It was standing room only for our Migration in Poetry event at the wonderful Poetry Library.

Norbert Hirschhorn in full flow reading from To Sing Away the Darkest Days and the forthcoming Stone. Bread. Salt.

Poets, Jacqueline Saphra and Arnold Jansen op de Haar, waiting in the wings

Jacqueline and Norbert perform the duet poem From Podwoloczyska to Ellis Island

Arnold after his rousing reading from The Refrain of Others People’s Lives about being an EU immigrant.

Jacqueline not only treating us to poems from All My Mad Mothers, but also to a few poems about her mother getting to grips with life after leaving South Africa which she read in public for the very first time

But the audience didn’t just enjoy listening to beautiful poems making sense of migration, the evening ended with a very lively discussion around these questions:

Having lived in more than one country and culture, has this, and if so how, altered what you consider your nationality or identity?
How does poetry from different countries compare and has it influenced your own poems?
Does it matter where you write your poems?

The discussion continued during the signing session and most importantly many books were sold.

A very special evening and many thanks to Jessica Atkinson and Lorraine Mariner from the Poetry Library.