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Poetry meets performance in this intimate evening marking the release of Sophie Buchaillard’s debut collection, 'Painting Over the Cracks'. Blending personal experience with poetic insight, Sophie’s pamphlet traces a journey through trauma, motherhood, and healing, where community, friendship, and creative expression offer ways to mend what lies beneath the surface.Sophie will be joined by special guests: award-winning poet Mab Jones and folk singer Siobhan McCrudden. Together with these three artists, we invite you to a night that celebrates resilience and the strength found in sharing stories.
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Painting Over the Cracks is novelist Sophie Buchaillard’s poetry debut. Inspired by her life, this pamphlet explores the healing power of expression, friendship, and community in overcoming trauma. Split into four chronological sections, the pamphlet travels from the anxieties of a single mother to memories of buried traumas and how unspoken shame has a way to colour every interaction, fraying family ties, and making it hard to fully engage with the world. Poetry, here, becomes a means of articulating the unspoken, claiming back a sense of community, and recognising the strength that comes from friendship without judgment.
Sophie Buchaillard: Sophie is the author of two novels and a dozen essays. Her second novel, Assimilation, was described by cultural critic Jon Gower as “thriller meets magic realism”. Her first novel, This Is Not Who We Are, was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award and the Wales Book of the Year.
Mab Jones: Mab is a multi-award-winning writer and performer whose work spans the UK, US, France, Ireland, and Japan. Her poetry collections include 111 Haiku for Lockdown, The Land That Grew Me (Selcouth Station Prize winner), Yubitsume, Poor Queen, and the recent mythological wetlands memoir Bog Witch. She has written for The New York Times, presented BBC poetry programmes (including two Radio 4 Pick of the Week choices), and taught at Cardiff University. Mab has received accolades including the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, the Aurora Prize, and a Creative Wales Award.
Siobhan McCrudden: Described as “a singer who is gifted with one of the finest voices in contemporary UK folk music”, Cardiff-based Siobhan crafts songs of intensity and sweetness, recounting personal stories whilst reflecting a vivid fascination with dark folk tales and superstitions. Raised in London to parents with Scottish and Irish roots, her vocal leanings reflect early memories of folk musicians at family gatherings and a strong desire to connect with these emotive beginnings.
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Wednesday 15 October
7.30 pm
Penarth Pier Pavilion, The Esplanade, Penarth CF64 3AU
Tickets: £15.00 including a SIGNED copy of Painting over the Cracks (RRP: £10.00, paperback) / £10.00 Event Only / £5.00 Student Ticket / £5.00 Inclusive Ticket
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Penarth Pavillion, Pier Cafe, The Esplanade, Penarth, CF64 3AR, United Kingdom
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