'Go to the poets, they will speak to thee': Ruth Padel

About

Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our online contemporary poetry reading series continues throughout 2025.

We will be listening to what poets have to say about our turbulent times, and how poetry can cross borders to challenge, delight and inspire us. Each event in the series is part reading, part open mic – and the theme of the open mic changes every time!

Our next event will feature the award-winning poet, author and novelist Ruth Padel. Ruth is the author of thirteen poetry collections, with her latest being Girl (Chatto, 2024) which was given a Poetry Book Society Special Recommendation. In Girl, Ruth explores the figure of the girl in all its complexity, whilst "listening to the snowmelt / of the patriarchy". The figure of the girl in William Wordsworth's writing is often associated with innocence or purity. In the Lucy poems, Lucy seems somehow ageless, hovering somewhere between girlhood and womanhood.

Our open mic theme this month is to take Ruth Padel's title as inspiration and bring a poem that explores childhood or youth and what that might mean. Poems that explore girlhood, boyhood, or other-gendered young lives — all are welcome. As ever, feel free to interpret the theme widely!