Jane Hirshfield Events
'These poems, new and selected over decades, have not wandered far from their eternal theme of being human. Hirshfield doesn’t veer away but hones in on the minutiae of everyday life [...] The world is heavy but the lightness of being is extraordinary in Hirshfield’s hand. However insignificant we are in size and time, her poems encourage us to live and celebrate.' – Roy McFarlane, PBS Selector, Poetry Book Society Spring Bulletin 2024, on The Asking: New & Selected Poems
American poet Jane Hirshfield has been published in the UK by Bloodaxe Books since 2005. In March 2024 Bloodaxe published The Asking: New & Selected Poems (US, Knopf, 2023; UK, Bloodaxe Books, 2024), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. This draws upon books including her earlier UK retrospective, Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2005), and four subsequent collections published by Bloodaxe in the UK: After (2006), Come, Thief (2012), The Beauty (2015) and Ledger (2020), along with a selection of 29 new poems.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Jane Hirshfield will be in Dublin 23-25 April 2026 for a reading and masterclass. Details to follow.
Jane Hirshfield will then be visiting the UK to give readings in Hexham, Manchester and London, 26-28 April 2026. More details of these events will be posted here as they are made available.
Sunday 26 April, 6.30pm
Hexham Book Festival
Hexham Library, Queens Hall
A very special evening with a visionary American writer whose poems have become a balm and a refuge during times of upheaval. Many of Jane’s poems went viral during the pandemic and led to her work being found by an entirely new audience. One of only three events taking place during her visit to Britain, the evening will see Jane joined by her UK editor, Bloodaxe’s Neil Astley, in conversation about her work and the wide range of subjects she explores — from nature and relationships to the Buddhist practice of mindfulness, and more.
Jane will read from The Asking: New & Selected Poems.
Tickets: £11 / £9. More details and booking here.
Tuesday 28 April, 6.30pm
PoetryEAST with Jane Hirshfield
Mandala Café, Roman Rd, Bethnal Green, London E20HU
A rare chance to meet the American poet, Jane Hirshfield on her first visit to London since 2007. Jane will be reading from The Asking: New & Selected Poems (2024). She’ll be in conversation with Maitreyabandhu in a special celebration of her work at the Mandala Café.
Doors will open at 6.30pm, where vegan supper and drinks will be available for purchase.
The readings and conversation will start around 7.15pm.
Tickets - £15. Booking and more information here.
PAST EVENTS
ONLINE LAUNCH EVENT FOR THE ASKING, 19 MARCH 2024
Jane Hirshfield, Maria Stepanova, and Maria's translator Sasha Dugdale celebrated the publication of their new poetry books at an online reading for Bloodaxe Books. They read live and discussed their work with each other and with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley. The event also included readings of poems from the new Bloodaxe anthology Soul Feast, also published in March 2024 and which features four of Jane Hirshfield’s poems as well as Sasha Dugdale’s translation of a poem by Elena Shvarts.
This exceptionally interesting launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV8-QP8bdxg or by clicking on the arrow below.
UK ONLINE LAUNCH READING FOR LEDGER, DECEMBER 2020
Bloodaxe's Editor Neil Astley hosted this international live streamed reading by Jane Clarke, Jane Hirshfield and Arundhathi Subramaniam on 15 December 2020. They were celebrating the publication of their new or recent poetry collections, and joined Neil in Northumberland from their homes in Co Wicklow, California and Bombay. They each gave two sets of readings, followed by a discussion that revealed many connections between these three outstanding poets.
[18 February 2026]
