Newcastle Zine Launch
Join us for the launch of Poets in the Toon: A Zine for Women Reclaiming their City.
On Thursday 7th March, come and get your hands on your copy of the zine and celebrate with live poetry readings in the Women’s Workspace, Level 3 of Newcastle City Library between 17:00 – 18:30.
This piece of work was made by The Exchange, a collective of women in Newcastle who are reclaiming the city for themselves through art and poetry. The zine features new work including collage poetry, illustration, written poetry and even a bit of obscure feminist history! We’ve also included some previously commissioned poetry from across the five years we’ve been working in Newcastle with the Libraries. We’re so proud to say that our work resulted in the Women’s Workspace and we’re hoping you’ll be able to make it down to share in the celebration.
Soft drinks and free zines available. Book your free ticket here.
Showtimes:
17:00 Interactive Poetry
17:25 Sam Hamilton
17:40 Mymona Bibi
17:55 Ilisha Thiru Purcell
18:10 Sky Hawkins (that’s Sky, in the featured image)
Readers include
Mymona Bibi is a writer and ESOL teacher based in Newcastle. Her writing has been featured in the Ilkley Literature Festival and Lumpen Press. She’s a core member of the collective Brown Girls Write and has performed spoken word at events such as Read Them Your Writes, Newcastle Fringe Festival and NOVUM. Mymona’s writing explores topics of identity and trauma and enjoys other types of creativity such as crafts and textiles. Currently, she is interested in how multilingualism and language learning affect epistemology and communication styles in marginalised communities.
Sam Hamilton has recently rediscovered creative writing as an outlet for self-expression and exploring identity. She thoroughly enjoys the contrast with her day job – strategy and medical writing in the heavily regulated area of medicines development!
Ilisha Thiru Purcell is a poet from Newcastle. She is part of the inaugural Poets of Colour Incubator and was shortlisted for Nine Arches’ Primers Volume 7. In 2023 she was a Young Creative Associate with New Writing North where she worked on a project inspired by classical Tamil poetry. Ilisha was selected to perform at the 2023 Newcastle Poetry Festival and her work has appeared in publications such as Butcher’s Dog and Bi+ Lines Anthology.
(Photos of Mymona, Sam and Ilisha by Ismail Ali)
