Sunday 12 March, 7.30pm. £6/£5 according to pocket. Poets from the floor welcome.
Viv Fogel’s first poem was published in Peace News when she was sixteen. A second-generation adopted child of Holocaust survivor refugees, she is passionate about human rights.
In the early 80‘s she was part of a feminist quartet of performance poets The Evettes. For many years she co-ran local poetry benefits and events. Last year she took part in the Poets for Ukraine benefit, opening the event with her poem Prayer for Peace (since published, and which was also distributed in a refugee trauma-counselling newsletter on the Polish borders.) Recently, as part of Exile Ink Writers, she co-organised a Flames of Remembrance poetry event to honour Holocaust Memorial Day – not just for 2nd or 3rd generation, but for other oppressed countries – with a poet from the Uyghur region and one from Iran.
She has one previous poetry collection Without Question (2006) and two pamphlets Witness (2013) and How it is (2018). For 40 years Viv has worked as a psychotherapist.
Julian Bishop’s first collection of eco poems called We Saw It All Happen was published earlier this year by Fly On The Wall Press. The book asks whether bearing witness to the climate emergency is enough or whether it’s an excuse for disclaiming responsibility.
A former environment journalist turned poet, he lives in Barnet with his family and dog and runs a small media company. He’s worked for many years as both reporter and producer with the BBC and also on ITV’s News At Ten. Many of his poems are based on news stories.
Torriano Meeting House 