Friday, 3 October 2025

Poetry in Wembley: The Language of Care. Wembley Library October 16th 6.30-7.30pm

Caroline Smith has been organising the Poetry in Wembley Series '160+One with Brent Library Service. The idea is to give voice to the 160 different first languages spoken in Brent through the unifying language of Poetry.

 

The first events were very successful with the Queen's Gold Medallist poet Imtiaz Dharker earlier in the year, and poets from Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Pakistan reading their works.

 

On the evening of 16th of October, Erica Hesketh and Caroline Smith will be launching their new books published by Nine Arches Press, 6:30 - 7:30pm at the Civic Centre .

 

Caroline's previous collection was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and many of the individual poems in this collection have already been published in journals and won prizes in poetry competitions.

 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this allowed - Caroline Smith the wife of wealthy Brent MP Barry Gardiner promoting her new book and previous works at a Brent public library funded by our Brent council tax?

Surely this is nepotism, the unfair use of power to get jobs or other benefits for your family or friends?

Some scrutiny is surely needed here.

Paul Lorber said...

The above comment is a bit unfair. We should not judge a person or their contribution just because they happen to be married to a politician. With my 'political' hat on I stood against Barry Gardiner many times - that did not however get in the way of having Caroline Smith reading her poetry works on another interesting subject at Barham Community Library (of which I am a Trustee) a few years ago.

We, just like many other Libraries, host events with many interesting history presenters, artists and others, without asking about their political connections which in my view are not relevant to the main objective of the event.

Let us support our Libraries and all forms of Art for what they contribute to our community and our well being.