“Where a brook flew by”: an evening of poetry with Hilary Davies

“Where a brook flew by”: an evening of poetry with Hilary Davies

Join poet and former Poetry Society Chair Hilary Davies for a special evening of poetry in Abney Park’s Harriet Delph Room.

Hilary will read from her collections “Exile and the Kingdom” (Enitharmon Press) and “Compass Light” (Renard Press). This will feature poems from her sequence “Songs from the Lea Valley”, including “In Abney Park”, and others set in this part of London. She will also read some poems set in Hackney by her late husband, the poet and editor Sebastian Barker.

She will speak about the background to her poetry, including her diverse and local inspirations. After the event there will be a chance to chat informally.

“Moving, subtle but accessible, beautifully vivid poems.”

Rowan Williams (on Compass Light)

“Hilary Davies […] is writing joy.”

Times Literary Supplement (on Exile and the Kingdom)

Hilary Davies is a poet, former Chair of the Poetry Society, a Hawthornden fellow, and an Eric Gregory Award Winner. She was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at King’s College, London 2012–16 and at the British Library 2018–19. She is also a Fellow of the English Association and of the Temenos Academy. In November 2023 she was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year Award. She has previously published four collections of poetry from Enitharmon and is also a translator, essayist and critic.