‘A Better Future’ – Jacqueline Saphra and Sue Rose, with Lucia Foti on harp

February 5, 2025

Remembering and honouring victims and survivors of the Holocaust and of wars, hatred and racism all over the world.

Poetry lovers and poets filled the beautiful West Greenwich Library last night to listen to Jacqueline Saphra and Sue Rose read from their collections, and to Lucia Foti’s accomplished harp playing.

Jacqueline Saphra read a sequence of poems from her outstanding collection Velvel’s Violin (Nine Arches Press, 2023). Published not long before the atrocities of that October in Israel and the terrible war that followed, it is essential reading at a time of rising antisemitism, racism and denial of history. In the words of poet and editor Amy Acre, the book […] speaks to a homeland that exists not in sand and soil but in soup and song, in strange edges and broken tongue, in atheists’ prayers, in journey, in love. It was absolutely right to hear Jacqueline read uninterrupted, and it was clear that everyone in the audience was completely captivated. The breadth and courage of Jacqueline’s poems within the themes of loss, of the legacy of centuries of persecution, of History so totally impacting on histories, are astounding. And there is wit and humour, of course, as well as moments of stillness, like the last line of ‘Peace Sonnet’: a quiet sky with nothing falling but the leaves.

‘Broken tongue’ is very much a theme of some of Sue Rose‘s poems from Scion (Cinnamon Press, 2020), where the family yiddish idioms interspersed with English are such a natural part of the conversation, and therefore of the thinking. Assimilation, dilution and ambivalence about faith are not enough to break the slippery helix/that proves we belong. As a translator as well as a poet, Sue’s interest in languages – and more personal reasons – led her to start learning Hebrew quite recently. Sue also read from her forthcoming book, Aleph-Bet (Cinnamon Press, September 2025). In it she meditates on each of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, linking their shapes to their meanings and creating images and metaphors that take you places and bring you right back. Pre-sales are not available yet, but if you email info@cinnamonpress.com expressing your interest in the book, you will receive notification of the pre-sales date.

What can I say about Lucia Foti‘s performance? She played the harp so beautifully, and the chosen melodies were so relevant to the themes of the poetry, that the combination worked extremely well. Her playing gave us three separate moments (six melodies plus an ‘encore’) of calm and soft breathing, with the domed space of the Library providing the perfect acoustics. A break from the intensity and emotional charge of the poetry, yet connected to it. Harps are notoriously hard to play, and also hard to transport – Lucia did it all with immense grace and skill.

A big thank-you to Jacqueline, Sue and Lucia, and as always to the Library staff, Kim and Monica, for their help setting up, rigging up all the necessary things to project the texts onto screen, and for going as ever well beyond the call of duty (and closing time…sorry!). Thank you also to my friend Marilyn, who managed the refreshments table and, of course, to everyone who attended. I hope to see you all again soon.

Jacqueline Saphra is a poet, playwright and activist. She is the author of nine plays, five chapbooks and five poetry collections. The Kitchen of Lovely Contraptions (flipped eye 2011) was nominated for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. If I Lay on my Back I Saw Nothing but Naked Women (The Emma Press 2014), illustrated by Mark Andrew Webber and set to music by Benjamin Tassie won the Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work. Jacqueline’s T.S. Eliot Prize-shortlisted collection All My Mad Mothers (2017) and her subsequent one, Dad, Remember You are Dead (2019) were both published by Nine Arches Press. Her newest play, The Noises was shortlisted for a Standing Ovation Award. Jacqueline’s collection, One Hundred Lockdown Sonnets (2021) was followed by Velvel’s Violin in July 2023 (Nine Arches Press), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and BBC Radio 4 Extra Poetry Book of the Month. Her latest project is the libretto for ‘A Kind of Haunting’, an opera by British Jewish composer Michael Zev Gordon, which will be staged at The Barbican in March 2025. Jacqueline is a founder member of Poets for the Planet and has taught in many different settings including The Arvon Foundation, The Poetry School, Oxford University Summer School and the MsT at Cambridge University. 

Sue Rose is a poet and literary translator working in Kent. As a translator, her work spans many genres, including libretti, novels and a series of books about the adventures of France’s answer to Harry Potter, Oksa Pollock. In 2004, she completed an MPhil in Writing with a thesis on the theory and practice of the translation of poetry. As a poet, her work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies. In 2008, she won the Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition and in 2009, the International Troubadour Poetry Prize. Sue is the author of three collections from Cinnamon Press – From the Dark Room, The Cost of Keys and Scion. Heart Archives, a chapbook of sonnets paired with her own photos, was published by Hercules Editions in 2014 and Tonewood, poems in response to black and white photos of trees by photographer Lawrence Impey, was published by Eaglesfield Editions in 2019. Her fourth collection, Aleph Bet, a sequence of poems exploring the Hebrew language, accompanied by some of her own photos, will be published later this year by Cinnamon Press.

Lucia Foti is a London-based Italian harpist. After graduating with first class honours from the Conservatorio di Como, she completed her Master’s, graduating with distinction from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Lucia has won several national and international prizes, including first prize the 2012 Concours Français de la Harpe and the 2015 Soroptimist Italia Competition for Young Talents, and more recently, third prize at the 2024 Manchester Harp Competition. She performs solo with professional orchestras, has performed at Kings Place and can be heard regularly at Cadogan Hall and St John’s Smith Square with the Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra. Lucia and guitarist Stefano Fiacco have partnered to form the Nazca Duo, and have been awarded the Colin Blythe Bursary Fund in 2023 in recognition of their achievement in chamber music.

