LITFEST: Poetry Double Bill

After You Were, I Am 

‘Reading Camille Ralphs’s poems has been that most miraculous of experiences: discovering a heart and a head serving not as separate entities but as a precious compound – to echo a guardian spirit, John Donne, not as the discrete work of body and soul but as the result of their union. Here is a poetry that comprehends the past, but that addresses us in ways that are completely contemporary’ — Matthew Hollis 

Night Window 

Ian Seed is ‘a master of the prose poem and the unexpected lyric. There's a beautiful, painterly logic to these compositions and a perfect balance between the elevating magical and the crushingly disappointing. His narrators speak for all of us, at work, in transit, in family, memory, or continental cities. Grief-stricken, erotic, silly, embarrassed or baffled, but somehow determined to live “joyously and seriously” against the inexplicable, the obligatory and the mundane at whatever damn cost’ — Luke Kennard 

Camille Ralphs is poet and critic, and an editor at the Times Literary Supplement. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous magazines, including the New York Review of Books, Poetry Review and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She studied at Lancaster University.

Ian Seed a Lancaster-based poet and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Chester. His several collections include Anonymous Intruder, The Underground Cabaret and most recently Night Window. He is also a translator from French and Italian, with recent editions of Pierre Reverdy and Max Jacob. 

Photo of Camille Ralphs © Elaine Constantine

Photo of Ian Seed © Johnny Bean

For Litfest’s ‘Autumn Weekend’ 2024, you can attend in three ways: either in person at one of the partner venues, by watching the livestream on the day, or by watching on catch-up.

Online events will be streamed on Crowdcast. If you purchase an online ticket you can stream the event live, or catch-up for thirty days afterwards!

Book a ticket to watch online HERE