Statement following transphobic abuse on social media relating to Herstory

Herstory Festival is a two-day celebration of women’s lives and experiences, bringing together different backgrounds, voices and experiences to support women’s rights and the historic progress made. The festival will incorporate the contributions and voices of over 400 women, and will feature the work of 17 poets, 8 musicians, 8 speakers and 30 artists.

Following online promotion of the festival, one of the artists featuring in the festival has been subjected to transphobic abuse on social media. Poet in the City has also been criticised for including this artist’s work as part of the range of perspectives that feature.

The first day of the festival was originally intended to take place at Newcastle Library on Wednesday 23 March 2022, but to ensure the safety of everyone involved and to reach as wide an audience as possible will now take place online – date to be confirmed. We will be in touch with ticket bookers next week.

Poet in the City is a progressive organisation working across a range of communities, and together with our partners, we condemn transphobia, and all forms of hate and discrimination in the strongest possible terms, and work to break down barriers where they occur. The Herstory Festival programme reflects on this, among many other narratives, through poetry, performance and discussion.

The Herstory Festival is part of Collections in Verse, a three-year collaboration between Poet in the City and the British Library, funded by Arts Council England and working in partnership with public libraries across the country, including with Newcastle Libraries. Poet in the City is grateful to receive core funding from Arts Council England, and from other funders who are not specifically funding this work and whose policy it is not to comment on the artistic policy of grantees. They have no role in our programming or operational decisions.