Thursday 16 October 7pm
Waterstones Cardiff
Join us in store as we welcome Roberto Pastore and Ben Rhys Palmer for the launch of two joyful, tender, and deeply human poetry collections. An evening of conversation, with readings and a Q&A, chaired by Parthian Books' publishing editor, Susie Wild.https://www.waterstones.com/events/poetry-launch-roberto-pastore-and-ben-rhys-palmer/cardiff
Roberto Pastore's sophomore collection Graveyards on Other Planets offers up a patchwork of epiphanies, missing people, stigmata, Steven Carrington’s eyes, power cuts and the shadow of war. Pastore hones in on an era of constant flux, violence and grief, offering a kind of bewildered solace with a misfit voice that feels truly renewed. In poems that are self-reflexive and elegiac, yet full of flashes of the unexpected, we are invited to look tenderly and unflinchingly at our own mysterious experience of living, our own ‘sad heartsong’. Here are poems that feel both intimate and timely, yet somehow beamed in from another planet, far, far away.
'Bert’s poems make the reader aware of other worlds, other planes of existence; how heavy night hangs, whispers overheard in dreams and waiting rooms, what is sheltered within our bodies. Profound, darkly funny, and deeply human.’ – Joshua Jones
In Ben Rhys Palmer’s joyful debut collection, discombobulated robots rub shoulders with philosophising hyenas, orangutan brides, Mesopotamian fish gods, and a psychotherapist from outer space. At once funny, tender, and beautifully bizarre, Breakfast with the Scavengers explores love, loss, loneliness, our never-ending quest for connection, and those blink-and-you-miss-them moments of transcendence that can light up our lives.
'Ben Rhys Palmer builds a world in every poem, allowing the reader to live inside it, entertained yet teetering on the precipice of disaster. These poems are romantic, apocalyptic, welcoming, terrifying, funny and heartbreaking all at once.' – Caroline Bird
Roberto Pastore is a poet based in Cardiff. He studied Art History & Creative Writing in Carlisle where he was part of the renowned Speakeasy spoken word scene. His first collection Hey Bert (Parthian, 2019) was highly commended by the Forward Poetry Prize and subsequently appeared in the Forward Book of Poetry 2021. In 2022 he released a poetry pamphlet entitled Absolute Joy which led to a collaboration with artist Rob Churm. Graveyards On Other Planets is his second full collection.
Ben Rhys Palmer is a poet, translator, editor, and musician born in Cardiff, Wales and now based in Guadalajara, Mexico. His poetry has been published in The London Magazine; Poetry Wales; New Welsh Review; Forklift, Ohio, and Under the Radar. Winner of the Verve Poetry Competition 2022, Ben was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2023 and highly commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize, the Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition, The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition and the Welshpool Poetry Festival Competition. Breakfast with the Scavengers is his debut collection.
Refreshments will be provided! Please note that our events space is on the first floor, accessible via stairs or lift. Do contact us if you have any access requirements.
Doors open at 18:30
Further details: 02920665606
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