Why it matters: The event marks Godden's first appearance in Ipswich and represents a "massive" moment for the town's creative community. SoapBox Spoken Word CIC, the region's only dedicated organisation supporting poets and spoken word artists, is creating sustainable pathways for poets and creatives to develop their work, reach bigger audiences, and potentially build careers in the arts.
The details: Godden, an award-winning novelist, poet and broadcaster of mixed Jamaican-Irish heritage, will deliver her signature style at the event hosted by Amy Wragg, who will also perform her own poems. The evening will feature three talented Ipswich poets all making their big stage debut: Jackie Montague, Lu and Tarah Kejo. Ticket holders will receive a free handmade zine upon arrival.
The big picture: Godden is a highly acclaimed figure in contemporary literature. Her debut novel, Mrs Death Misses Death, published by Canongate in 2021, won the Indie Book Awards for Fiction and The People's Book Prize, and was shortlisted for both the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize.
Her poetic work is widely recognised for its themes of courage and resistance. Her hardback collection, Pessimism is for Lightweights, 30 pieces of courage and resistance (2023), has seen its title poem placed on permanent display at The Peoples History Museum in Manchester.
In 2024, she simultaneously published a new full poetry collection, With Love, Grief and Fury, and a literary childhood memoir, Springfield Road – A Poets Childhood Revisited, both through Canongate. With Love, Grief and Fury features the poem Tell Good People Good Things, which was previously displayed in the Poetry & Resistance exhibition at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol. Her poem While Justice Waits was highly commended by the Forward Prize.
A live performance featuring material from With Love, Grief and Fury was recorded at Out-Spoken at the Southbank and subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 4's The Verb and Pick of The Week.
For context: Godden is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Patron of Hastings Book Festival, and an Honorary Fellow of West Dean, Sussex. A paperback edition of With Love, Grief and Fury has been shortlisted for the 'People's Choice' category in the Books Are My Bag 2025 Readers Awards.
The bottom line: This unique evening promises to inspire and uplift, bringing together one of contemporary literature's most celebrated voices with talented local poets for an unmissable celebration of spoken word in Ipswich.
