The event is open to all members of the public. If you are a poetry lover or simply curious about poetry then please join us in celebrating this inaugural event.

The evening will begin with Jonathan Edwards reading from his collection of poems. This will be followed by Stanza members reading one of their contributions to the anthology.

Jonathan’s poetry books will be on sale, as will the Stanza anthology (£7 per copy). The theme of the anthology is the environment and the title: Elemental Emergency.

Newport Stanza is a poetry workshop group, affiliated to the Poetry Society. Originally set up by poet Angela Platt in 2015 who hosted meetings in her Newport home until her untimely death in 2020. We remain indebted to her and we know how delighted she would have been to see membership grow from strength to strength and now the launch our inaugural issue of Wire.

Our poetry writing workshops are held on the last Wednesday of each month at Barnabas Arts House in Newport which is also the venue for our launch. At the workshop meetings, every poem is read and discussed in a friendly and constructive atmosphere with the aim supporting and encouraging new writing of contemporary poetry. We welcome new members from complete beginners to experienced and published poets.