Events

2021

19th May
LOW launch
With Rebecca Perry and Deborah Landau. Watch on youtube here.

2020

17th April
Doncopolitan Instagram
Watch a recording of me reading Tin Can Odyssey above.

2019

9th December
Cafe Writers
Louis Marchesi (formerly Take 5)17 Tombland NR3 1HF Norwich

Reading with Kathy Pimlott for Cafe Writers
7.30pm, £3, includes open mic slots

11th April
European Poetry Festival : Latvia in London
Burley Fisher Books
Inga Gaile & Wayne Holloway-Smith, Artis Ostups & Chrissy Williams, Inga Pizāne & Mischa Foster Poole, Krišjānis Zeļģis & SJ Fowler. Four of Latvia’s most inventive and emiment contemporary poets come to London to present brand new collaborations with Britain-based counterparts. This special focus event pairs some of the finest avant-garde and literary poets from both nations to perform works made for the night. An event to celebrate Latvian poetry and potential of collaboration in literature in one of the London’s most vibrant bookshops.The evening will be opened with solo readings by other European poets visiting for the festival, including Callie Michail, Mathura, Muanis Sinanovic, Tatiana Faia and Ana Seferovic.
7-9.30pm, free

27th March
The Friendship Cliché
Poetry Cafe
George Herbert wrote that “the best mirror is an old friend”, come and join four tarnished mirrors – Anna Selby, Chrissy Williams, Richard Scott and Edward Doegar – as they read from their work, selecting from each other’s poems as well as each performing a newly commissioned piece relating to cliché (which will be destroyed after this night’s performance).
7-9pm, free


2018

25th November 2018
Prose Poem Poetics
Torriano Meeting House
99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, London NW5 2RX
With Linda Black, Andrew Wells, Alison Graham, Julia Rose Lewis, Gareth Evans, Ghazal Mosadeq, Susie Campbell, Adriana Diaz Enciso, Michael Zand, Mischa Foster Poole, Fabian Peake, SJ Fowler, Robert Vas Dias and Chrissy Williams.
£5/£4 according to pocket : 7.30pm  

3rd November 2018
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 
Back For More - First Collections
Chrissy Williams, Suzannah Evans, Matt Howard, Josephine Corcoran
Jubilee Hall
10:00 - 11:00am
£10

3rd November 2018
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
MPT: Ted Hughes and Hungary
Editor Clare Pollard presents the Autumn launch of Modern Poetry in Translation, 'In a Winter City: Focus on Hungary and Ted Hughes', which commemorates the 20th anniversary of co-founder Ted Hughes' death with new commissions inspired by his translations, and also fulfils Hughes' own wish to have a Hungarian issue. With readings by Sasha Dugdale, Zaffar Kunial, Chrissy Williams and George Szirtes.
Peter Pears Gallery
5.30 - 6.30pm | £8

4th October 2018
National Poetry Day BBC World Service
You can listen to the audio here (right at the end of the 11 o clock show): https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/w172w4khq6byjhy

19th September 2018
Ouse Muse
Auction Room, Bedford
Reading with local poets and open mic.
7.45pm
£5

22nd August 2018
Reading and Guest at Arvon Course
Guest on a course led by Jean Sprackland and Robert Seatter. For full details see the Arvon website linked above.

28th July 2018
The Shuffle
Poetry Cafe, Covent Garden, London
Reading with poets Isobel Dixon, Chrissy Williams, Mark Waldron, Anne Berkeley, Declan Ryan Selina Rodrigues & Adil Hussain.
7.30pm
£7

13th July 2018
Vertigo @ BFI 
Blue Room at the BFI, South Bank
Six cinephile poets interpret Hitchcock’s Vertigo through words, voices, visuals and music. Performing with Mona Arshi, Simon Barraclough, Dzifa Benson, Isobel Dixon and Chris McCabe. With music by Oli Barrett and Simon Barraclough.
£8 or £15 with joint screening of Vertigo

13th July 2018
Poetry and TV Conference
University of Birmingham
Talking about ANGELA at a day of papers and panels on poetry and TV curated by Jenna Clake and Richard O'Brien.

