LITFEST: Poetry Double Bill: Yvonne Reddick & Liam Bates

Join award winning poets Yvonne Reddick and Liam Bates as they read from their latest work. 

Prepare to glimpse the last wolf in England, journey across the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay, and meet a whole cast of creatures and characters who inhabit the landscape, as Yvonne takes us on a journey through Arnside and Silverdale. 

‘Her poems are precise, beautiful, and clear-eyed acts of witness’ DAVID MORLEY 

In Human Townsperson, Liam follows the journey of a poet on a quest into the wilderness – purpose uncertain – but definitely leaving town bearing gear and supplies: a pack full of fantastic weaponry, potions and prescription medication. 

‘The voice is so charming and the experimentation worn so naturally that the moral challenge and heartfelt lyricism arrive by stealth and take your breath away’ LUKE KENNARD

Yvonne Reddick was born in Glasgow, and grew up in Aberdeen, Kuwait City and South-East England. She is a poet, nonfiction writer and environmental film producer. Her debut collection Burning Season (Bloodaxe, 2023) won the Laurel Prize for Best First Collection of Ecopoetry, was a BBC Radio 4 Poetry Extra Book of the Month and was shortlisted for the Saltire Poetry Book of the Year award. She is based in Manchester. 

Liam Bates is originally from the Black Country. He won a Northern Writers’ _Award for Poetry in 2023 for ongoing work. His poems have appeared in publications including Poetry Wales, Under the Radar, Bath Magg and Berlin Lit. His first two pamphlets and his first collection are published by Broken Sleep Books. Liam is currently doing a PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University. He lives in Morecambe.

Photo credits: Yvonne Reddick by Alastair Levy; Liam Bates by Rob Irish