Scarlett Sabet Curates

Scarlett Sabet Curates #3: Poetry at The Social

Join us for the third Scarlett Sabet Curates event at The Social on Monday 25th November for an evening of poetry with Toby Campion, Susannah Dickey, Eve Esfandiari-Denney, Ella Frears, Lisa Kelly and Bruce Omar Yates and Scarlett herself.

Doors for this event will open at 6:30pm with readings starting at 7pm. Pamphlets and publications from the performing poets will be available to purchase on the night. The Social welcomes anyone who may have accessibility needs, however they are unfortunately unable to host wheelchairs users in the downstairs venue space.

About the Poets

Scarlett Sabet is a poet and writer, hailed by The Telegaph as ‘a rising star in the world of poetry’, known for her emotive performances and captivating stage presence. She has performed her poetry at Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literary Festival alongside Geoff Dyer, the Library of Congress in Washington D.C, at Keats’ House with Simon Armitage and Hannah Sullivan, and at Lowell (US) for the Kerouac Centenary Festival. Building a devoted following off the back of her four poetry collections, and the 2020 spoken word album Catalyst, Scarlett is fast becoming one of contemporary poetry’s most exciting new poets.

Toby Campion is a poet, playwright and performer from Leicester, currently based in London. A former UK National Poetry Slam Champion, Toby has performed his work around the world, from the Royal Albert Hall to the South Korean National Assembly, and his poems have been published widely most recently in The Rialto, bath magg and The London Magazine. Toby is the founder of the National Poetry Collectives Showcase and Artistic Director of the UniSlam Festival.

Susannah Dickey is a novelist and poet from Derry. She is the author of four poetry pamphlets: I had some very slight concerns (2017), genuine human values (2018), bloodthirsty for marriage (2020), and Oh! (2022). Her debut collection, ISDAL, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2022. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in the TLS, Poetry Review and White Review, and her fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Tennis Lessons, was published in July 2020. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast and lives in London. Common Decency, her second novel, was published in 2022.

Eve Esfandiari-Denney is a writer and teacher from South London. She is currently completing a fully funded PhD at Royal Holloway University. Her debut pamphlet My Bodies This Morning This Evening was published with Bad Betty Press in 2022. She was shortlisted for The White Review Poets Prize, Aesthetica’s Creative writing award and was long listed for the National Poetry Competition. She has performed poetry for organisations such as Somerset House, TANK Magazine, The Mosiac Rooms, NTS radio and has featured in publications such as The Poetry Review, Granta, Prototypes annual anthology, among others.

Ella Frears is a poet and artist based in London. Her collection Shine, Darling (2020) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Her second collection Goodlord: An Email (2024) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She has held residencies and fellowships for the Tate Gallery, the National Trust, Royal Holloway University physics department, John Hansard Gallery, the Dartington Trust, 16 motorway service stations, the number 17 bus in Southampton, and Exeter University’s environmental history department. She is currently the RLF Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She hosts Tears for Frears on Soho Radio.

Lisa Kelly is a poet, editor and educator based in London. She has single-sided deafness and is half Danish. Her 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. Her poetry roots are in the Torriano Meeting House, a grassroots arts venue in north London run by volunteers, where she often hosts poetry events. She co-edited the anthology, What Meets the Eye?: The Deaf Perspective (Arachne Press). She is Chair of Magma Poetry and is currently co-editing the Grassroots issue (Magma 90).

Bruce Omar Yates was born in London to an English father and an Indian mother. Bruce grew up in the South of France before returning to London to study Literature and Film at King’s College London. Bruce is principal songwriter for the cult rock groups Famy, who released their album We Fam Econo in 2014, and Los Porcos, who released their album Porco Mio in 2016. In 2024 he publishes his debut novel The Muslim Cowboy.