Pair of poets to share their celebrated work at Dorchester reading

The West Dorset poets, Louisa Adjoa Parker and Kim O’Loughlin, will be reading their work at Dorchester Library from 7pm.

Louisa will be reading from her pamphlet Blinking in the Light which was recently published by Cinnamon Press.

The Dorchester resident is of Ghanaian and English heritage. She writes poetry, fiction and Black and Minority Ethnic history.

Her pamphlet was one of four winners of the Cinnamon Press Poetry Pamphlet Competition 2015.

Ian Gregson, adjudicator, described Blinking in the Light as 'a collection of confessional poems which, in starkly telling a story about a fraught pregnancy and the suicide of a man very close to the speaker's family, evokes with powerful images and unadorned language a raw sense of contemporary life.’

The poems are set in Lyme Regis, where she lived at the time, and explore a series of events from 1994.

Louisa’s first poetry collection was also published by Cinnamon in 2007. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in a wide range of journals, anthologies and online.

Kim will be reading from her recently published chapbook of love poems.

Kim is a writer and artist who has lived and worked in the West Country since 1988. She was first published in The Poetry Review New Poets 1992 and has worked in collaboration with musicians, dancers and visual artists to produce one-off performances and site specific work.

She spent three years as a writer for the environmental Company, Theatre of The Heart, on productions in Beaminster, Melplash and on Portland. She describes herself as a multi-heritage British poet: born of Irish and Caribbean parents and a child of England. From this rich ethnicity she draws much of her subject matter and inspiration.

The poets will also be reading work from the Bloodaxe anthology ‘Out of Bounds: British Black and Asian Poets’, which has been described as a 'newly charted map of Britain as viewed by its black and Asian poets.'

‘Out of Bounds’ will be extended and enlivened this year as it is taken on a national tour and digitalised for online access. Everyone is invited to take part and there will be an opportunity to add your voice to this exciting new interactive poetry map of Britain.

Louisa and Kim’s chapbooks and copies of Out of Bounds will be on sale, as well as other books the writers have been involved in.

The event will be in two halves, and the audience will have the opportunity to take part in a Q & A session. Soft drinks will be provided. Although this is a free event, donations towards costs are welcomed.

The readings start at 7pm and end at 8.45pm. It will take place in Classroom 2, Dorchester Library and Learning Centre,in Dorchester

For more information please contact Louisa: louisaparker3@hotmail.com. Follow Out of Bounds on Twitter: @OoBPoetry