Welcome
Fire River Poets is a small group of Somerset poets who share their work in monthly meetings.
We also organise public poetry events and work with schools.
Read more in About Us
Please note, our Guest Readings and Open Mic events will continue on Zoom for the present.
Visit our Event Registration page to register for any of these events and to see joining instructions.
Most of our Guest Reading Evenings allow space for limited Open Mic slots. You can request this when you register to attend. (Only one poem per poet, please, or two provided they fit one side A4.)
News
March 5th 2026 – ANNIE FREUD, ELAINE BECKETT
Annie Freud is a poet, artist and tutor.
She has four collections in print with Picador Poetry:
The Best Man That Ever Was – 2007 winner of the Dimplex Prize for New Writing
The Mirabelles – 2010 shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize
The Remains – 2015
Hiddensee – 2020
She is a fellow of the Royal Society of literature and was awarded the Cholmondeley Prize in 2025.
She is renowned for her live performances.
Elaine was born in London, then adopted by a family in Kent. She took an undergraduate degree in piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. After working in the theatre, and as a film music composer via the National Film and TV School, she trained as a music therapist and worked for many years with children and adults with complex learning needs, later moving into part time academic posts, training and supervising arts therapists at GSMD. She currently works as a consultant music therapy supervisor.
Her first poetry pamphlet, Faber New Poets 13, was published n 2016. She was awarded a Veronica Powles Memorial Scholarship from Gladstone Library in 2017. and went on to develop her first full length collection – Sea Creature Regrows Entire Body. – published by Verve Poetry Press in 2021. Her poems have appeared in various publications, including the Bridport Prize Winners Anthology, The New European, and The Poetry Review. Her readings include Ledbury International Poetry Festival, Cambridge Literary Festival, Brasenose College, Oxford, Verve Poetry Festival, and most recently Poetry in Aldeburgh with Suffolk Punch.
March 17th 2026 – PENELOPE SHUTTLE
Fire River Poets are delighted to present a special Zoom event celebrating the launch of Penelope Shuttle’s new collection, History of the Child. Penny will read two extended sets, interspersed with poems from Fire River Poets, on Tuesday 17th March at 7.30pm.
History of the Child is a richly evocative collection in which Penelope Shuttle explores childhood, memory, and imagination through personal and historical lenses. Moving from poems on figures such as Katherine of Aragon and Wallace Stevens to intimate reflections on parenting, grief, nature, and emotional recovery, the book journeys back to the poet’s own childhood, blending remembered and imagined selves. Guided by humour, magic, and elemental imagery, Shuttle draws on the idea of childhood as a potent, transformative space where play, fantasy, and reality meet.
Planned Events
(Click any Event below for more details)