Join us to celebrate Eve Esfandiari-Denney's new collection Girling, with guest readings from Will Harris, K Patrick & Lamorna Ash

We’re so excited to welcome Eve Esfandiari-Denney to Lala Books to celebrate her debut collection Girling. Join us for an evening of readings from Eve, plus special guests Will Harris, K Patrick, Lamorna Ash, with additional readings from Page of Wands and open mic slots.

In Girling, published by Fitzcarraldo editions, Eve wrestles with the boundaries between living and death, history and the present, and how these are preordained for us in the fabric of our DNA and in our geographical or cultural environments. Philosophical, funny, pertinent, ecological, global and intimate, this is a collection of poems for the contemporary moment, a book deeply personal yet communal in its intention, beginning from a personal history then resonating outwards, ending on a note so gorgeously hopeful, as ‘life’ moves towards the speaker, ‘gloriously close’.

Eve’s debut poetry pamphlet, My Bodies This Morning This Evening, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. She has been shortlisted for the White Review Poet’s Prize, Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Award, the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Performed) and longlisted for the National Poetry Competition. Girling is her first collection.

Will Harris is the author of the poetry books RENDANG and Brother Poem and the essay Mixed-Race Superman. He won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Siblings, a conversation between Jay Bernard, Mary Jean Chan, Will Harris and Nisha Ramayya, was published by Monitor Books in 2024.

K Patrick's debut novel, Mrs S, was selected as an Observer Best Debut of the Year, and K was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelists for 2023. Their debut poetry collection, Three Births, was longlisted for the 2024 Laurel Prize and shortlisted for Scotland's National Book Awards.

Lamorna Ash is a British writer. Her first book, Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2021. Her second book, Don't Forget We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search for Religion was released in May 2025.

Page of Wands is a writers’ collective that meets weekly at SET Social in Peckham. They are for anyone that’s interested in and enjoys words.

Tickets are £12 and fully redeemable against any poetry book on the evening.

Open mic performers have five minutes (on a first come, first served basis) and receive complimentary drinks.

If you'd like to come but can’t afford a ticket, please select a pay it forward ticket or email hello@lalabooks.london - we are happy to provide free tickets available through our community pay-it-forward scheme.

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