Live Poetry at Riverhouse, our monthly series bringing the spoken word to the warm, intimate setting of the Barn stage, returns with more guest poets reading and discussing their work, plus the ever popular Open Mic spots, where you have the chance to read your own work to a friendly, appreciative audience! The evenings are once again hosted by Riverhouse Poets tutor Katie Griffiths.
This month, Katie will be in conversation with headliners Michelle Penn, whose Retablo for a door was recently featured in The Guardian’s round-up of best poetry, and Tom Sastry, whose work has been shortlisted for the prestigious Seamus Heaney Prize.
Michelle Penn 's latest collection, Retablo for a door (Shearsman 2026), was featured in The Guardian's 'Best Recent Poetry Round-up' and on BBC Radio 4's 'The Verb'. Her previous publications are Paper Crusade (Arachne Press 2022) — which was turned into the experimental theatre piece, Storm Child, and performed in 2024 — and Self-portrait as a diviner, failing (Paper Swans Press 2018), which won the Paper Swans Pamphlet Prize. A dual US/UK national, Michelle lived in Paris for many years and now resides in London. michellepennwriter.com
Tom Sastry is political, ironic, emotional, morbid and funny in all the wrong places. Hera Lindsay Bird calls him a magician of deadpan while Carol Ann Duffy says he makes friendships and love affairs new and strange. He has been published widely including in Poetry Review and The Guardian. His books have been, variously, Poetry School Book of the Year, Poetry Book Society pamphlet choice and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Prize. Tom has published three collections with Nine Arches Press, the most recent of which is Life Expectancy Begins to Fall.
Katie Griffiths is author of The Attitudes and the prize-winning My Shrink is Pregnant. She came second in 2018’s National Poetry Competition, and in 2024 won the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize. Her next book Mindset Mindrise is due from Nine Arches Press in autumn 2026. She regularly mentors, and leads poetry workshops including here at Riverhouse.