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Jane Steele's Wondrous: A Celebration of Life

Jane Steele, a friend of the press and the SI Leeds Literary Prize, was recently awarded a touring grant for her play, Wondrous: A Celebration of Life

Wondrous: A Celebration of Life with Jane Steele

Wondrous is a celebration of a life refracted through the sometimes hair-raising story of a mixed-race, working-class Yorkshire woman. Intertwining comedy and tragedy, spoken word and song, it portrays answered questions and (un)belonging, turning poison into medicine and finding jewels in life’s darkest, most unlikely corners.

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Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair

Peepal Tree is proud to be taking part in The Poetry Society’s Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair. Free Verse celebrates the vitality of poetry in the UK – it’s a day of conversation and shopping, an unrivalled opportunity to browse the very best in contemporary poetry publishing and to meet publishers, organisations and poets.

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Collins and Laird longlisted for OCM Bocas Prize

Equal to Mystery by Christopher Laird and Ocean Stirrings by Merle Collins have both been longlisted for the 2024 OCM Bocas Prize!

The OCM Bocas Prize, now in its 14th consecutive year, is highly prestigious and recognises books in three genre categories — poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction — published by authors of Caribbean birth or citizenship in the preceding year. Five different countries and territories are represented among the authors of the nine books longlisted for the 2024 Prize.

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Poem of the Week: Seni Seneviratne at Poems on the Underground

Poems on the Underground are now showcasing the poem "The Weight of the World" by Seni Seneviratne on London public transport. The poem is also featured on the Poems on the Underground website as their Poem of the Week until Sunday.

The new poems, including Seni's, are live on London Underground and Overground cars until March.

As Spring approaches, the common theme is LOVE - of persons and places, welcomed, scorned, remembered, rediscovered.

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Guyana Prize Literary Festival runs 29 February to 3 March

The Guyana Prize Literary Festival begins today and ends on Sunday 3 March. Most of the events and activities take place at Castellani House and the National Cultural Centre (NCC), with the Awards Ceremony for the Guyana Prize at the NCC on Friday 1 March, at 7.00 pm local time. Prizes are awarded for Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Non-Fiction, in addition to the Youth Awards. This year's nominees include Ian McDonald and Sasenarine Persaud.

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Jeremy Poynting talks to Bookseller about ACE advice on political statements

The Bookseller recently ran an article titled "ACE clarifies advice on 'political statements' but trade figures still concerned about threat to free speech". Peepal Tree Managing Editor Jeremy Poynting sent a letter to The Bookseller outlining his response to the new Arts Council guidance; numerous other ACE-funded publishers also spoke to the publication. Only part of Jeremy's letter was published, but the rest can be found below the link to the article.

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