This event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

As a part of our A Dash of Lavender programme: we welcome you in joining us to celebrate  LGBTQ+ History Month and invite you to a fun and powerful  evening of queer poetry at Chelsea Physic Garden, hosted by Bella Cox (she/her).

Event Details:

• Performances by three headline poets and hosted by Bella Cox
• Open mic session—sign up on the night to share your voice
• Time to mingle and connect in a welcoming, inclusive space

Open Mic Guidelines:

• Sign up at the event to participate
• Share 1 piece lasting up to 2 minutes, in the order of sign-up

Refreshments Available:

The Physic Garden Café will be open, offering drinks and light bites.

Schedule:

• Doors open at 6:30 PM
• Performances begin at 7:00 PM and ends at 9pm
• 15 minute interval

Further information:

• Tickets are £15 per person (contract us to discuss concessionary rates)
• Please note: Discounts are not available for Friends or Members of the Garden
• The event takes place in the first-floor Gallery, which is not wheelchair accessible. For accessibility inquiries, please contact .

Join us for an inspiring evening of poetry, creativity, and community.

Host Bio:

Bella Cox (she/her)

An internationally acclaimed artist, Bella Cox (she/her) is a British Spanish writer, poet, and performer whose poetry centres around relationships and how personal identity influences politics and ways of loving one another. While her proudly queer, feminist, relationship-fuelled work navigates her own identity, her multicultural upbringing has influenced work that explores the notions of belonging, home, and self-empowerment, making art that reclaims the body as the first home and embraces sensitivities and neurodivergence as tools for self-liberation. Often including a loop pedal in her performances to create layered vocal soundscapes underscoring her poetry, her work has been described as captivating, passionate, and cleverly thought out.

Her debut poetry pamphlet; Sikiliza was published with Flipped Eye in 2023. She has performed and shared work at events such as TEDx Pretoria, Sköll World Forum, Bi Pride UK, and the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, among many others. Her work has also appeared in numerous anthologies, and she has been commissioned to write for institutions such as the Barbican Centre, HSBC UK, Time Out London and others, as well as Westminster Abbey where she was the Poet In Residence for 2023.

Instagram and Tiktok: @BellaCoxPoet

Website: www.bellacox.com

Poet Bios:

Phoenix Yemi

Phoenix Yemi is a Nigerian-British poet and artist who is interested the beauty and the violence of the natural world. She is the founder of Black Geographies, a night of music and poetry dedicated to the power of language as a tool of resistance. She is currently the poet in residence at Reference Point and is working on her first full-length collection.

James McDermott

James McDermott’s poetry collections include ‘Father Myself’ (Nine Arches Press), ‘Wild Life’ (Nine Arches Press; shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards 2023) and ‘Manatomy’ (Burning Eye; longlisted for Polari’s First Book Prize 2021). James’s plays published by Samuel French include ‘Jab’ (Finborough Theatre; Offie nominated for Best New Play 2024), ‘Time & Tide’ (Park Theatre/Tour; Offie nominated for Best New Play 2020) and ‘Rubber Ring’ (Pleasance Islington/UK Tour). James is also one of the writers on ‘EastEnders’ and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.

James on Instagram at jamesmcdermott1993

Cat Faux

Cat Faux is a Cornish poet who graduated from UEA in 2022 and has been fumbling through the poetry world ever since. She is reading at queer poetry collectives FLINTA poetry night on the 26th February and has work coming out in the Safeword summer magazine. Cat’s work deals with the slipperiness of form, and the boundaries between disciplines such as art, maths and poetry. Recently, she has moved to the form of the short story in order to extend this creative exploration. Her work has been featured at TOAST poetry, as well as longlisted for the Bristol Poetry Prize.