Sympoesia

Poets including Jay Bernard, Salena Godden and Out-Spoken’s Anthony Anaxagorou and Joelle Taylor are joined by the contemporary chamber orchestra in a performance that weaves together poetry and music.

Featuring a brand-new commission alongside notable modern works, this is an evening of urgent storytelling and virtuosic performance.

Jay Bernard is an interdisciplinary writer and artist whose work is rooted in sound, poetry and social history. Bernard was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2020 and won the 2017 Ted Hughes Award for debut collection Surge. Recent work includes Far from the Start, an audio installation at Studio Voltaire that reimagines the Windrush.

Salena Godden is an award-winning author, poet and broadcaster of mixed Jamaican-Irish heritage. Her work has been widely anthologised and broadcast on BBC Radio, TV and film. Her 2021 debut novel, Mrs Death Misses Death, was published by Canongate Books.

Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist and publisher. His collections have seen him win an RSL Ondaatje Prize, be shortlisted for a TS Eliot Prize, and featured on various book of the year lists. He’s an honorary fellow at the University of Roehampton, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the artistic director of Out-Spoken.

The London Sinfonietta is one of the world’s finest contemporary music ensembles, with a reputation built on cutting-edge programming and virtuosic performances. Founded in 1968, they have commissioned over 450 new works, and premiered many hundreds more.

Out-Spoken is the Southbank Centre’s resident poetry and live music night, bringing the hottest UK and international poets to perform alongside world-class musicians every month.

Commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the London Sinfonietta.