Fire River Poets are delighted to present a special Zoom event celebrating the launch of Penelope Shuttle’s new collection, History of the Child. Penny will read two extended sets, interspersed with poems from Fire River Poets, on Tuesday 17th March at 7.30pm.

N.B. There are no Open Mic slots for this event.

History of the Child is a richly evocative collection in which Penelope Shuttle explores childhood, memory, and imagination through personal and historical lenses. Moving from poems on figures such as Katherine of Aragon and Wallace Stevens to intimate reflections on parenting, grief, nature, and emotional recovery, the book journeys back to the poet’s own childhood, blending remembered and imagined selves. Guided by humour, magic, and elemental imagery, Shuttle draws on the idea of childhood as a potent, transformative space where play, fantasy, and reality meet.

Fire River Poets are delighted to welcome poet Julia Webb for this month’s guest reading.

Julia Webb is a writer and artist based in Norwich. She has four poetry collections with Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters (2016), Threat (2019), The Telling (2022) and Grey Time (2025). In 2011 she won the Poetry Society’s Stanza competition and in 2018 she won the Battered Moons Poetry competition. She has had two poems highly commended in the Forward Prize (2016, 2022). Julia has taught creative writing for organisations such as Lapidus, MIND, Norfolk County Council, and The SAW Trust, and in 2016 she was writer in residence on Norwich market. In 2024 she was commissioned by The National Centre for writing and Living wage Foundation to write a poem for Living Wage Week. She is steering editor for Lighthouse – a journal for new writers.

Julia Webb – Poet