Strange Bees: Emily Vanderploeg and Rae Howells
Join us for a poetry double book launch with two Swansea-based poets, Emily Vanderploeg and Rae Howells and their first full collections. Hosted by Susie Wildsmith and Parthian Books.
Doors 7.30pm, free entry.
The bar will be open selling hot and cold drinks.
Books will be for sale… there’s a cash machine at the train station nearby.
Strange Animals
‘Strange Animals takes you to wild places; from Lake Huron to Swansea bedsits. These are hungry poems; where she plays with all our senses, feeds us chips, Swiss roll, orange peel, Sunday roasts…These poems will leave you full of hunger and love, a travel guide and love story; go with her, and let the “Aurora Borealis call you home”.’ – Jessica Mookherjee
Emily Vanderploeg writes poetry, fiction, and reviews and is currently working on her novel in her elysium studio. She studied English and Art History at Queen’s University (BA Hons) and Creative Writing at Swansea University (MA, PhD), and teaches creative writing to children and adults. Vanderploeg is a Hay Festival Writer at Work and recently completed a novel with the help of a Literature Wales New Writer’s Bursary Award. Her poetry pamphlet, Loose Jewels, won the Cinnamon Press Pamphlet Competition and was published in 2020. Originally from Aurora, Ontario, Canada, she lives in Swansea with her two cats, Zsuzsi and Annie.
Insta and twitter: @dippy_dumpling
The language of bees:
‘These poems are rich in language, in poetic resources, in knowledge of nature – everything from the sexlessness of hydrangeas to how a bee breathes. Above all they are rich in love, for the world that we are inseparable from and on the verge of destroying.’ – Matthew Francis
Rae Howells is a poet, journalist, academic and lavender farmer from Swansea. She’s won both the Welsh International and Rialto Nature and Place poetry competitions. Her work has featured in a wide range of journals including Magma, The Rialto, Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Acumen, Envoi, Poetry Ireland, Black Bough, Marble and The Cardiff Review, as well as in the Poetry Business anthology, The Result is What You See Today, and the Arachne Press anthology, A470. Howells’ pamphlet Bloom and Bones, co-authored with Jean James, was published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2021. The language of bees is her first full collection.
Insta: @poet_rae
twitter: @raehowells