6th June 2018
Poem Brut
Poetry Library, Southbank Centre, London
A literary event celebrating the visual, visceral, messy, handwritten and colourful in poetry with new unique commissions from writers exploring alternate ways of making literature. Each presentation will be different from the last, with readings, performances and talks alongside pop up exhibits, video poems and interactions. Featuring new work from Maja Jantar, Saradha Soobrayen, Chrissy Williams, SJ Fowler and more.
7pm - free entry

2nd June 2018
Fairford Festival of Fiction
Fairford, near Swindon
A one day literary festival with its own tent inside Fairford Festival, with events from Ross Montgomery, Chrissy Williams, Sarah Hilary, Matthew Graham and Mark Gatiss. 

10th May 2018
Talking Rhythm Poetry and Music Open Mic
The Prince of Greenwich Pub, 72 Royal Hill, Greenwich, SE10 8R
Reading with Simon Barraclough and music.
7.30pm 

23rd April
Kirkdale Bookshop 
Sydenham, London
A reading for World Book Night and St George's Day, with Chrissy Williams, Crispin Best, Alex MacDonald, Erik Kennedy, Calliope Michail, Scott Hadley, Amy Jamieson-Weir and George Reiner.
7.30pm - free entry

29th March 2018
Pighog British Sign Language Night
Brighton
Nightingale Room, Brighton
Pighog will launch its first British Sign Language and English Language bilingual poetry night with sign language poet Donna Williams and English language poet Chrissy Williams and will include a bilingual open mic.
from 7.15pm

12th March 2018
Loose Muse 
Winchester
Novelist Claire Fuller with her paperback “Swimming Lessons’ and news of her third novel. Bloodaxe Poet and comics editor, Chrissy Williams. with her new collection ‘Bear’.
The Winchester Discovery Centre
7.30pm - £6 

21st February 2018
Blythe Tavern Poetry
London
Blythe Hill Tavern, 319 Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 1JB
Local poets, open mic performers and music by the Blythe Ceilidh
from 7.30pm


2017

29th October 2017
London Literature Festival
London
Southbank Centre
As part of the YA Weekender, a discussion on YA comics with Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Chrissy Williams
Tickets on website. 

11th October 2017
FILL: Festival of Italian Literature
London
Print Room at the Coronet
Collaborative biligual english and italian poetry event with Simon Barraclough, Alessandro Burbank, Maria Borio, Marzia D’Amico and Chrissy Williams, curated by Livia Franchini.
Tickets on website.

11th October 2017
Mixer Reading and Music Series
New York City, USA
Our Wicked Lady 153 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11237
With readings and music by Maya Pindyck, Emma Smith-Stevens, Chrissy Williams and Nathaniel Bellows
Free

7th October 2017
Nikay Paredes, Chrissy Williams & Leah Umansky
New York City, USA
Book Culture 536 W 112th St, New York, New York 10025
Free

28th September 2017
National Poetry Day
Reading on BBC1 Spotlight News - video available here. 

30th July 2017
Betsy Trotwood All Dayer
London
All afternoon
Free

16th July 2017
Poetry Swindon
Richard Jefferies Museum
"Poetry and Cream Teas with Chrissy Williams".
The event will start at 2pm and end around 5pm.
More info on facebook page here. 

1st July 2017
Edinburgh
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Chrissy Williams, Wayne Miller, Anthony Autumn and Ruthie Kennedy
7pm-9.30pm
Free

29th June 2017
Exeter
Uncut Poets
Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter
with open mic
£5

28th June 2017
Stablemates, London
Waterstones Piccadilly
With Grace Nichols and Miriam Nash - a Bloodaxe reading.
7.30pm
£8

24th June 2017
Manchester
Peter Barlow's Cigarette
Waterstones, Deansgate
With Maggie O'Sullivan, Lila Matsumoto and Luke Thorogood
4pm-6pm

22nd June 2017
Dalston, London
Words and Jazz
George Szirtes, Chrissy Williams, Tim Cumming, Roxy Dunn, Jonathan Catherall, Sorana Santos 
Vortex Downstairs
£5
8pm 

17th June 2017
Kendal Poetry Festival 
With Inua Ellams 
http://www.kendalpoetryfestival.co.uk/whatson/

7th June 2017
Poetry Comics Workshop 
Free entry, at the Poetry Library at Southbank Centre.
RSVP here

1st June 2017
Launch of BEAR!
Holy Redeemer Hall, Exmouth Markets, London EC1R 4QE
Bar at 7 | Bears at 8 | Dancing at 9 
Full details here.

