An intimate event of poetry with Liz Berry, informal chat, interviews, film and exhibition dedicated to Balsall Heath Memories.

Join us at St. Paul’s Venture Hall for an intimate event with local poet Liz Berry dedicated to the living history, stories and memories of Balsall Heath.

A live performance by Liz Berry, award winning poet, of her new poem

An interview with Liz Berry

Film clips of Balsall heath from the 1960s to 1980s assembled by The Media Archive of Central England, and more recent short compilation from Balsall Heath Local History Archives

'Balsall Heath in Changing Times' exhibition with sound clips from recent interviews with Heathans

Free Refreshments

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the award-winning West Midlands poet Liz Berry for a live reading of her stunning new poem, “Psalm”, and Liz Berry interviewed by Val Hart.

Liz’s work has been described by The Guardian as a “sooty soaring hymn to her native West Midlands.” An award-winning poet and author of the critically acclaimed collections Black Country (Chatto, 2014); The Republic of Motherhood (Chatto, 2018); The Dereliction (Hercules Editions, 2021) a collaboration with artist Tom Hicks; and most recently The Home Child (Chatto, 2023), a novel in verse.

Liz shares a deep, personal connection with Balsall Heath. Published in May 2026 and featured in the Times Literary Supplement, her new poem “Psalm” is a deeply evocative, secular hymn that celebrates community, resilience, and womanhood. True to her remarkable ability to transfigure working-class landscapes into something sacred, “Psalm” anchors itself right here in Balsall Heath.

Following the reading, Liz will join us for a brief interview to discuss the inspiration behind the poem and her lifelong project of mapping the emotional geography of the West Midlands.

Film Clips & Archives: An Earlier Balsall Heath

Step back in time with us as we screen a selection of rare film clips capturing Balsall Heath from decades past. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see how our streets used to look, spot familiar corners, compare and contract Balsall Heath past and present.

Balsall Heath in Changing Times

We are living through changing times, very much reflected in Balsall Heath and its recent history. In living memory many migrants have moved in to the area, and some residents compulsorily rehoused elsewhere. Whole streets have been built and demolished. Meanwhile the area has been in decline with uncleared bomb sites from the Second World War still acting as playgrounds into the 1970s, poor housing still an issue, high unemployment, appalling health statistics, poverty and a major prostitution problem.

This has also been a time of new opportunities, new organisations, new ideas, new faith centres and communities arriving in Balsall Heath. There was growing dynamism and hope as the groundwork was laid for the thriving multi-cultural community of today’s Balsall Heath.

Mick Turner's Photographic Archive is a vast collection of images, thousands of which were published in the Balsall Heathan. We use Mick Turner's images as a starting point to understand Balsall Heath through the eyes of people who have lived there, interviewing local people who have experienced the changes and other archive images and material from Balsall Heath Local History Society.

Description supplied by the event organiser.