Book launch to take place in The Lens Studio
On 21st October, a very special book is being launched in the Guildhall’s The Lens Studio.
Wild Seas, Wilder Cities is a collection of stories, poems and articles, written by local poets and authors and beautifully illustrated by local artists. Its purpose is to raise funds for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. Everyone involved has given their work freely.
It’s the brainchild of local authors Helen and Richard Salsbury, who founded the literary environmental action group Pens of the Earth in 2019. The group challenged writers to create upbeat work on the theme of saving the planet by making small changes and taking local action. The result is a joyful mixture of poems, stories, articles and illustrations created over five years by 54 different contributors.
Many of these pieces have been honed through performance at events such as the Great Big Green Week and the Portsmouth Climate Festival, where they have received excellent reviews. In 2023 they were the supporting act for Bench Theatre’s play Bob and Doris Are Not Afraid, which ran for two weeks at The Spring, and was reviewed by James George for The News: “These pieces are well-written, thoughtful, funny and insightful. Creativity like this deserves support.”
In July 2023 the group was inspired by a visit from award-winning author and creative writing tutor Toby Litt. He talked about how it will take a community and not a single hero figure to rescue and reclaim our beautiful planet. This is echoed and celebrated in all sorts of different ways in the pages of this book.
The book launch will take place in The Lens Studio from 6.30 to 8.30pm, on Monday 21st October 2024. The evening will be a celebration, the culmination of much hard work, and a lot of fun. There will be spoken word performances from the writers, environmental talks, prize-giving for the Pens of the Earth ‘Community’ competition, which generated some wonderful material for the book, and a display and sale of unusual ‘litter art’ by local textile artist Jane Andreoli.
Tickets for the launch event are available here
The book will be on sale at the launch event at the special price of £10.00.
‘Seagrasses are marine flowering plants which provide food and shelter for an array of wonderful marine life, protect our shores from coastal erosion and help to reduce the effects of climate change.’ Ellie Parker, Marine Officer – Solent Seagrass Restoration Project
Click here to find out more about the vital work of Seagrass Restoration in the Solent