24th May 2017
South Yorkshire Festival
Reading in Barnsley.
https://southyorkshirepoetryfestival.com/programme/williams-mcfarlane-edwards-duhig/

16th May 2017
Sidekick Books Pamphlet night
At the Library.
https://theemmapress.com/events/

1st April 2017
Enemies Project PEN Modern Literature Festival
Reading about The Al-Khawaja family.

24th-26th March 2017
ConBust
Convention at Smith in Northampton, Mass. Full weekend, various panels.

15th March 2017
Wicked + Divine Panel
Waterstone Tottenham Court Road
As host, interviewing Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.

4th February 2017
The Battle of the Somme Film Screening and Poetry Performance
7pm, £8.50 
A rare public screening of The Battle of the Somme film, originally released in 1916. New poems in wide-ranging response to the film itself and its historical context, by Poetry School poets: Anna Kisby, Caroline M Davies, Chrissy Williams, Eleanor Penny, Jo Young, John Haney, Patricia Ace, Roy McFarlane, Steve Kendall and Sue Burge.

2016

5th November 2016
Four Poets Reading Four Poems Each
Poetry in Aldeburgh
Free
How does the voice transform the poem? Four poets each read from their own work, and then from each other's, as a way of communally exploring their own work and process, with Edward Doegar, Richard Scott, Anna Selby and Chrissy Williams.

7th September 2016
BBC Proms Extras 
Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall
Free, also broadcast on BBC Radio 4
Poetry from Chrissy Williams and music from cutting edge jazz collective Nérija.

15th May 2016
The Sunday Assembly
More information on website.

10th May 2016
The The The
Reading series in Peckham, with Eric Langley, Alex MacDonald, Martha Sprackland and Chrissy Williams.

12th March 2016
York Literature Festival
Poetry Comics workshop from 12-2pm. Full details here!

25th February 2016
Pighog Poetry Night
The Redroaster, Brighton, £5, 7.45
With poet John Harvey.

19th February 2016
A Bubbling Sound
Betsy Trotwood, London, £5, from 7.30pm
Magma's final National Conversation event as four poets help us explore how we respond to poems being performed in different ways and different environments. Readings and intimate performances from Kayo Chingonyi, Holly Pester, Ross Sutherland and Chrissy Williams.

6th February 2016
SMASH: a comic, graphic and novel talkfest
Barbican Library, free, 5-8pm
Full info here: http://londongraphicnovelnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/smash.html

2015

3rd November 2015
School of Night: Poetry with Tracey Herd and Chrissy Williams in St Andrews
with Tracey Herd, introduced by Don Paterson.
Toppings Bookshop, 7 Greyfriars Garden, St Andrews, KY16 9HG
£6

29th September 2015
AB Jackson launch of The Wilderness Party
with Mark Waldron
7.30pm, The Yorkshire Grey

27th June 2015
if p then q reading
The Hardy Tree Gallery, Kings Cross
with Stephen Emmerson, Peter Jaeger, seekers of lice, Nathan Walker & Chrissy Williams
7.30pm, free entry, BYOB

17th June 2015
The Poetry Inquisition #5
Small White Elephant, Peckham
Tim Gunn and Chrissy Williams
As at previous events, every poet who reads will face probing questions from the audience and a good-natured but merciless Newsnight-style grilling by our panel of interrogators.
7.30pm, free entry

24th May 2015
DIY Cultures
Talking on poetry pamphlets and ephemera. More details tba on website.
Rich Mix London
www.diycultures.tumblr.com

7-8th May 2015
The Place for Poetry
Talking on poetry and comics. More details on website.
Goldsmiths, University of London
www.gold.ac.uk/ecl/events/the-place-for-poetry/   

28th April 2015
CB1 Reading
With Anna Selby and open mic
Faculty of English, West Road, Cambridge at 8pm, free entry

21st March 2015
Newcastle Poetry Festival
Saturday morning, 10am
part of a group of creative responses to the Bloodaxe Archive


2014

2nd December 2014
Pelemeni Holiday Reading
With readings from with Eve Grubin, Kathryn Maris, Nicholas Murray and Stav Poleg and Chrissy Williams

