Pascale Petit was born in Paris and lives in Cornwall, she is of French, Welsh and Indian heritage. Her debut novel, My Hummingbird Father, was published by Salt in 2024. She has published nine poetry collections, four of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Her seventh, Mama Amazonica (Bloodaxe, 2017), won the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the inaugural Laurel Prize and was the Poetry Book Society Choice. Her eighth, Tiger Girl (Bloodaxe, 2020), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and for Wales Book of the Year. Her ninth collection, Beast, published by Bloodaxe in April 2025, won a Society of Authors Arthur Welton Award while in progress.
We are delighted to celebrate Pascale’s new collection Beast, in which mythic and familial beasts roam the swamps and moors. These spirits of the wild haunt the Camargue of Provence, the limestone Causses and gorges of the Languedoc, Indian tiger forests, the Amazon rainforest, and her home by Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Some of these remote places are vestiges of earth’s pristine habitats, while other wildernesses are encaged in cellars of Paris, along with the world’s last species. Their essence is evoked in lithe and luxurious lines sometimes compressed as a trapped animal.
Author photo credit Derrick Kakembo
The first half of this event will be open mic, so please feel free to bring and read a poem in a friendly and welcoming space.
Tickets on the door: £5; £3 for students under 24; Free to ages 18 and under.