Pyre: The Mother Tongue Showcase

This event will celebrate the rhythms and emotions carried through our lives and the stories that can only be told in our authentic voices.

Pyre: The Mother Tongue Showcase is a space to explore the languages that live inside of us, those whispered by our Mothers, those spoken in our homes and sung into our memories. This event will celebrate the rhythms and emotions carried through our lives and the stories that can only be told in our most authentic voices.

What does this mean as an audience member?
It means that you will be immersed in the languages of the women performing and will be invited into the poetry written in their mother tongue.

Nook Houseplants on Ebrington Street is a warm and green environment in which you can set everything down at the door and enjoy an evening rich with poetry.

Anairda Artivista will be holding space as Compere and Multi-talented Artist.

Performers include:

Jackie Wacha
Jackie Wacha is poet who writes about climate change, politics and social justice, interspersed with humourous observations. Jackie takes inspiration from ordinary people and everyday things. Her poetry has featured in several publications including Gin City and Waterfront Writers Anthologies. Jackie is the author of ‘Wild Rats’, a story raising awareness of the plight of street children.

Merris Longstaff
Merris Longstaff was born in Jamaica, and emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1960’s. She started her Nursing career in the 1970’s, and in more recent years she trained as a Therapeutic Counsellor. She has two grown up children with her husband, Simon. As a descendant of the Windrush Generation, she has rich experience of both British and Caribbean cultures which has largely influenced her poetry. To date, seven of her poems have been published. They include, A letter to the King, The Real Me and Black Woman. Also, many have been published in the book Gin City Writings from Plymouth. Her work is written and usually delivered in an authentic Jamaican Patois style, which strives to tackle the highly sensitive subjects of racism and politics around the world with both punch and humour.

Lucia Daramus
Lucia Daramus is a British – Romanian poet, a writer and a classicist. As a poet she published six books of poetry in the Romanian language and 3 books in the English language. She also published novels, essays, short stories and stories for children. She was included in five English Poetry Anthologies. Her poems explore subjects such as history, mental health, linguistic play, etc. About her books wrote Romanian literary critics and also English literary critics in a wonderful way.

Mélisande Fitzsimons
Mélisande Fitzsimons is a French poet, translator and workshop facilitator. She writes in French and English and had published four collections of poetry. Her work has appeared in international magazines and she is currently working on her fifth collection, with Acquifer. She enjoys exploring the ambiguities of language, as well as the paradoxes of history, big and small.