bloodaxe poetry collections

Renowned poets Imtiaz Dharker and Amanda Dalton share this celebratory reading of their new Bloodaxe poetry collections – Shadow Reader and Fantastic Voyage –  both published on the same day.

Imtiaz Dharker is one of the UK’s finest and most loved poets. She grew up a ‘Muslim Calvinist’ in a Lahori household in Glasgow, was adopted by India and married into Wales. In 2014 she was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Gold Medal for her fifth collection of poems and her services to poetry. Her main themes are drawn from a life of transition, childhood, exile, journeying, home, displacement and, latterly, grief. She is also an accomplished artist and her new collection is illustrated with 16 black and white drawings which form an integral part of the book.

“Imtiaz Dharker’s poetry shines a light in the dark… You cannot hear her perform without being somehow transformed by the experience. Witty, wise, profound and moving, her work crosses continents”. Jackie Kay.

Amanda Dalton is a poet, theatre and radio playwright, essayist and teacher, born in Coventry and based in Hebden Bridge,  where she settled after four years as Centre Director at Arvon’s Lumb Bank in the 1990s. She has published two previous full-length poetry collections with Bloodaxe and pamphlets including an experimental poetry ‘sketchbook,’ 30 Poems In Thirty Days (Arc Publications 2021) and Notes on Water (smith|doorstop 2022).

“Dark, funny, wise, terrifying. She is searingly matter of fact about the most painful recesses of the human heart.”  Jo Shapcott

Enjoy a warm Wainsgate welcome with refreshments including tea/coffee, bar, fine homemade cakes and a bookstall.