Perception (2) : On Poetry and Trauma (E9), Saturday 6th November 2021, 3-4 PM
With Chaucer Cameron, Day Mattar, Tessa Foley and Alice Hiller. Hosted by Patricia Debney
So many experiences of sexual abuse and trauma are silenced. How do we find the voices to speak about what is hidden, or secret? How does poetry emerge, and what does it sound like? Where do we go from here? Alice Hiller’s debut collection, Bird of Winter, tackles being groomed and sexually abused in childhood. Acclaimed by Sasha Dugdale as ‘…the excavation of a city of grief from beneath the ashes of memory,’ it is shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2021. Chaucer Cameron’s pamphlet In an Ideal World I’d Not be Murdered, performs the voices of a group of women working as prostitutes: ‘Listen for the songs emerging from the dark centre of this transformative work of experience and survival,’ writes Jacqueline Saphra. Day Mattar’s debut pamphlet Springing from the Pews …explor[es] the experience of sexual abuse, marr[ying] form and content to stunning effect.’ (Alicia Stubbersfield). Tessa Foley’s new collection What Sort of a Bird are You?, exploring childhood and feminism, goes '...way beyond standard feminist poetry...[it is] a mirror of the dilemmas and struggles that young women face...' (Irena Hill).
*Content Warning: mention of sexual abuse, sexual assault, grooming, eating disorders.
