Marjorie Lotfi Readings
Winner of the James Berry Poetry Prize 2021
Shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2024 (Forward Prizes)
Poetry Book Society Special Commendation
‘Lotfi’s imagistically rich debut collection moves from her childhood in Iran, where her family were uprooted by the revolution, to her youth in America and her current home in Scotland … Again and again her radiant language turns over the loss of family intimacy and identity caused by political upheaval and violence…’ – Rebecca Tamás, The Guardian
Marjorie Lotfi’s award-winning first full collection The Wrong Person to Ask is a book of two halves, each a meditation on the idea of home, both the places we start and end up in our lives. Spanning a childhood in Iran dislocated by revolution, through years as a young woman in America, to her current home in Scotland, these poems ask what it means to come from somewhere else, what we carry with us when we leave, and how we land in a new place and finally come to rest.
Marjorie Lotfi was one of the three winners of the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021, and her first book-length collection, The Wrong Person to Ask (Bloodaxe Books, October 2023) was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation and is on the shortlist for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2024, one of the Forward Prizes.
Marjorie gave pre-publication readings at Edinburgh International Book Festival and Wigtown Book Festival, and gave launch readings at Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh and at Berwick Literary Festial in October 2023. She frequently hosts events as well as taking part in them. She will be hosting a number of events again at Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2024.
In June 2024 Marjorie Lotfi was named one of the writers chosen for ILX10: Rising Stars of UK Writing, a selection of ten early-career writers based in the UK whose work has the potential to speak to and engage with global literary audiences. The International Literature Exchange is a programme run by the National Centre for Writing.
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Marjorie Lotfi and Gerda Stevenson were guests on episode 8 of the Lantern Scottish Poetry Podcast, which was released on 18 July 2024. They were in conversation with hosts Kathleen Jamie, Scotland’s Makar, and Alistair Heather. Marjorie read and introduced three poems from The Wrong Person to Ask.
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/lantern-scottish-poetry-hosted-by-kathleen-jamie/
An in-depth audio interview with Marjorie Lotfi went online on the Royal Literary Fund’s Writers Mosaic website in June 2024. She was in conversation with historian Colin Grant, and read several poems from The Wrong Person to Ask. Also featured is an essay ‘On being both (and neither)’, written and narrated by Marjorie. Listen here: https://writersmosaic.org.uk/people/marjorie-lotfi/
In addition to the interview, a forty-minute autobiographical essay by Marjorie Lotfi went online on Writers’ Mosaic website on 17 July 2024. Narrated by Marjorie Lotfi, with a text version also available. She was talking about growing up in Iran, fleeing to the US, moving to Britain and eventually settling in Scotland.
https://writersmosaic.org.uk/what-we-leave-we-carry/marjorie-lotfi/
Four powerful poems from The Wrong Person to Ask were featured online in the autumn 2023 issue of BooksfromScotland to mark the book's publication in October 2023.
https://booksfromscotland.com/2023/10/the-wrong-person-to-ask/
For more interviews, reviews & poem features for The Wrong Person to Ask, see: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?articleid=1339
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
The Forward Prize Readings, Thursday 10 October 2024, Gala Theatre, Durham
Millennium Place, Durham DH1 1WA
All the poets shortlisted for Forward Prizes in 2024 will be invited to take part in the Forward Prize Readings and ceremony, which is held this year in Durham.
Marjorie Lotfi's first book-length collection, The Wrong Person to Ask is on the shortlist for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2024.
In-person and livestream tickets will be available.
Details to be announced.
PAST EVENTS
James Berry Poetry Prize Winners' Reading, Thursday 9 November 2023, 7pm, Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts
Marjorie Lotfi joined fellow James Berry Prize winner Kaycee Hill for this special event at Newcastle University on 9 November 2023, hosted by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley and poet and director of the Newcastle Poetry Festival Theresa Muñoz. Their readings were followed by a Q&A, with Neil, Theresa and the audience asking the questions.
The James Berry Poetry Prize is the UK’s first poetry prize offering both expert mentoring and book publication for young or emerging poets of colour. Organised by NCLA with Bloodaxe Books, and supported by special funding from Arts Council England, the prize was launched in April 2021. Marjorie and Kaycee were joint winners along with Yvette Siegert, whose debut will be published in 2025.
Details of the second James Berry Poetry Prize were announced at this event. The Prize is open for submissions from 15 April to 31 July 2024. Full details on how to enter can be found on Newcastle University's website here.
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Marjorie Lotfi on Rattlecast #74
Marjorie Lotfi introduces her work and reads from her pamphlet Refuge in this Rattlecast edition livestreamed on 5 January 2021. She was interviewed from her home in Edinburgh by Timothy Green from San Bernadino, California. Her section runs from 3:55 to 1:04:52.
Marjorie reads some poems which will be published in The Wrong Person to Ask, including 'Gift' (now called 'Mama Bozorg') and 'The gun in its holster'. She speaks about her experiences of having to flee Iran, of growing up in the US and finally moving to Scotland.
[20 July 2023]
