Poets & Players

Poets & Players return with an afternoon of poetry and live music at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. This free event features an outstanding line-up, and everyone is welcome — no booking required. Performers often bring books and CDs to sell (cash payments only).

The line-up includes:

Sasha Dugdale
Acclaimed poet and translator, Sasha Dugdale has published six poetry collections with Carcanet, including The Strongbox, winner of the Angle-Hellenic League Runciman Award. Her long poem Joy won a Forward Prize, while Deformations was shortlisted for both the T. S. Eliot and Derek Walcott Prizes. Dugdale’s award-winning translations include Maria Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and former editor of Modern Poetry in Translation.

Louise Machen
A widely published Mancunian poet with an MA in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester, Louise Machen has published collaborative works with Hedgehog Press and Black Bough Poetry, and her debut collection I Am Not Light was nominated for a Forward Prize.

Li Lu
Originally from China, cellist Li Lu has performed across Asia and Europe, and featured in the Sky Arts documentary Art of Survival. Her recording of Bach’s complete Cello Suites gained international acclaim, and she is currently on the teaching staff at Chetham’s School of Music.

Lulu Yang
Pianist Lulu Yang studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the RNCM and Yale School of Music. She now teaches piano at Chetham’s and regularly performs solo and chamber recitals across the UK and beyond.