Celebrating & Sharing Poems as Friends
News and Events
Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival
Sunday 12th May 2024 (12:30pm)
@ The Poetry Tent at Calverley Grounds
Fiona Bennett co-author of the unique Poems as Friends anthology is joined by special guests, Sarah Salway and Roxy Dunn in a sumptuous hour celebrating the power of poetry in our lives. In this lively, warm, and uplifting event The Poetry Exchange will share stories and poems from the book to reveal the life-changing power of connection created in the company of poems as friends.
Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Saturday 25th May 2024 (10am)
@ Adnams Spiegeltent
Poems, like true friends, can offer us a conversation that illuminates our lives and our connection to the world around us. Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer, co-authors of the unique and beautiful Poems as Friends anthology, are joined by Roy McFarlane and Hannah Jane Walker to share readings and insights on the life-changing power of poems as companions.
In the Company of Poems
Wednesday 21st February 2024, 7-8pm (UK time)
Thank you so much to all of you who joined us for our fundraiser, In The Company of Poems, in February. 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.
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!!"
"This was like being wrapped in a big fluffy dressing gown"
"Moving, thought provoking, soul feeding. Perfect."
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.
