About this Event
In the fifth event of the 25/26 series, we're excited to welcome Karen McCarthy Woolf, Keith Jarrett, Maya Caspari and Zain Rishi to Soho Poly Poetry for another amazing night of performance.
About the poets
Maya Caspari is a poet, researcher, and curator, based in London. Her poetry has been published in magazines including Ambit, Butcher’s Dog, The Poetry Review, Perverse, Propel and Wasafiri. She has been highly commended in the Forward Prizes, longlisted in National Poetry Competition, and shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. She is a Lecturer at the University of York. Almost, with Tenderness (Out-Spoken) is her debut pamphlet.
Keith Jarrett is a writer, performer, and educator from London. His latest collection, Hide Me Under the Blood and I Shall Be Satisfied (Bad Betty Press) is a 2026 Poetry Book Society Spring Recommendation. He is also the author of the poetry collection Selah (Burning Eye Books), the play Safest Spot in Town and the pamphlet I Speak Home (Eyewear). He has performed at and coordinated poetry festivals in English and Spanish in the UK and abroad. Jarrett is a former UK Poetry Slam Champion and won Rio de Janeiro’s Literary Festival of the Urban Periphery (FLUPP) in 2014.
His poetry show, Identity Mix-Up (2013), premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Jarret teaches at NYU London, holds a PhD from Birkbeck College, and is a Lambda and Obsidian Fellow. He was selected for the International Literature Showcase.
Karen McCarthy Woolf, FRSL, PhD, is the author of three poetry collections and editor of seven literary anthologies. Her novel in verse, Top Doll, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and her début, An Aviary of Small Birds was an Observer Book of the Year.
As a postdoctoral Fulbright Scholar at UCLA she was poet in residence at the Promise Institute for Human Rights, where she wrote her latest collection, Unsafe (Bloomsbury, 2026): a ‘taut’ and ‘hypnotic’ (Guardian) poetic meditation on the sacred, the city and our access to nature. In 2025 she won a Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award and the Jerwood Prize for Poetry (England). She has performed her work everywhere from The Royal Festival Hall, Kings Place and Barbican, to venues across Asia, Europe and the Americas.Her broadcast credits include a reversioning of Homer’s Book of The Dead for BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week; Miss Birdie’s Letter, BBC Radio 3 Between the Ears and a multi-authored reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando shortlisted for a BBC Audio Award.
She has worked on many collaborations, most recently as a librettist on Divine Feminine, a spatially-realised electronic and acoustic choral opera with the British-Iranian composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki.
Zain Rishi is a writer from Birmingham, UK. He graduated with a masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh in 2023 and has since worked in independent bookselling. He won the 27th annual Ware Poets Competition, placed third in the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize and was highly commended in the Poetry Wales Award 2024-25. His poetry has featured in Magma, Wildness, Fourteen Poems, New Writing Scotland, Gutter, Propel and various anthologies. He is currently based in Edinburgh. Noon (The Emma Press) is his debut poetry pamphlet.
Books and pamphlets will be available to purchase on the night.
Drinks and refreshments will also be available.
Free student and lower income tickets are available and we aim to make each night affordable and accessible to all. Please contact Hannah Copley on social media or on [email protected] to join the guestlist. Please also be aware that Soho Poly Poetry tends to sell out so we'd recommend getting in touch in good time!
About the series
Soho Poly Poetry is a monthly event series held in the heart of London. Now in its second year, and drawing on the Soho Poly's history of radical and disruptive theatre and music, the events bring together poets and performers for collaborative, innovative and genre-bending work, as well as celebrating new and up-and-coming voices alongside more established writers. Curated and hosted by Hannah Copley.
About the Soho Poly
Recently restored after lying vacant for over 30 years, the Soho Poly is an inclusive community hub for creativity, culture and wellbeing. It offers community engagement and diverse programming and provides a contemporary performance and education venue for the London arts community. Creative directors: Matt Morrison and Guy Osborn.
Soho Poly Poetry is supported and made possible by Peter Bonfield, Vice Chancellor of the University of Westminster.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Soho Poly, 16 Riding House Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 7.00
