It is my favourite time of year; the period between the end of September and the beginning of December which I call Events Season, despite the fact that everyone I know seems to hate this. And yet, for the season that’s in it, I am here with an event!
Next month (7th November) I’ll be reading at South Parade Gallery, near Farringdon, as part of Emma Firth’s new literary night: REJECTION IS ROMANTIC. The evening is all about celebrating the thing we never celebrate: rejection. “In life, love, work, identity and more — in all its hilarious, humbling, sometimes humiliating and heart-breaking glory”.
The other writers reading poetry, essays and creative fiction are T.S. Eliot Prize nominated poet and GOODLORD author Ella Frears; I Never Said I Loved You author and Guardian columnist Rhik Samadder; author of Joni Mitchell-inspired memoir Arrangements in Blue, Amy Key, and author of the Women’s Prize 2023 longlisted novel Wandering Souls, Cecile Pin.
I think I’ll be reading a short story about sex and cannibalism, which I published in Banshee Lit in 2023 (and republished on this Substack earlier this year). If you’d like to come, tickets are free, and you can RSVP to reserve a slot here.
I won’t feel rejected if you do not come (I will).