Aldeburgh Poetry Festival
Saturday 8th November 2014 
- Discussion between Chrissy Williams and artist Annabel Dover
Pond Gallery, Snape, 9.30am, free
- Close reading on Sonam Chhoki's 'New Year dusk' 
Peter Pears Recital Room, Snape, 7pm, free
Sunday 9th November 2014
- New Voices Reading with Kayo Chingonyi, Jonathan Edwards, Suzannah Evans and Chrissy Williams
Britten Studio, Snape, £7.50

4th September 2014
Mount London Salon
with Inua Ellams, Amber Massie-Blomfield, Tom Chivers & Chrissy Williams
Waterstones Piccadilly, 7pm, free

15th August 2014
6 Poets at the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh 
With readings from Simon Barraclough, Isobel Dixon, AB Jackson, Rob Mackenzie, Andy Phillip and Chrissy Williams
8pm, £5 entry  

31st July 2014
Summer Series at The City Pride
The City Pride, Clerkenwell, London
With Fiona Benson, Andrew McMillan and others
7pm, free

11th June 2014
Amid the Ruins
Daniel Blau Gallery, 51 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB
With work from the following performers: Jennie Cole, Ken Edwards, Hazel Smith and Roger Dean, Fiona Templeton, Chrissy Williams. Organised by the Royal Holloway Poetics Research Centre.
7-9pm, free entry

29th May 2014
Mount London launch party
Rough Trade East, Brick Lane, London
With readings from Joe Dunthorne, Chrissy Williams, Amber Massie-Blomfield and more to be announced.
7pm, free entry but RSVP essential to info@pennedinthemargins.co.uk

13th May 2014
ANGELA at Waterstones Hampstead
Reading from ANGELA pamphlet, with Richard Scott.
7pm, £3, wine provided

23rd April 2013
Where is the Poem? Mini-Festival
De Havilland campus, University of Hertfordshire
with Nathan Hamilton and Jacob Sam-La Rose
2-5pm

14th April 2014
HappenStance Poets
30 poets reading at the Torriano Meeting House
from 7.30pm, £5

22nd March 2014
Annie Freud & the Girls: Amy Key, Camellia Stafford, Chrissy Williams
Sladers Yard, Dorset
Full details here
6.30pm, £10

15th March 2014
Fjender: Danish Enemies

Rich Mix Arts Centre, London 
Three pairs of poets from Denmark & the UK premiere original collaborations, featuring three of Europe’s most innovative and exciting poetic practitioners in Morten Sondergaard, Martin Glaz Serup and Cia Rinne.
I am collaborating with Cia Rinne in preparation for this event.
Supported by the Kulturstyrelsen – Litteratur, Danish Agency for Culture with thanks to the Danish Embassy in London.  
7pm, Free


2013

15th December 2013
Betsy Trotwood Xmas All-Dayer

A whole day of free poetry readings, as part of a Poems in Which showcase with Martha Sprackland, Francine Toon, Camellia Stafford, Mark Waldron, Fran Lock, John Canfield and more tbc. Full listing on link above.

19th November 2013
Michael Marks Awards
British Library
Reading with the other shortlisted poets David Clarke, Kim Lasky, Kim Moore, Ben Parker and Neil Rollinson at the ceremony for the Michael Marks pamphlet awards.

26th October 2013
Camaradefest
Rich Mix Arts Centre, Main Space
Collaborative reading with Nia Davies as part of a day-long festival, 2pm-10pm. Our reading is set for the session starting at 5pm.
Free entry  

16th October 2013
Launch of ANGELA 
At basement of Drink, Shop & Do in King's Cross, London
from 7pm, with a short reading at 8.30  

19th July 2013
Enemies at the Hardy Tree gallery
Readings from the p.o.w. broadside series, with Simon Barraclough and Pascal O'Loughlin
8pm

9th June 2013
Reading with Fiona Moore
At the Torriano Meeting House
time tbc

15th May 2013
Reading at launch of Long Poem Magazine
At the Barbican Library
from 6pm with readings at 9.15pm
free entry

27th April 2013
Poets on Pasolini: A New Decameron

Part of Pasolini Film Season at the BFI
At the BFI
6pm
With Simon Barraclough, Jane Draycott, Charles Lambert, Glyn Maxwell, John McCullough, Valeria Melchioretto, Luca Paci, Cristina Viti, Stephen Watts, Chrissy Williams, all reading their own specially commissioned pieces inspired by specific Pasolini titles.