Lucia Foti, me, Jacqueline Saphra and Sue Rose

Events

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11 at West Greenwich Library – 7 for 7.30

‘Poems of Peace (and War)‘ – with Mick Delap, Malene Engelund, Graham High, Lorraine Mariner, Jocelyn Page, Kelley Swain and Sarah Westcott. With Lucia Foti on harp.

It cannot be at 11am, but 7.30 will do… An evening of poetry to celebrate peace (but it’s almost impossible to do so without poems on war). The poets, all belonging to the Nevada Street Poets group based in Greenwich (and thriving despite various departures for other places – Tasmania being the farthest), have designed a programme that includes their own work and that of poets from the canon.

And I’m delighted to welcome back Lucia Foti, who will play a small selection of music on harp. You may remember her wonderful playing in February this year, to accompany readings by Jacqueline Saphra and Sue Rose.

As always, the event is free and everyone is welcome. Books and pamphlets will be on sale, and there will be plenty of refreshments.

Mick Delap Mick Delap is a long time Greenwich resident.  He took up writing poetry along the way, publishing his first collection, River Turning Tidal in 2003, and his second, Opening Time in 2016.  Mick has never stopped supporting the reading and the writing of poetry in South East London. He gathered the group of poets still at the heart of the Nevada Street Writers in 2009.  They still meet regularly.

Malene Engelund is a poet and translator based in Copenhagen. Her pamphlet The Wild Gods was published in 2016 and her translation of the Danish author Christel Wiinblad’s poetry collection My Little Brother was the PBS Spring 2020 translation choice. Her collection Gather is forthcoming with Corsair.Her work will be read by “members of the cast!”

Lucia Foti is a London-based Italian harpist. Supported by Trinity College London and a Trinity Laban Scholarship, she has recently completed her master’s degree with distinction at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She is the recipient of prizes in France (2012), Italy (2015) and Britain (2023 and 2024). Lucia freelances with various orchestras and ensembles, performing widely abroad as well as at leading London venues including Kings Place, Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St James’s Piccadilly and the Painted Hall in Greenwich.

Graham High has been writing poetry since school days, although his primary career has been as a sculptor and Animatronic Model Designer in the film industry. He has published five poetry collections to date, as well as several chapbooks of poetry and other work. Graham’s other literary involvements have been in editorial and translation work, and as a writer of short stories and movie screenplays (two of which have won awards but, sadly, have not been produced). Through his keen interest in Japanese literature, he became editor of the British Haiku Society Journal, Blithe Spirit, (2005-2008), and to serve as the Society’s president (2011-2014).

Lorraine Mariner lives in Greenwich and works as a librarian at the National Poetry Library, Southbank Centre. She has published two collections with Picador, Furniture (2009) and There Will Be No More Nonsense (2014) and has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize twice, for Best Single Poem and Best First Collection, and for the Seamus Heaney Centre Poetry Prize. Her third collection Little Anchors is due from Picador in Autumn 2026. She has edited several titles for Candlestick Press, including Ten Poems About Friendship (2016) and Ten Poems about Libraries (2024).

Jocelyn Page is a poet from Connecticut, USA, living in London. She teaches English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College and the University of London, and is Resident Creative Consultant on the ‘Just Poetry’ project at Greenpeace, CJL. Jocelyn’s publications include You’ve Got to Wait Till the Man You Trust Says Go (argent press, 2016) – winner of the Goldsmiths’ Writer Centre’s inaugural Poetry Pamphlet award, and smithereens (tall-lighthouse press, 2010). She is co-chair of the National Association of Writers in Education. 

Kelley Swain is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing (poetry) at the University of Tasmania, with an MSc in Medical Humanities from King’s College London. She is the author of poetry collections Darwin’s Microscope, Atlantic, and Opera di Cera, and a contributor to Guests of Time, an anthology written for the first poetry residency at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Poems from the 10th anniversary edition of Darwin’s Microscope were adapted to the song cycle, Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Kelley is also a novelist and contributor to art & health essays and criticism in The Lancet, where she has over 100 publications. Her work will be read by “members of the cast!”

Sarah Westcott is a poet, originally from Devon. She has published three pamphlets and two full collections – Slant Light and Bloom (Pavilion Poetry, Liverpool University Press). Her latest pamphlet is Almanac – hand-stitched and published by Coast to Coast to Coast. Sarah is currently researching and writing inter-species poetry as part of a PhD at the University of Birmingham. She has been working with tadpoles, bats and nightingales to co-create poems that explore the interesting spaces where human and more than human intersect.

‘Chaos, Dragon and the Light’ – January 27 at West Greenwich Library, 7 for 7.30

A poignant documentary film by local Director Sal Anderson. It tells the story of Marika, a Hungarian girl who was forced into hiding from the Nazis during WW2, and forced to flee from the Soviets in 1956 during the Hungarian uprising. Settled in London, she was transformed by her creativity.

A free event to remember and honour all the victims of the Holocaust and of persecution, hatred and discrimination everywhere.