Come along and be the first to hear poems from new poetry collections by Jack Bennett and Melissa Grindon.

Jack Bennett is a poet, short fiction writer, and artist based in Manchester. In 2022, he won the Edge Hill Vampire Bites competition with his poem ‘Fragments of Paole’, which was judged by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great grandnephew. His first publication was Lunette, a pamphlet of prose poetry published by Broken Sleep Books in 2023. The Psamathe Centre Journal is his first full collection of poetry.

Melissa Grindon is an Irish poet who explores femininity, heartbreak, and identity, previously published with the University of Oxford’s “Oxford Scientist” and with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatres “Love Liverpool”. After winning WOW’s Pulp Idol 2021, Melissa has completed her debut Novel, Cabbage Babies, and is in the querying process. Her debut poetry collection Everything Grows When You Bury It was self-published in October 2025 and hit #6 in the Amazon Poetry New Releases. The book is available to purchase online and in local Liverpool bookstores. In February 2026, she signed with Pencil x Paper Publishing in the US, and her second collection Dear You, (Never Delivered) which is due for release on 8th September 2026.

Description supplied by the event organiser.