Poetry at the Lexicon

Join us for the final instalment of Poetry at the LexIcon in 2022 to hear three unforgettable poets. Imaginative, idiosyncratic and full of empathy, Moniza Alvi, Martina Evans and Hannah Hodgson write controlled and beautifully observed poetry that challenges and surprises, and sometimes makes us laugh. In work that is daring and broad in scope, they look at people in conflict with society and with themselves, journey through history and myth, and even touch places between life and death.

Selected and introduced by Rosamund Taylor, curator of Poetry at the LexIcon and author of In Her Jaws (Banshee Press 2022).

Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan, and grew up in Hertfordshire. Formerly a teacher in London, she is a freelance tutor and writer, and lives in Norfolk. Her book-length poem At the Time of Partition (2013) and her collection Europa (2008) were both Poetry Book Society Choices and shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot prize. She is the author of ten poetry collections, including The Country at My Shoulder (1993), which was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot and Whitbread poetry prizes. Her most recent collection, Fairoz (2022) is published by Bloodaxe.

Martina Evans is an Irish poet, novelist and teacher. Her most recent collection, American Mules, won the 2022 Pigott Poetry Prize, and was a Times Literary Supplement and Sunday Independent Book of the Year 2021. The TLS described it as, “A masterclass in transforming the materiality of life into poems that are both funny and profound.” Her previous collection, Now We Can Talk Openly About Men, was published by Carcanet in 2018, and shortlisted for the 2019 Irish Times Poetry Now Award as well as the Pigott Poetry Prize. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose.

Hannah Hodgson is a Poet, Writer, Palliative Care Patient and Advisory Consultant. She has been published widely, by outlets like Magma, Mslexia and Poetry Review. She is a recipient of a Diana Legacy Award 2021 for her work in advocacy, and is the author of three poetry pamphlets, including Queen of Hearts, winner of the Poetry Business New Poets Prize 2021. In 2020 and 2022 she won Northern Writers Awards for poetry. Her first full collection, 163 Days, was published by Seren this year, it has also been adapted as a radio play for BBC Sounds.