Please join Poets & Players on Saturday 1 March 2025, 2.30-4.00 at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation for a wonderful line-up of poets and musicians. Appearing this month: Zaffar Kunial, Hannah Copley, Rachel Davies & Hilary Robinson with music from Chuva.

The event is free and everyone is welcome (no need to book tickets). Performers often bring along books and CDs to sell, please note we are only able to accept cash payments.

Zaffar Kunial is a recipient of Yale University’s Windham- Campbell Prize. His first poetry collection, Us, was published by Faber and appeared on a number of shortlists including the Costa Poetry Award and the T. S. Eliot Prize. His latest book, England’s Green, was also shortlisted for the Eliot prize and it won the Ledbury Prize for best second collection. England’s Green was also The Times poetry book of the year.

Hannah Copley is the author of Speculum  (Broken Sleep Books, 2021); and Lapwing (Pavilion Poetry, LUP,  2024). The latter, which was a Poetry Book Society Summer 2024 Recommendation, won second prize in the 2024 Laurel Prize and was nominated for the 2024 T.S. Eliot Prize. She is a poetry editor at Stand and runs a regular poetry night at the Soho Poly, London. Hannah is currently working with Alycia Pirmohamed on a collaborative pamphlet for DIRT plantable poetry. She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Westminster.

Rachel Davies is widely published in journals and anthologies and has been a prize-winner in several poetry competitions, most recently the Hippocrates Prize 2024. Her debut pamphlet, Every Day I Promise Myself, was published by 4Word Press in December 2020. In 2021 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for I’ll Speak for Pongo Pygmaeus. Her joint collection with Hilary Robinson, An Altogether Different Place, was published by Beautiful Dragons Press in 2024. It explores aspects of living with and caring for a loved one with dementia. She has an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in contemporary poetry, both from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Hilary Robinson, retired schoolteacher, lives in Saddleworth. She has an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing (2018) from Manchester Metropolitan University. Her poetry has been published in journals, anthologies and online. Hilary enjoys collaborating with composers and has written an opera libretto. Her debut pamphlet, Revelation, was published by 4Word Press in 2021 and her joint collection, An Altogether Different Place with Dr Rachel Davies, was published in October 2024 by Beautiful Dragons Press. It deals with caring for a life partner who has developed dementia. Kim Moore has christened Hilary and Rachel ‘The Poetry Twins.’

The folk/classical ensemble Chuva bring their blend of punchy Balkan grooves and reimagined classical works. Whilst studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, the quartet discovered a shared passion for chamber and folk. Borna originally hails from Croatia, George and Jack from England and Rafael from Latin America. The result is an interesting mix of different musical backgrounds and cultures, and an overall desire to explore music from all over the world. The quartet takes influence from other musical genres in their own arrangements of traditional Balkan songs; incorporating elements of collective improvisation and soloing.