Inspire Poetry Festival 2026 - Desert Island Poems: Paul Farley in Conversation with Clare Brown

Join us at West Bridgford Library for an evening of poetry, as acclaimed poet Paul Farley shares his desert island poems in conversation with the Library Director of Bromley House Library Clare Brown, before reading from his own award-winning work. 

About Paul Farley

Paul Farley was born in Liverpool and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He has published six books of poetry with Picador, including most recently When It Rained for a Million Years (2025), which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. A frequent broadcaster, he has also written widely for radio, as well as publishing several non-fiction titles, and has edited a selection of John Clare’s poetry. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has received numerous awards including Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, the Whitbread Poetry Prize and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He lives in north Lancashire and is Emeritus Professor of Poetry at Lancaster University. 

About Clare Brown 

Clare Brown began work in theatre administration and was General Manager of Paines Plough Theatre Company before making the move into literature, becoming Director of the Poetry Book Society (PBS) in 1996. Running the PBS enabled her to develop her passion for reading poetry, particularly when organising the annual TS Eliot PriS readings and award ceremony. She moved to Nottingham in 2003. She has two novels published with Bloomsbury in the UK and one with Hachette in France, and freelanced for several years as a writer, consultant and workshop leader until joining Inspire Libraries’ Culture team in 2016. She has been Director of Bromley House Library since September 2022.  

bromleyhouse.org 

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