An evening of poetry readings at the beautiful Sutton House, hosted by P. Eldridge, including:
and the launch of Nature Held Me Close and Found No Fault With Me: a grass-roots, lovingly printed, messily queer publication with contributions from poets, artists, writers & ecologists: exploring how nature and ecology has influenced the way we love and honour our identities, the species we cohabitate with, and the cosmos.
Poets reading on the night:
LiLi K. Bright is a writer, facilitator & textile artist in London. Obsessed with trees & birds, they created CherryTreeWalk.com to support marginalised people to connect with city nature & creativity, working with a huge range of organisations, including Queer Botany, Misery Party, and Afrotech Fest.
Their ‘city ecologies translations’ textile collages exhibited at Morley Gallery, and their poetry has appeared at Kew Gardens, Mayow Park and Gays the Word. They've led nature walks around the Barbican, Chelsea Physic Garden and Burgess Park. LiLi was a writer-in-residence with the London Wildlife Trust. You can read their work in the zine ‘a CROW is not a blackbird’ and in the ‘Feral Fabric’ journal.
LiLi loves leading writing workshops, as well as training people in nonviolent communication, facilitation, and climate science. Their ambitions include more textile exhibitions, more poetry readings (especially in libraries!), more artist and writer residencies, and more public speaking. You can find them @cherrytree_walk on Instagram.
Jasmine Isa Qureshi (they / she), is a storyteller on a mission, and in desperate need of creepy crawlies and probably sleep. A multimedia journalist, marine biologist, infamous queer ecologist, prize winning spoken word/published poet, and desi muslim bug lover...she writes and studies across ecology, conservation, trans / queer / muslim identity, politics and sociology. Her work and words seek to understand the systems by which we and nature have grown intertwined and apart, explore the intersections of identities, our origins as queer, global majority folk, and provide alternative systems for our futures, by sparking discussions, thoughts and creating resources to make these thoughts as accessible as possible. They are a facilitator and produce workshops, seminars, and talks, and have worked with collectives, grassroots organisations and institutions across the country, and are a proud ambassador of the bumblebee conservation trust. They are scribbling away at the foundations of their first book as we speak...
P. Eldridge (she / her) is a writer, literary editor, founder of the radical trans anarchist zine SISSY ANARCHY, managing editor of Worms, and co-founder of The Compost Library, working between London and so-called Australia.
SISSY ANARCHY is a zine and online newsletter that explores trans queer anarchism. We understand anarchism as an ideology, that is, a set of ideas, motivations, ethics, values, a structure or system of concepts that have a direct connection with action which influences political practices; against anti-trans, anti-queer, capitalist, colonial, racist, ableist, and discrimination struggles across the world.
Elida Silvey (she / her) is a Mexican-American artist living in London. Her work explores the concept of language and memory as image-objects stored within the mind. She aims to establish these concrete forms through text, to cut and collage them and form vignettes of time. By recording what is so often forgotten she uncovers the entanglement between everyone and everything. Read more of her work at www.elidasilvey.com or on IG @elida.silvey.
She is the assistant editor for Montez Press. She runs her own poetry and photography focused showcase event, titled Exteriors, and is also a part of the Gobjaw Poetry Collective.
Phoenix Yemi (she / her) is a poet and founder of Black Geographies, a night of music and poetry dedicated to the power of language as a tool of resistance. She writes A Worm Moon, a monthly poetry newsletter for Worms Magazine, and has had her work published in New Currency, Sweet Thang Zine, Mania, and by Reference Press. In 2023 she was the poet in residence at Reference Point.
🐻🦡🦅🦈🦋🦟🌷🌿🌾🌖🍄🍃🌰🌿🌳
queer-affirming & queer-led: LGBTQIA+ and allies welcome
PAY WHAT YOU CAN: suggested donation £5-8
After London / Wild Queer Land is an open access learning and collaboration programme in queer nature and queer ecology.
founded and curated by Daniel Baker-Wells with Jasmine Isa Qureshi, Connor Butler, Roy Vickery (Plant Lore), LiLi K. Bright, P. Eldridge (Worms, Sissy Anarchy), Sheree Mack (Earth Sea Love, Black Nature in Residence), Tom Moulsdale, Scarlett Fay (the Strawberry Rat, Molly No-Mates), Hackney Herbal, and others.
all activities are queer affirming and queer-led, the programme is designed to be as open and accessible as possible. If you have any questions or suggestions about access, we'd love to hear from you!: thebluehouseblue@gmail.com
After London (supported by Heritage Lottery Fund) is an exploration of queer ecologies, natural heritage of wildernesses in Greater London. Wild Queer Land is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. With thanks to the invaluable support of Barnsley Civic, The Octagon Theatre & Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil Diversity Project, Creative Recovery, Trans Barnsley, RSPB Old Moor, and many others.