Author
River Readings with Poet and Mudlark J.R. Carpenter
Join us for a short talk and river readings from award-winning poet and mudlark J. R. Carpenter in the intimate setting of the sitting room of historic Waterman’s Hall.
From the Thames to the Dart, the Ribble to the Itchen, the kisiskâciwanisîpiy in Treaty 6 territory in western Canada, and back to the Thames again, J. R. will lead us on a journey through the interconnected waterways which run through her recent poetry collections.
There will be a Q&A and book signing with the author after the reading. Tickets are £5 plus booking fee. The full ticket price (minus booking fee) can be redeemed as a discount on the purchase of books. Seating is limited, booking is essential.
J. R. Carpenter’s debut poetry collection An Ocean of Static (Penned in the Margins) was highly commended for the Forward Prize in 2018. This is a Picture of Wind (Longbarrow Press) was listed in The Guardian’s best books of poetry 2020 and featured in the Digital Storytelling exhibition at the British Library 2023. Measures of Weather (Shearsman Books) was The Observer’s poetry book of the month a finalist for the Laurel Prize 2025.
p a u s e. (Broken Sleep Books 2026) turns the simple act of going for a walk into a radical practice of attention. Written over the course of a year of daily encounters with kisiskâciwanisîpiy (the North Saskatchewan River) as it runs through amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) in Treaty 6 Territory, this long poem listens closely to water and weather, birds and trees, mudstone and ice, while never forgetting that no geology, no language, and no river are neutral.
