Celebrating & Sharing Poems as Friends
Live Events
Upcoming Events
Poems as Friends at Latitude Festival
Saturday 26th July 2025, Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk
We’re very happy to be coming back to Latitude Festival this July - bringing Poems as Friends to everyone gathered at The Listening Post on Saturday 26th July.
Our wonderful Michael Shaeffer will be reading poems and sharing stories of connection from our anthology, joined by the brilliant RoyMcFarlane and Hannah Jane Walker.
Latitude has been such a special setting for us in recent years, with so many beautiful memories of Michael and Fiona being there together, sending poems out into the air…
It will be incredibly special to be back.
You can book your tickets for Latitude Festival now!
A beautiful gathering and tribute to Fiona from some of the wonderful poets she met on a visit to Los Angeles in 2023.
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This event takes place in Los Angeles, California at 3:00 pm PST on Saturday, May 17 at the Telescope Studio (11pm UK time). For those of you in other states or countries, this program will be recorded in case you're unable to watch the live stream at that time.
UK poet, director, creative facilitator, founder and podcast host of The Poetry Exchange, Fiona Bennett's luminous and joyful presence in Los Angeles touched all who met her on her visit to the west coast in 2023.
Please enjoy this program for this private event which includes readings from Fiona's collection On the Brink of Touch (Live Cannon, 2024), a tribute from poet Melissa Studdard, a reading from Andrea Witzke Slot, poet and long-time friend of Fiona's who has traveled from London to be our featured guest. There will also be a gorgeous film poem after one of Fiona's own works created by UK poet and filmmaker Janet Lees.
LINK TO WATCH ONLINE: CELEBRATING FIONA - May 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM PST
With tremendous thanks to Telescope Studio for their support in hosting this event in downtown Los Angeles.
Note: the invitation states 3:15 for the livestream to give in-person guests a chance to arrive and settle in at 3:00 pm.
Previous events
Celebrating Fiona
Tribute and community reading
17th May 2025, Telescope, Los Angeles, and live-streamed
On the Brink of Touch by Fiona Bennett:
readings & celebration
Wednesday 26th February 2025
The Bedford, Balham, and live-streamed
An evening celebrating On the Brink of Touch, which took place on Wednesday 26th February at The Bedford in Balham, South London, and live-streamed.
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The evening was put on by Fiona’s publisher, Live Canon, with her mentors Tamar Yoseloff and Glyn Maxwell and fellow members of her MA cohort, with support from The Poetry Exchange.
It was incredibly special to gather - both in person and online - to celebrate Fiona's extraordianry collection soon after its publication. Her words sang out on every page and we felt her with us in every breath, line, glance, hug, cheer, tear and silence.
If you would like a link to a recording of the event, please email john@thepoetryexchange.co.uk. On the Brink of Touch is available now from the Live Canon website.
In the Company of Poems
Thank you so much to all of you who joined us for our fundraiser, In The Company of Poems, in February 2024. During the event we listened to some phenomenal poems read by award-winning actors Julie Hesmondhalgh and Prasanna Puwanarajah, as well as acclaimed poets & writers Roy McFarlane, Degna Stone, Hannah Jane Walker and Gregory Leadbetter, alongside Poetry Exchange podcast hosts, Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer.
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It was a particularly special event this year because it offered a taste of our forthcoming anthology, Poems as Friends, to be published by Quercus Editions on 9th May 2024.
“That was one of the most enjoyable and moving poetry event I have been to in a very long time!!"
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"This was like being wrapped in a big fluffy dressing gown"
"Moving, thought provoking, soul feeding. Perfect."
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We look forward to being In The Company of Poems with you again soon!
Announcing Poems As Friends: The Poetry Exchange Anthology
We are utterly delighted to announce our first anthology, Poems As Friends, celebrating The Poetry Exchange's 10th Anniversary.
In this celebratory book, Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer draw on ten years of archival material to bring together a collection of poems chosen by readers that know them as friends, presented alongside their personal stories of connection. Featuring Brian Cox on John Clare, Andrew Scott on George Herbert, Krista Tippett on Christian Wiman and over 50 more, in this gathering of poems you can reacquaint yourself with old friends, perhaps make some new ones, and enjoy the companionship poetry can offer us.
Poems As Friends: The Poetry Exchange 10th Anniversary Anthology will be published on the 9th May 2024 by Quercus Editions.
