About this Event
Join us at the Soho Poly for an electrifying night of poetry. In the fourth event of the 25/26 series, we're excited to welcome Erica Hesketh, Karen Downs-Barton, Wayne Holloway-Smith and Nick Makoha
Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in London. Her poetry has been commissioned by the Royal Festival Hall, Spread the Word and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room, was published by Nine Arches Press in 2025, and she has a pamphlet forthcoming with Guillemot Press this summer.
Karen Downs-Barton is an Anglo-Romani writer who, after a peripatetic childhood including times in state care, now lives in Wiltshire. Her collection Minx was published by Chatto & Windus in 2025 to wide acclaim. Winner of the Cosmo Davenport-Hines prize (2021) and Creative Future silver medallist (2022) she holds a PhD from King’s College London, exploring identity through minority languages and multilingualism in entertainment industries. Her pamphlet Didicoy was published by the Poetry Business in 2023 and selected as a Poetry Book Society Choice that year.
Wayne Holloway-Smith is the author of Alarum (2017) and Love Minus Love (2020), which was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Ledbury Munte Prize for Best Second Collection. His latest book, RABBITBOX, is out in March 2026. He won The Poetry Society’s Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2016 and The National Poetry Competition in 2018. He currently lives in London and is Editor of The Poetry Review.
Nick Makoha is a Ugandan poet based in London. His 2025 T.S Eliot Prize nominated collection The New Carthaginians follows his debut collection Kingdom of Gravity (2017), which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and named one of The Guardian’s Best Books of the Year. Winner of the Ivan Juritz Prize, the Poetry London Prize, the Brunel African Poetry Prize and the Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Prize (for his pamphlet Resurrection Man), Nick has been writer in residence for the ICA, the Wordsworth Trust and Wasafiri. He is a Cave Canem Graduate Fellow, a Complete Works alumnus and founder of the Obsidian Foundation. His play The Dark, produced by Fuel Theatre and directed by JMK award-winner Roy Alexander, toured nationally in 2019, was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and won the 2021 Columbia International Play Reading Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Books and pamphlets will be available to purchase on the night.
Drinks and refreshments will also be available.
Please note that 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.
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
