At this evening of poetry & music, Anna Kisby will read her poems about female activists who shaped the world - Emily Wilding Davison, Christabel Pankhurst, aid worker Vera 'Jack' Holme and early women nurses - written in response to the Women's Library's archives. 

Anna will be joined by playwright Poppy Corbett, presenting new creative pieces that tell strange stories, inspired by their collaboration on the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded-project - Creative Histories of Witchcraft 1790-1940 – pieces that imagine and explore historical women as witches, saints and magical practitioners. Musician Nicola Burnett Smith will perform pieces inspired by Anna's poetry, accompanied by accordionist Simon Shannon.  

Poppy Corbett is a playwright, theatre director and academic. She has been writing plays since 2008. Most recently, she was commissioned by Arts Educational to write Applause, a play for graduating MA actors (2017).

Anna Kisby is an award-winning poet, a former archivist of The Women’s Library, and currently a Research Associate in Creative History at Bristol University. She won the BBC Proms competition 2016, the Binsted Arts Prize 2019 and was a commended Faber New Poet. Her poetry pamphlet All the Naked Daughters is described as ‘populated by bold and brave women: showgirls, mothers, suffragettes, artists’ models, girls who never grow up’; ‘a stunning cabinet of curiosities’.

Nicola Burnett Smith’s eclectic career has seen her in classical and contemporary leading roles at venues including the Royal National Theatre in London and on tour all over the UK, the Far East and Europe as well as singing at Opera Festivals and playing her bass clarinet with jazz and pop bands as well as contemporary and experimental music events. 

Sadie Wearing is Associate Professor of Gender Theory, Culture and Film, LSE.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival #ShapetheWorld

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Shape the World running from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, with a series of events exploring how social science can make the world a better place.