You are invited to the launch of Hongwei Bao’s first collection of poetry and a joint reading by Rachel Goodman and Elvire Roberts

The Rabbit God: protector of queer hearts across East Asia. Can this ancient myth help rewrite our tomorrows?

Hongwei Bao’s debut collection charts an emotional journey through centuries and between nations, with the poet’s own migration from Inner Mongolia to Nottingham offering a fascinating perspective through which to examine Asian and queer identity.

These are poems which hop energetically over any and all borders. Scenes of everyday heartache give way to fireworks of rage and joy, while intimate examinations of relationships and desire sit alongside politically charged pieces – as the poet contrasts injustices from ancient China with those from present-day England.

Hongwei Bao grew up in Inner Mongolia and  lives in Nottingham, teaching at the University  of Nottingham. As a bilingual writer, he uses poetry,  short story and creative nonfiction to explore queer  desire, Asian identity, diasporic positionality and  transcultural intimacy. 

‘Hongwei Bao distils his experience as a queer, Chinese migrant into lyrics of intense emotional force and political acuity. Faced with racism and homophobia, he maintains an equanimity that is both empowering and touching. A brilliant, liberating debut.’
– Gregory Woods

In Elvire Roberts and Rachel Goodman’s collaboration – Knee to Knee – they question the ways in which women have been written over a lifetime, asking – are they fit for purpose? They rip up the rule book, ditching versions of self that have pinned them to the page. What emerges is a witty, raw, invitation to inhabit this world in a new language.

In Knee to Knee Elvire and Rachel combine to expand the boundaries of ‘she’. She is plural, playful, sensual, and anarchic. She asserts fresh punctuation to (re)connect, to halt, to disrupt rigid attitudes. ‘[D]is-verbed’, her poems interrogate the limits of the female as defined by others. A compelling reading is promised.

A free event, refreshments included