CERYS MATTHEWS: LIVE Q&A

Celebrating the release of Cerys Matthews’ collaborative album ‘We Come From the Sun’ with Hidden Orchestra & 10 Poets, Rough Trade are proud to present this live Q&A event with Cerys Matthews, Lemn Sissay, MA.MOYO, Anthony Anaxagorou and Hidden Orchestra.

This launch event chaired by BAFTA nominated, award-winning writer Lemn Sissay is an exclusive chance to unpick the stories behind this unique blend of voices from 10 leading UK artists: MA.MOYO, Raymond Antrobus, Lemn Sissay, Liz Berry, Anthony Anaxagorou, Adam Horovitz, Cia Mangat, Imtiaz Dharker, Kim Moore and Kayo Chingonyi.

Have a chance to ask how Cerys Matthews and Hidden Orchestra collaborated to transform poems recorded in Abbey Road studios into songs with the help of musicians and field recordists recording remotely worldwide during lockdown.

CERYS MATTHEWS Best selling author, award winning DJ and multi-million selling musician, Cerys Mathews presented iBBC 2’s My Life in Verse in 2007 and regularly reads poems and excerpts on her 6 music show, mixing them with contemporary music live on air.

Cerys released the official National Poetry Day anthology Tell Me The Truth About Life with Michael O’Mara books in 2019, was a judge for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and the Dylan Thomas Prize, is Vice President for Hay Festival of Literature and Art, an artistic advisor for MIF (Manchester International Festival), and patron of the Dylan Thomas society and Ballet Cymru.

She supports the work of Poet in the City, Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award and other literary organisations. Cerys founded a culture and food festival, The Good Life Experience, in 2013.

MA.MOYO (Belinda Zhawi) is a Zimbabwean born writer, sound artist & educator currently based in London. Her work explores Afro-diasporic research & narratives; how art & education can be used as intersectional tools. She was the 2016/17 Institute of Contemporary Arts Associate Poet, is the 2019 Serpentine Galleries’ Schools Artist in Residence & co-founder of, literary arts platform, BORN::FREE. Belinda is the author of Small Inheritances (ignitionpress, 2018) and micro-pamphlet, South of South East (Bad Betty Press, 2019)

LEMN SISSAY is a BAFTA nominated award winning writer, international poet, performer playwright, artist and broadcaster. He has read on stage throughout the world: from The Library of Congress in The United States to The University of Addis Ababa, from Singapore to Sri Lanka, Bangalore to Dubai, from Bali to Greenland AND Wigan library.

He was awarded an MBE for services to literature , and , along with Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie and Margaret Atwood, won a Pen Pinter Prize in 2019. He is Chancellor of The University of Manchester and an Honorary Doctor from The Universities of Huddersfield, Manchester, Kent and Brunei. Lemn was the first poet commissioned to write for the London Olympics and also wrote for the FA Cup.

His memoir ‘My Name is Why ‘, published in 2019 , continues to win awards and accolades, and top best selling charts across the world.

ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, New Statesman, Granta, and appeared on BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, ITV, Vice UK, Channel 4 and Sky Arts.

His second collection “After the Formalities” published with Penned in the Margins is a Poetry Book Society recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S Eliot Prize. It was also a Telegraph and Guardian poetry book of the year.

He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction. In 2019 he was made an honorary fellow of the University of Roehampton. Anthony is artistic director of Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night held at London’s Southbank Centre, and publisher of Out-Spoken Press. He has recently published ‘How to Write It: write your story’, a masterclass in craft.

HIDDEN ORCHESTRA is the solo studio project of Joe Acheson - a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, sound artist, remixer and documentary-maker, who has musically collaborated with The British Library, National Trust, BBC, IRCAM (Paris), Amanita Design (Prague), Eden Project, Kew Gardens, Saatchi Gallery, Sydney Botanical Gardens and many more.

For this project, Joe creates an imaginary orchestra compiled from individual recordings of a diverse array of musicians and found sounds, often writing short solo and chamber pieces entirely for the purpose of sampling them - using production techniques from sample-based music to compose Electronic/Classical music using acoustic instruments, and real-world sounds - from rain and birdsong through to industrial and mechanical noises.

A darkly emotive soundworld of orchestral textures and field recording soundscapes driven by complex drum arrangements and deep bass.

The live band version of Hidden Orchestra has toured extensively around the world with a constantly fluctuating lineup and innovative live visuals, and is equally at home in festivals, clubs, cinemas, museums, churches and concert halls - from Glastonbury to the Royal Albert Hall.

Tickets for this event also include a physical copy of the new album, delivered to your home address by Rough Trade.

You will receive a link for the Live Stream on the day of the event and when the show's about to start, the link will be accessible on your ticket in-app.

Please note: If your ticket includes the album, you will be asked to finalise you purchase via roughtrade.com, which will allow you to track the order progress directly. Instructions will be sent by Rough Trade, after your purchase.

If the album is yet to be released, you will be dispatched the item from the day of the release.

The bundle price is for UK customers only (Second Class Royal Mail postage is included in the price), with the option for non UK residents to pay additional delivery supplement for EU or Global shipping of books, when redeeming their order on the Rough Trade website.

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This is a x300 capacity event.

Presented by Rough Trade.