University Centre Peterborough & Syntax present: An Evening of Poetry

Presented by Peterborough Poet Laureate, Alex Tyler and featuring Matt Howard and Cat Woodward with ten open mic slots.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Matt Howard’s new collection Broadlands (Bloodaxe Books). The poems of Matt Howard’s Broadlands are grounded in the reedbeds, meadows and marshes of the Norfolk Broads.

They are closely and thrillingly observed from real encounters, inviting us closer to the more-than-human world, its violence, fragility and wonder. Yet the human is always and all the more present; here too are poems of intimacy, love and grief.

We are also celebrating the recent publication of Strange Shape by Cat Woodward. Strange Shape is a love letter to Norwich, haunted by the spectral hellhound Black Shuck across fens and fields of history, following the rivers towards the waves of the rising tides returning to claim the land. Imaginative, lyrical and full of dark magic, Strange Shape takes an East Anglian city and shifts it into unexpected forms.

The evening is hosted by Alex Tyler, who was recently crowned in laurel wreaths as Peterborough’s very own poet. Alex’s role is unlike any other as it is considered a Civic role, and the laureate acts as an ambassador for the city’s poetry community and the work created in their year can document various events and moments in the life of our city.

There will also be ten open mic slots of two minutes that will be filled on first come, first served basis.