Overview

Poetry of access and exclusion with Lisa Kelly and James Pendle

Join local poets James Pendle and Lisa Kelly as they share a selection of their poems on the themes of access and exclusion and read works by another local poet Owen Gallagher. There will be some time at the end of the event for audience questions and discussion. 

James Pendle and Lisa Kelly are two established, published poets from Ealing who have all confronted issues around access, wellbeing and exclusion. Alongside their poetry, James works in social care with mental health teams in Ealing, Lisa Kelly has single-sided deafness, has learnt British Sign language (BSL) later in life and is a keen advocate for deaf awareness. Owen Gallagher spent twenty years working for Lady Margaret Primary School in Southall

About the Authors

Lisa Kelly’s second collection, The House of the Interpreter (Carcanet), is a Poetry Book Society Summer 2023 Recommendation. Her first collection, A Map Towards Fluency (Carcanet), was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Poetry Prize 2021. She has also co-edited What Meets the Eye?: The Deaf Perspective (Arachne Press).

Owen Gallagher’s most recent publication, Clydebuilt (Smokestack Books), was shortlisted for The Scottish Poetry Book of The Year, 2021. His previous collection A Good Enough Love (Salmon Poetry) was nominated for the T.S. Eliot Award and he is the author of The Sikh Snowman, a children’s picture book illustrated by Fiona Stewart.

James Pendle has been a member of the Pitshanger Poets since 2006. His poems have won prizes and been published in the respected poetry magazines Ambit (edited by Carol Ann Duffy) and Acumen.  James recites all his poems from memory and has widely performed his poetry at festivals across the UK.  

About Ealing Book Festival

The aim of Ealing Book Festival is to celebrate the joy of reading and to advance engagement and education around literature and reading. Through our events we hope to bring people and communities together; inspire and develop writers of all ages; showcase well-known authors and promote local writers, and grow book-loving audiences. The Festival team is Catherine Jaquiss, Alex Gerlis, Anne Elletson, Tanya Burgess, Nadine Thompson, Jeff Highfield, Ian Burge, Emma Walker and Natalie Arestis.

 www.ealingbookfestival.com.