Shearsman Readings

The Shearsman Reading Series was created in order to provide a regular venue for readings in London by Shearsman authors, past and present, and generally serves as a launch-pad for a newly-published volume. We tend to have 7 or 8 events every year. The series features mainly UK-based writers, but we do try to arrange for authors visiting from elsewhere to be included wherever possible. These readings usually take place at the Swedenborg Hall, 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH. (See map here.) Admission is free. Unless stated otherwise, all readings are hosted by Tony Frazer, publisher of Shearsman Books.

The next readings are as follows:

Future Readings

2024 Schedule


Tuesday 9 January 2024, 7:30pm, featuring Lucy Hamilton and Lucy Sheerman.


Tuesday 13 February 2024, 7:30pm, featuring  Alasdair Paterson and Ian Seed.


Tuesday 12 March 2024, 7:30pm, featuring Linda Black and Petra White.


Tuesday 9 April 2024, 7:30pm, featuring John Mateer and Stephen Watts.


Tuesday 14 May 2024, 7:30pm, readers tbc.


Tuesday 8 October 2024, 7:30pm, featuring Claire Crowther and another tbc.


Tuesday 12 November 2024, 7:30pm, readers tbc.

Previous Readings

Readers in 2023 were


Daragh Breen, Mercedes Cebrián (with translator Terence Dooley), Geraldine Clarkson, Kelvin Corcoran, Atar Hadari, Jennifer Militello, Daniel Samoilovich (with translator Terence Dooley), Lisa Samuels, Sasha Steensen, Scott Thurston, Ruth Wiggins and John Wilkinson.


plus, at the Official launch of Lee Harwood's New Collected Poems, with editors Kelvin Corcoran & Robert Sheppard, Andy Brown, Ian Davidson, Carrie Etter, Maria Jastrzębska, Tony Lopez, John Muckle, Frances Presley, Elaine Randell, Peter Robinson, Iain Sinclair, Simon Smith and Janet Sutherland,


and, launching the Poetry's Geographies anthology, editor Zoë Skoulding, plus Ziba Karbassi & Stephen Watts, and Ghazal Mosadeq.

Readers in 2022 were

Martin Anderson, Josephine Balmer, Claire Crowther, Khaled Nurul Hakim, David Herd, Bridget Khursheed, Mary Leader, Alistair Noon, Frances Presley, M. Stasiak, Will Stone, Agnieszka Studzinska and James Sutherland-Smith.


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