GOBS Poetry Book Club: Mona Arshi's Small Hands

GOBS Poetry Book Club is back at Nottingham Central Library on Saturday 24 October, this time working through Mona Arshi's Small Hands. It's hosted by poet Sarah Wheatley, and it runs from 11:00 to 13:00 in Meeting Room 2, with a Zoom option if you can't make it into the city.

The format is the same as always: poets, writers, readers and artists gather over a cuppa to talk through the month's chosen collection, and the second half of the session is devoted to writing exercises inspired by the poems. It's as much about doing as it is about talking, so you'll leave with something of your own on the page rather than just a few thoughts on someone else's.

Small Hands is a collection that works through memory, migration, family, longing and belonging, using vivid imagery and carefully crafted language. It's the kind of book that gives you plenty to get your teeth into, whether you're coming at it as a reader or as someone who wants to write.

The club is run by GOBS Collective, a spoken-word collective of 37 writers and performers from Nottingham and the surrounding area. Over seven years they've staged workshops, performances, open mics, festivals, publications and education programmes, including the Voices of Hyson Green spoken-word project and the Kindness on Camera initiative, and they've published anthologies along the way. They're part of Nottingham's UNESCO City of Literature network, with partners like the library itself, New Art Exchange, Apples and Snakes and Bad Betty Press. The collective is closing, with its final public event due in June 2027, so there aren't that many of these left to catch.

It's Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of £5. That's 11:00 to 13:00 on Saturday 24 October at Meeting Room 2, Nottingham Central Library, 1 Carrington Street, NG1 7FH.