Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 19:30. Upstairs at the Ship and Mitre, Liverpool, Merseyside, L2 2JH.

The first of Holdfire’s poetry reading series. Readings from Eleanor Rees, Neil Addison, Evan Jones and Erin Fitzgerald.

Eleanor Rees was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside in 1978. Her pamphlet collection Feeding Fire received an Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and her first full length collection Andraste’s Hair (Salt, 2007) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards. Her second collection ‘Eliza and the Bear (Salt, 2009) is also a live performance for voice and harp which has toured in the North West. Rees works freelance as a poet in the community and is also currently studying for an AHRC funded Creative Writing PhD University of Exeter. She often collaborates with other writers, musicians and artists and works to commission. She lives in Liverpool. www.eleanorrees.info

Evan Jones was born in Toronto. A dual citizen of Canada and Greece, he has lived in Britain since 2005. He has a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Manchester and has taught at York University in Toronto, and in Britain at the University of Bolton and Liverpool John Moores University. His first collection, Nothing Fell Today But Rain (2003), was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. He is co-editor of the anthology Modern Canadian Poets (Carcanet, 2010). Paralogues (Carcanet, 2012), his second collection, is out now.

Neil Fraser Addison is currently residing in Liverpool. His previous work includes The Everyday of Irma Kite (The Arthur Shilling Press), and Apocapulco (Salt) which was short-listed for the 2011 Michael Marks Award. His first full collection, Stealth-Exile-Inventory, is about to be published as a joint venture between go-Subsist & OWT Creative. His website is here.