Days of Roses - Tuesday 26th January

Next week is the first Days of Roses of the decade. The night, run by Declan Ryan, takes place this month at the 3 Blind Mice, a cosy downstairs venue at 5 Ravey St, EC2A 4QW, and starts at 7.00. Here's the facebook link.

Readings include Rowyda Amin, one of the poets featured in our Coin Opera micro-anthology and a writer of quietly atmospheric and visceral faery tale-inspired poetry, and Sophie Mayer, who has the kind of writing CV that leads you to think she must be at least four or five clones all working together, like Michael Keaton in that movie where there's four of him. I've never met Sophie, but I did publish an article of hers back when I was the poetry editor of the roundtable review, and since then I keep seeing her name cropping up. She's written articles for my two favourite film magazines, Little White Lies and Sight & Sound, is an editor on two other high profile magazines and has just pubished a book on the films of Sally Potter. Oh, and she writes poetry too, with two books under her belt and another coming out from Salt this year.

Then there's Andre Naffis, music from Rich Tow, and me.

I'm planning to read some translations of dirty Russian folk-poems, a piece about Stanley Spencer's mistress and at least one 'canto' of my (fictional) epic poem about the life and songs of Belinda Carlisle. Straight up.