A event on Wednesday 14th May. The event starts at 19:00.
Join us for the launch and celebration of Esme Allman’s debut collection of poems, *Sweet Bone Girl*. The evening will include readings by Esme and Kaycee Hill, and DJing by Merce Jade.
*Sweet Bone Girl* examines the intricate dynamics of desire as it intertwines with Black womanhood, negotiating the boundaries of history, culture, and identity. Esme Allman's evocative poetry moves between the personal and the collective, interlacing the past with the present to investigate how desire is shaped and claimed. With striking introspection, Allman interrogates the influence of external forces—family, lovers, popular culture—and asks: where can desire be truly known? And when it is, can it ever be wholly one’s own? Bold and poignant, *Sweet Bone Girl* navigates vulnerability, agency, and the yearning for connection in a world that too often seeks to define rather than understand.
Esme Allman is a poet, writer and theatre director from South London. Her work explores history, imagined worlds, and desire within the context of black femininity. She has been commissioned to write poems for the Barbican Centre, English Heritage, the Institute of Contemporary Art with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6, NHS Arts and Heritage, Pace Gallery, and Poetry Vs Colonialism in conjunction with the London Metropolitan Archives.
Kaycee Hill is a poet, creative and professional writing graduate, and digital mixed media artist based in Bristol. Kaycee works within the healthcare sector as a domiciliary carer and as a support worker for adults with mild learning difficulties. She was a shortlisted poet for the Poetry London Mentoring Scheme 2020 and has been commended for her poetry by The Young Poets Network. She was one of the three winners of the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021, and her first book-length collection, *Hot Sauce*, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2023.
Mercedes White, also dubbed by artist name Merce Jade, is a multi-hyphenate creative based in Gloucester. Her desire to express affords her opportunities to fuse different mediums together to convey emotion, things said and unsaid, and to illustrate worlds.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
*Sweet Bone Girl* examines the intricate dynamics of desire as it intertwines with Black womanhood, negotiating the boundaries of history, culture, and identity. Esme Allman's evocative poetry moves between the personal and the collective, interlacing the past with the present to investigate how desire is shaped and claimed. With striking introspection, Allman interrogates the influence of external forces—family, lovers, popular culture—and asks: where can desire be truly known? And when it is, can it ever be wholly one’s own? Bold and poignant, *Sweet Bone Girl* navigates vulnerability, agency, and the yearning for connection in a world that too often seeks to define rather than understand.
Esme Allman is a poet, writer and theatre director from South London. Her work explores history, imagined worlds, and desire within the context of black femininity. She has been commissioned to write poems for the Barbican Centre, English Heritage, the Institute of Contemporary Art with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6, NHS Arts and Heritage, Pace Gallery, and Poetry Vs Colonialism in conjunction with the London Metropolitan Archives.
Kaycee Hill is a poet, creative and professional writing graduate, and digital mixed media artist based in Bristol. Kaycee works within the healthcare sector as a domiciliary carer and as a support worker for adults with mild learning difficulties. She was a shortlisted poet for the Poetry London Mentoring Scheme 2020 and has been commended for her poetry by The Young Poets Network. She was one of the three winners of the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021, and her first book-length collection, *Hot Sauce*, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2023.
Mercedes White, also dubbed by artist name Merce Jade, is a multi-hyphenate creative based in Gloucester. Her desire to express affords her opportunities to fuse different mediums together to convey emotion, things said and unsaid, and to illustrate worlds.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
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