About

A night of surprising live music, plus some surprising live poetry! There will be music from Henwen (goddesses of acapella) and Doomfolk (dark, contemporary folk) plus poetry from Rowena Sommerville, Charlotte Oliver and Adrienne Silcock.

Henwen are four women from North Yorkshire who arrange and sing everything from traditional folk to new country to songs that they write themselves, in pubs, clubs, festivals, churches, street corners, town halls, theatres, in the Famous Spiegeltent as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and on TV and radio. Henwen have often performed alongside poets - Linton Kwesi Johnson said of them ‘I can’t think when I last heard anything as beautiful’.

Henwen are: Gillian Edwards, Fay Gillanders, Magda Phillips and Rowena Sommerville

Doomfolk are a lively group of musicians from Whitby, led by singer Karen McCarthy, who create original and entertaining contemporary folk music. Their songs are a little in the style of Nick Cave, or Leonard Cohen, or kletzmer music, and like all of those, contain some humour amid the darkness.

Doomfolk are: Mike Knight, Karen McCarthy, Clicker Robinson, John Robinson, Fred Witney and Pete Witney

Poets:
Rowena Sommerville, who also sings with Henwen, has worked as a professional writer and illustrator for many years and regularly contributes poems to magazines, websites and anthologies. She has written three poetry books for children and her first adult poetry collection – Melusine - was published by Mudfog Poetry Press in September 2021.

Charlotte Oliver is BBC Radio York’s Saturday Poet Laureate and has had numerous poems published in magazines and journals. She was Arts Council England-funded for radio ballad, The Dark Store, and her debut collection, How To Be A Dressing Gown, is published by Dreich.

Adrienne Silcock
Adrienne’s first novel Vermin (Flambard) was published in 2000, her second novel Controlling Aphrodite was shortlisted for the Virginia Prize 2009. Her third novel The Kiss is published on Amazon for kindle. Other novels are in the pipeline! Her published poetry includes Of Gardens and Witches (The High Window Press, September 2021) Taking Responsibility for the Moon (Mudfog Press, 2014), inclusion in numerous anthologies and Vindication, a collection of six women poets (Arachne Press, 2018).