Luke Palmer
Luke’s first pamphlet, Spring in the Hospital, won the Prole Pamphlet Contest in 2018. It explores the impact of trauma and grief on those bearing witness to, rather than experiencing the centre of, an event. Judge, Mab Jones, said of it ‘Each piece drew me in and left me, afterwards, with something – an astounding image, a feeling of shock, a heart-punch, a wondering or questioning’ and Tim Liardet said that the poems ‘are razor-sharp and speak with a startling clarity and confidence’.
Luke’s second pamphlet, In all my books my father dies, was released in March 2021 by The Red Ceiling’s Press. It is a single, long poem – an experiment with the Oulipo-esque ‘poem-sculpt’ form – and again raises themes of loss and trauma. Luke Kennard has called it ‘powerfully inventive in a way that feels participatory for the reader … while giving us a remarkably consistent, melancholic and entrancing authorial voice’.
He has placed poems in a variety of journals and anthologies, won third place in the 2020 Winchester Poetry Prize, and appears in the latest series of the podcast ‘Bedtime Stories for the End of the World’ alongside Joe Dunthorne, hosted by Eleanor Penny.
He also runs the Bristol-based HOURS Writers workshop. Luke writes novels for Young Adults and his debut, Grow (2021, Firefly Press), is available now for pre-order and released on 1st July.
Twitter: @lcpalmerpoetWebsite: www.lukepalmerwriting.com
Gabriel Akamo
Drawing on his background in both theatre and Philosophy, Gabriel’s writing currently explores faith, relationships, and his overlapping identities.
He has been commissioned by institutions such as London’s Southbank Centre, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Royal Academy of Arts, and has been a speaker at Gresham College, Guildhall. Previous festival performances include Lovebox and Bestival, and Festival Kometa in Riga, Latvia.
He is a proud alumnus of the Barbican Young Poet and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, and a former Roundhouse Resident Artist.
In May 2020, he published his debut pamphlet, ‘At the Speed of Dark’, with Bad Betty Press
. Publications
– At the Speed of Dark (Bad Betty Press, 2020)
– Willibroadsheet, Poetry Anthology (St. Willibrord Society, 2020)
– Magma 77: Act Your Age (Magma Press, 2019)
– The Words For These Things, Barbican Young Poets
– Anthology 2019 (Barbican Centre, 2019)
– For Those With Collages For Tongues, Barbican Young
– Poets Anthology 2018 (Barbican Centre, 2018)
– Impossible Things About Optimism, Barbican Young
– Poets Anthology 2016 (Barbican Centre, 2016)