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.

Coming readings are as follows:

Future Readings

2026 Schedule


Tuesday 13 October 2026, 7:30 pm, readers TBC


Tuesday 10 November 2026, 7:30 pm, readers TBC


Previous Readings

Readers in 2026 so far have been


Timothy Adès, Alan Baker Maria Barnas, Martyn Crucefix, Keri Finlayson, Nancy Gaffield, Michelle Penn, Ian Seed, M Stasiak, Ian Stephen and Jorge Valdés Díaz-Vélez, plus Ágnes Lehóczky & Adam Piette presenting their new edition of Attila József in translation.



Readers in 2025 were


Martin Anderson, Josephine Balmer, J.R. Carpenter, Carrie Etter, Gëzim Hajdari, Jennifer Morag Henderson, Bridget Khursheed, Peter Larkin, John Phillips, Frances Presley, Carol Watts, John Welch and Yang Lian.



Readers in 2024 were


Kate Ashton, Linda Black, Sarah Cave, Claire Crowther, Lucy Hamilton, Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, John Mateer, Alasdair Paterson, Simon Perril, Elaine Randell, Ian Seed, Lucy Sheerman, Robert Sheppard, Stephen Watts and Petra White.



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, Frank Skinner, Simon Smith and Janet Sutherland,


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