We’re excited to welcome two poets this evening, both winners of our Ware Poets Competition 2024. Damen O’Brien won First Prize and Hetty Cliss won the Sonnet Prize as well as two commendations. Damen is visiting from Australia, so this is a rare opportunity to hear him read in Britain.
Hetty Cliss is a poet and spoken word artist from the Fens in East Anglia and a graduate of UEA's Creative Writing MA. Her poems can be found in fourteen poems, Propel Magazine, Bi+ Lines, on NewWriting.Net and elsewhere. She won the Ware Poets Sonnet Prize in 2024 and her poems 'Letting Things Lie' and 'Best Not to Bring It Up' were commended in the Ware Poets 2024 main competition.
Her debut poetry pamphlet is forthcoming with fourteen poems in March 2025.
Damen O’Brien is a multi-award-winning Australian poet. Damen's prizes include The Moth Poetry Prize, the Magma Judge's Award, the Cafe Writers Poetry Competition, the Welsh International Poetry Competition, Ware Poets Competition 2024 and many more. His poems can be found in Live Encounters, Dust, Aesthetica Literary Journal and Arc Poetry Magazine. Damen's latest book of poetry is Walking the Boundary (Pitt Street Poetry, 2024).
There will be a reduced open mic slot this evening, but if you have a poem you’d like to read, do bring it and we will accommodate you if we can.
Tickets on the door: £5; £3 for students under 24; Free to ages 18 and under.