Push The Boat Out: Joelle Taylor and the Forward Prize

Chaired by Mónica Parle, Co-Executive Director of the Forward Prize, performance poet and Forward judge Joelle Taylor will share her work alongside insights into the art of delivering captivating poetry performance and discuss what’s exciting in contemporary poetry right now. This fascinating conversation will be followed by a reading from a Forward poet.

Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her recent award-winning collection C+NTO & Othered Poems is currently being adapted for theatre. C+NTO enters the private lives of women from the butch counter culture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the 80’s-90’s to reclaim their bodies as their own. She has judged several literary prizes including the Forward Prize, Jerwood Fellowship, and the Ondaatje Prize. Her novel of interconnecting stories The Night Alphabet will be published by Riverrun in Spring of 2024.

The Forward Arts Foundation works to widen poetry’s audience, honour achievement and support talent. Their programmes include the Forward Prizes for Poetry and National Poetry Day.

Artists in attendance: Mónica Parle (chair), Joelle Taylor, Forward poet