An enticing mixture of the best poets in the country reading their work, interspersed with music across several genres, including jazz, classical, and traditional.

This evening session at the Circling The Square Festival presents six truly outstanding poets: Vona Groarke, Dean Browne, Leontia Flynn, John Kelly, Martina Evans and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe.

Music interludes by Ed Dwan Quartet, Daniel Byrne Ensemble and Emma Roche.

Tickets here.

Jennifer Wong’s Light Year is a moving, generation-spanning examination of family history. Hannah Lavery’s Everything Everyday is both witness and archive, putting shape on a year of chaos and upheaval. Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe’s Auguries of a Minor God is a skilful, profound account of home, migration, and exile. These extraordinary poets come together in conversation to discuss their practice and how they articulate the matter of human migration into poetry, song, and myth. Chaired by Catherine Wilson Garry. 

Tickets here.

Margaret Busby in conversation with Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe

Margaret Busby’s new book Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century is a rare self-portrait from a pioneering publisher, writer and cultural activist. It brings together her writings on people, places, politics and publishing, and provides a rich insight into the many elements that have contributed to shaping her life, from her childhood in Ghana to the Black writers, intellectuals, artists and activists she has worked with, befriended, supported and championed for over half a century. 

Tickets here.

Jeet Thayil, Nikita Gill, Tishani Doshi and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe in performance, introduced by Claire Power

A closing session that seeks, foretells, and invokes through poetry. In performance, Jeet Thayil, Nikita Gill, Tishani Doshi and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe create a shared, resonant space of words and silences.

Nikita Gill and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe in conversation with Vayu Naidu

What makes myths endure across centuries? Why do ancient stories of gods, goddesses, and magic speak to us today? Bestselling poets Nikita Gill and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe take a deep dive into mythology, verse, and imagination. From tales of power and vengeance to love and transformation, discover how classic myths are retold and why they still shape the way we see the world.