Yvonne Reddick Readings
‘This first book-length collection from Reddick is as lyrical as it is defiant. A collection that confronts climate change, a world in flames and societies on the verge of collapse, told through an exploration of family history. This is an incredible exploration of the oil industry.’ – Mairi Oliver of Lighthouse Bookshop, The Bookseller (Scottish books preview)
Yvonne Reddick’s first book-length collection Burning Season was published by Bloodaxe Books in May 2023. It is on the shorlist for the 2023 Laurel Prize for nature writing and ecopoetry.
The title poem from Burning Season won third prize in the Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry 2022. The winners were announced at the Ginkgo Prize Readings at London's Southbank Centre on 21 July 2023 as part of the Poetry International festival.
Burning Season is a book about fire and survival, climate change and nature’s defiance. Yvonne Reddick’s understanding of climate change is uniquely personal: her father was a petroleum engineer, and many members of her family worked in the fossil fuel industry. The collection speaks of the paradox that her Dad’s gift to her was her love of nature and mountain landscapes. Burning Season includes a series of vivid, moving and heartfelt poems that explore her grief following her father’s death in a hiking accident.
‘Reddick takes the deeply personal and maps out a geography of grief, for both father and planet: near and elusive as a hare, distant and huge as an oil rig. Loss illuminates loss, reminding us exactly what it is that we, and our descendants, stand to lose in the face of climate crisis.' - Ellora Sutton, Mslexia, on Burning Season
Yvonne gave a dramatic in-person launch reading at Newcastle Poetry Festival on 12 May 2023. Scroll down to see a video of that and of Bloodaxe's joint live-streamed launch reading and discussion event.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Friday 22nd September. 3.30pm
The Laurel Prize for Nature and Ecopoetry Prizegiving
Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
As a shortlisted poet in the 2023 Laurel Prize, Yvonne Reddick will be reading at Prizegiving Ceremony, which is part of this year’s BBC Contains Strong Language festival in Leeds. For this year’s ceremony, expect words of power, beauty, sadness, hope and activism, with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, and judges Pascale Petit, Nick Laird and broadcaster Reeta Chakrabarti. This unique prize is the world’s foremost in engaging the power of poetry to affect the future of our world.
Free event - more information and ticket booking here.
Thursday 5th October, 6.30pm
Tsaa With Roma: Ecopoetry and Activism workshop (online)
Join Yvonne Reddick for an evening of reading, writing and exploring poetry of environmental activism in this online workshop, part of the Tsaa With Roma series organised by the poet Romalyn Ante.
£20 - More information and booking here.
Saturday 14th October, 2pm
Berwick Literary Festival: Marjorie Lotfi, Kris Johnson and Yvonne Reddick
Berwick Parish Centre, Parade, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 1FD
Yvonne will join fellow Bloodaxe poets Marjorie Lotfi and Kris Johnson for this poetry reading at Berwick Literary Festival. Hosted by editor Neil Astley, Berwick’s annual Bloodaxe poetry event features three poets reading from debut collections out this year from Bloodaxe – all relating to home, family and dislocation as well as our relationship with the threatened natural world.
£8 - more information and booking here.
PAST EVENTS
LIVE-STREAMED LAUNCH EVENT, 23 MAY 2023
Tuesday 23 May 2023
Online Bloodaxe launch
Yvonne launched her first full collection Burning Season alongside Kris Johnson, who was also launching her first full collection Ghost River, and Irish poet Jane Clarke, who was publishing her third full-length collection A Change in the Air. This wonderful reading and discussion event was livestreamed on 23 May 2023, hosted by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley. All three collections have since been longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2023.
Yvonne, Kris and Jane joined from Manchester, North Shields and Co Wicklow. They read from their new books and discussed them with each other and with host Neil Astley. Stunning readings and fascinating discussion of poetry, nature, home and memory. Yvonne read last in each set.
Now available on YouTube. Click on the arrow below to view the video.
Reading from Burning Season at Newcastle Poetry Festival
In this reading at the 2023 Newcastle Poetry Festival, Yvonne Reddick reads five poems from Burning Season: 'The Flower that Breaks Rocks', 'The Gift', 'Burning Season', 'Ptarmigan', 'Rime' and 'Waterland'.
[19 April 2023]
