Jane Hirshfield in Conversation

Blackwell’s Manchester partners with the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing and Poetry Ireland to welcome acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield for an evening of readings and conversation at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. She will be joined by poet John McAuliffe to discuss her collection The Asking.

Hirshfield’s work is known for its clarity, depth and philosophical reach, exploring what it means to be human through poems that are both intimate and expansive. Her writing brings together sensual detail and searching inquiry, offering moments of stillness and attention in a fast-moving, distracted world.

The Asking gathers poems from across Hirshfield’s career, including selections from earlier collections alongside a substantial body of new work. The collection reflects her enduring engagement with themes of connection, impermanence and the natural world, expressed in language that is precise, luminous and quietly transformative.

Jane Hirshfield is one of the most celebrated contemporary American poets, with eleven published collections to her name. Her work has received numerous honours, including fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and recognition from the Poetry Book Society. Alongside her poetry, she is also known for her essays on the craft and meaning of poetry, and for her longstanding environmental advocacy.