Follow links to events run by Arachne Press or featuring our writers.

Upcoming Events (all free unless stated otherwise)

Joy//Us launches…

join us for joyful poems that celebrate all that is best about our community/ies and lives. This is not an ‘explain it to the straights’ book, this is for us. LGBTQ+ readers can open this book at random and find a moment of poetic queer joy for themselves, however big or small. We are expecting the launch to be just as wide-ranging and joyful.

The poems in the book find joy in the simplest (or most complex) things. Love, sex, a quiet night in, dancing with friends, nurturing of and from our community, recognition from allies, a welcome from strangers, celebrating our cultural icons… the identity-affirming haircut, the right jeans, books, walking, food, flint-knapping… and political action.

JOY//US online launch 17th May 7pm, Free Tickets
featuring readings from: Abhi, Aoife Mannix, Cherry Potts, Conway Emmett, Dean Atta, Desree, Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell, Elizabeth Gibson, Garnett ‘Ratte’ Frost, Jeremy Dixon, Joshua Jones, JP Seabright, K. Angel, Laurie B., Mwelwa Chilekwa, P Burton-Morgan, Robert Hamberger, Steph Morris, Tanya Erin Sheehan, Tom McLaughlin, Vron McIntyre, Zo Copeland

JOY//US London Launch: Hosted by Roundtable Books Brixton 23rd May 7pm with readings from Abhi, Alexander Williams, Becky Brookfield, Cherry Potts, Eliz Gibson, JP Seabright, Jeremy Dixon, P Burton-Morgan, Rick Dove, Sophia Blackwell, Steph Morris, Tanya Sheehan, Tom McLaughlin, Zo Copeland. Tickets and details to follow (the venue will be charging for this event)

JOY//US Brighton Launch The Queery 7pm 24th May
Abhi, Becky Brookfield, Cherry Potts, Jeremy Dixon, John McCullough, JP Seabright, K Angel, Liz Gibson, Maria Jastrzębska, Rick Dove, Robert Hamberger, Sophia Blackwell, Zo Copeland. free Tickets limited number only – 25!

National Poetry Library Showcase 5th June 8pm
JOY//US at the Southbank! with readings from Cherry Potts, Jeremy Dixon, Abhi, Alex Williams, Dean Atta, Desree, Elizabeth Gibson, JP Seabright, Joshua Jones, Rick Dove, Tom McLaughlin, P Burton-Morgan. Tickets (£7) and details

Anthology showcase at

The Poetry Pharmacy 26 High Street Bishop’s Castle Shropshire SY9 5BQ Saturday 8th June
Queer Joy poetry workshop 11-1 with Jeremy Dixon (Tickets -include showcase £33)
Showcase readings 2pm from Menopause the Anthology, (Sian Northey and Cheryl Powell) Byways: Poems and Stories on Foot (Sara Louise Wheeler, Ros Woolner) and JOY//US: Poems of Queer Joy (Cherry Potts, Jeremy Dixon, Steph Morris) TICKETS £10

Independent Bookshop Week
at Round Table Books Brixton
Sunday 16th June 5pm
Poets read their poems from JOY//US and other books featuring Abhi, Cherry Potts, Desree, Joshua Jones, K Angel, Mwelwa Chilekwa, P Burton-Morgan, Rick Dove. Tickets soon!

Come to Sussex Prairies Henfield 28th July from 2pm for Poetry on foot: a walk around the gardens and farm with poems from Claire Booker’s collection A Pocketful of Chalk, and poems and stories from Byways, with Annemarie Cooper, Katie Hall, Marcus Smith, Jane McLaughlin, complete with appropriate songs from Summer All Year Long. Wear sensible footwear, as we will be taking to field paths. If a stick will help you, please bring it. As our plans develop we will create a map of where we will be reading and roughly when There will be stewards in hi vis to help you find us. Summer All Year Long will sing to attract attention! (Undercover if wet).
The gardens are beautiful and the cafe is excellent!
No need to book, but if you could drop us an email to say you are coming that would be useful.
Books will be available to buy, and the authors will be happy to sign them.

Multicultural Book Fair at Conway Hall Saturday 14th September 10-4

Past Events (with videos or audio):

Actors & Readers