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The Natural Way Book Launch 6th March

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Just a few photos from last Sunday's gorgeous VERVE day at @bhamlitfest, celebrating poetry in many forms 💚

@sabeen.chaudhry @amorbackwards @ellorarosesutton @rupinderkw @jtaylortrash @jobellboater @rachellongx @luckyflowerhowe @monaarshipoetry

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So chuffed award-winning poet @amorbackwards is entertaining audiences pre- Fri & Sat's performances of Close Enough To Touch @watersidearts_
Come down and check them out 🎟#linkinbio

Roma Havers is a queer poet, theatre-maker and unsolicited go-go dancer – from your hometown but living in Manchester with their partner, allotment and every stone they’ve ever pocketed.

Commissioned by Orchestra’s Live, Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Museum, among many others, they are known for their ‘joyful, communal and tender’ work. They have been published in Ink Sweat and Tears, Verve Poetry Prize (Shortlisted), The North and Under the Radar. Alongside their poetry work, they have produced writer development programmes, mentored many poets and produced work for performance including their show LOB, which toured the North West and Belfast in 2022, with their play Helmet with Laughter Lines being longlisted for the Bruntwood Playwriting prize the same year.

They were winner of the 2024 Northern Writers’ Award for Poetry with The Natural Way, their first collection with @carcanetpress.

📸 Roma smiling in the sunshine

#closeenoughtotouch #theatre #romahavers #poetry

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We had such a brilliant VERVE Sunday at @bhamlitfest yesterday. So much love for poetry in the space, such great crowds brining such great vibes. Reminding us what we do it all for. Thanks and love to everyone who came and everyone who has supported us through this difficult year. We continue on. VERVEten is in February from 25-28 funded by @aceagrams. We can't wait to be back where we belong @brumhippodrome with a full festival for you all. Announcements dropping v soon ❤️❤️‍🔥

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This weekend it’s Birmingham Literature Festival, with lots of poetry goodness going on for the VERVE Sunday takeover 💃💃💃

You can catch me reading with Roma Havers (their debut The Natural Way was published by @carcanetpress earlier this year and it is such a hoot!) and Rupinder Kaur Waraich (Tigress with Wings published by @serenbooks and it is so so fierce) at VERVE Debutants. I’m so excited!! ☺️

Also! I was interviewed by lovely @timrelfwriter for the latest issue of Poetry News, all about having my debut collection published. So I guess that makes me a fully-qualified debutante! I’m still pinching myself that I get to do things like this—readings, interviews—alongside poets whose work I genuinely and deeply respect. To be on the same page (or stage) as these gems is something I’ll never take for granted 💖

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VERVE at BLF — VERVE Debutants
Comment - LIVE POETRY for a ticket link 🎟️

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Sunday 11th October 2026

Roma Havers, Ellora Sutton and special guest Rupinder Kaur Waraich with host Sabeen Chaudhury (all with poems in our contemporary poetry anthology VERVACEOUS - link in bio!)

We’re excited to bring you this event featuring poets near the start of their journey. Roma Havers (formerly commended in our annual competition) published her debut full collection The Natural Way (Carcanet, 2026) in February, while Ellora Sutton brought her astonishing debut Little Bitch out with VERVE Poetry Press in April. Joining them, we’re thrilled that Birmingham poet Rupinder Kaur Waraich, who’s collection Tigress with Wings (Seren 2026) will make up the three. Host, poet and VERVE board member Sabeen Chaudhury will ask them what it’s like to find public.

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From live performance poetry to the inauguration of the new Birmingham Poets Laureate – we have a huge amount for poetry lovers at this year’s festival.

We’re delighted to be hosting a whole day of wonderful poetry events run by VERVE, a mix of poetry workshops, and an evening with acclaimed poet Liz Berry in the beautifully atmospheric Birmingham Cathedral, and more.

#bhamlitfest26 #birmingham #poetrycommunity #workshops

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Since it's Sunday it feels like a good time to mention VERVE Sunday @bhamlitfest on Oct 11 featuring 15 poets incl @luckyflowerhowe @monaarshipoetry #RachelLong and a solo performance from VERVE paron @jtaylortrash. Itll be an incredible say and we are super grateful to @writingwestmids for giving this opportunity to festival (now a verb) during our year of funding darkness. We'd LOVE you to join. Get tickets via our website. Three events or more gets you a 10% discount!.

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Join us for an evening of Carcanet poetry, as part of the Didsbury Arts Festival!🌸
Tomorrow at 7pm, hear from local poets Rebecca Hurst, Christine Roseeta Walker, and Roma Havers at Withington Public Hall.
Tickets and more info via link in bio.🔗

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Congratulations to @joecarrickvarty, @weltonmatthew, @amorbackwards, @dugdalesasha, and Sinéad Morrissey who have been longlisted in various categories of the @forwardprizes!⭐

The longlist was announced last week and saw:
Joe Carrick-Varty and Matthew Welton nominated for the 2026 Forward Prize for Best Collection,
Roma Havers nominated for the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection,
and both Sasha Dugdale and Sinéad Morrissey nominated for the Forward Prize for Best Written Single Poem, with poems from PN Review.

Well done to our poets, and all the other longlisted poets and publishers! 🎉

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#IndieBookshopWeek starts tomorrow 😍

Ahead of a weekend of book buying, we just want to thank every indie store that has supported our titles so far this year — pictured is our 6 month stack, every book that we have published so far in 2026! 📚

Huge thanks to:
@booksupstairs
@houseofbooksandfriends
@thecommonpress
@heronbooksbristol
@bookspacecardiff
@noalibisbookstore
@volumebooks
@optindiebooks
@lrbbookshop
@burleyfisher
@housmans_books
@toppingsedin

Love indie presses like us? Support your local indie bookshop this week and for weeks to come ❤️

Tag your local in the comments below 💬

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it’s been a hot minuteee time for a little photo dump catch up!

- new cityyyy / poetry mfa @manmetuni !!! lots of reading and writing 📚
- first pic is from @mcrpoetrylibrary which has my heart and i’m so lucky it’s in my uni!! ❣️
- a first little headline at an open mic @queerlituk for Trans Awareness Week!! 🏳️‍⚧️
- lots of book launches and readings! Roma Havers book launch! Daljit Nagra reading! Kim Moore’s book launch (didn’t take a pic)! 🎤
- a sunset i saw from my tram, been on trams a lot, complaining about trams and writing poems about the tram! 🚋
- Brum poetry friends visiting! @zakariyyee and I getting some frozen yogurt before his slam at @onemicstandmcr 🍦

lots of new and exciting things! thank you for all 1k+ of you 💕

#poetry #poetrycommunity #poets #poetsofinsta #openmic

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Closed out Little Bitch’s launch tour in high style at @houseofbooksandfriends, in their converted Victorian cloakroom — one of the most unique spaces I’ve been lucky enough to read in! Thank you so much to everyone who has made Little Bitch’s first few weeks so special 💖💖💖

Whilst I was up, I took the chance to explore Manchester, catching up with old friends and making new ones. What a city!!!! 10/10 food, 10/10 museums, 11/10 cocktails. Can’t wait to go back 🚃

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