26th April 2013
Modern Poets on Viking Poetry
7pm, for 7.30
at Judith E Wilson Drama Studio, Faculty of English, 9 West Road, CB3 9DP
With John Canfield, Nia Davies, Lucy Hamilton, Pen Kease, Jane Monson, Okey Nzelu, Rebecca Perry, Anna Robinson, Colette Sensier, Lavinia Singer, Chrissy Williams

16th April 2013
HappenStance Pamphlet Launch with Fiona Moore
Upstairs at the Crown Taven, Clerkenwell
from 6.30pm, with short readings at 7.45pm

8th April 2013
The Other Room
With Patrick Coyle, Sarah Crewe and Rhys Trimble
The Castle Hotel, Manchester
7pm

5th February 2013
Reading with Simon Barraclough
At the Gipsy Hill Tavern
7pm

15th January 2013
Reading with Poetry Library poets 
Lorraine Mariner, Chris McCabe and Pascal O'Loughlin
Lumen venue, 88 Tavistock Place, WC1H 9RS
7pm

2012

17th December 2012
Launch of Birdbook II (Sidekick Books)
with Anthony Adler, Mark Burnhope, Ian McLachlan, James Goodman, Luke Heeley, Andrew Jackson, Valerie Josephs, John McCullough, Samuel Prince and Christos Sakellaridis 
at Paper Dress Boutique and Bar, Shoreditch
7.30pm

16th December 2012
Betsy Trotwood Christmas All-Dayer
with Aime Williams, Kirsten Irving, John Canfield, Helen Mort, Sophia Blackwell, Mark Waldron, Edward Mackay, Nicola Gledhill in a "Christmas Cracker" section, plus many more poets
https://www.facebook.com/events/388074721267816/  
all day

6th December 2012
Launch of Where Rockets Burn Through (Penned in the Margins)
with Simon Barraclough, Sue Guiney, Kirsty Irving, Lorraine Mariner, Ian McLachlan, Jon Stone and Kelley Swain
Toynbee Studios 28 Commercial Street London E1 6AB
7.30pm

17th November 2012
Interrobang Festival (Annexe Magazine)
with Will Conway, Rob Mimpriss and Eley Williams and many others through the day
£9 at the Betsy Trotwood all day

26th October 2012
Poetry for Sonic Youth
with Swithun Cooper, Becky Cremin, Sarah Crewe, Amy Key, Francesca Lisette, Roddy Lumsden, Chris McCabe, Godkin Mor, Pascal O'Loughlin, Nat Raha, Andra Simon, Saradha Soobrayen, Tim Wells and Michael Zand
Mascara Bar, Stamford Hill
7pm 

24th July 2012
Salt Plus 
with Kaddy Benyon, Luke Heeley, Anne Berkeley, Caroline Crew and Rebecca Perry 
https://www.facebook.com/events/165560620235407/  
at the Betsy Trotwood 
7pm

29th June 2012
Italian Poetry Reading (Poetry Parnassus)
with Milena Ercolani, Ribka Sibjatu, Valeria Melchioretto and Simon Barraclough 
at The Southbank Centre 
3pm

7th June 2012
A Jammy Paddle Up Deptford Creek (Brockley Max Festival)
with Sean Coughlan, Matthew Wall and Robert Cole 
http://brockleymax.co.uk/index.php/events/
at The Gantry Restaurant & Bar 
7pm 

29th March 2012
Launch of "Adventures in Form" (Penned in the Margins)
with Patience Agbabi, Nathan Penlington, Hannah Silva, Tim Wells, Richard Price, Kirsten Irving, Ira Lightman and Jon Stone
at Toynbee Studios 
7pm

14th March 2012
Launch of Tim Cockburn's "Appearances in the Bentinck Hotel"
with Tim Cockburn, Theo Best and Matthew Gregory
at Oxfam Dalston 
7pm 

6th March 2012
Launch of my pamphlet "The Jam Trap"
at The Phoenix, Charing Cross Road  7pm 

21st February 2012
Selected Poems at the V&A
Fuselit/Sidekick Books Showcase with Ian McLachlan, Sophia Blackwell, M.P. Dean, Jon Stone and Kirsten Irving
at The V&A Bookshop 
7pm 

2011

11th December 2011
Betsy Trotwood Christmas All-Dayer
at The Betsy Trotwood  all day