First Poet in residence of 2022 will speak at Gladstone’s Library

On May 12th at 7pm, poet Rebecca Watts will discuss how poetry can help us come to terms with human and non-human nature.

She is a freelance writer, editor and tutor working in Cambridge.

She has published two collections of poems The Met Office Advises Caution (2016) and Red Gloves (2020).

The latter collection features poems addressing subjects that span from environmental crises to experiences in hospitals, and includes recurring motifs of flowers, birds and seascapes.

It won her a Writers in Residence post at the Library, which provides on-site accommodation and food.

Rebecca suggested that her residency in Flintshire could provide inspiration, and said she planned to spend time wandering in the Welsh countryside.

She said: “I’ve been writing a lot so far during this residency. The reading rooms are amazing, but I’ve mostly been outside, writing outdoors in the park and woods.

“I want to explore while I’m here because I’m the kind of writer who works by visiting new places, keeping my eyes and ears open and collecting little gems of ideas that I can later bring together in a poem.”

Rebecca’s work has received a Poetry Society Recommendation and has been shortlisted for the 2017 Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize.

In 2019, she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in a number of publications including the PN Review and New Poetries VI (Carcanet). 

The talk will address various questions in the context of Rebecca’s own work.

Peter Francis, warden and director of Gladstone’s Library, said: “We are always proud to support poets, as poetry sometimes struggles to find broader recognition when compared to novels and other prose literature.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Rebecca to Gladstone’s Library, and I look forward to chairing her talk, which is sure to be stimulating.”

In-person tickets are available from £11. Dinner and book bundles are also available. View online tickets are £8. Book online through:

www.gladstoneslibrary.org 

...or call 01244 532 350