Autograph, London

The Musicality of Language:
Live Poetry Event

Wednesday 16 September || 6:30 - 8pm

£5

How can language carry memory across generations? What is lost, reshaped, or left unsaid along the way?

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address

Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK

TIckets

Tickets for this event open on 3 August. Register with Eventbrite to be notified when tickets launch

about the Event

In Of Walking on Fire, artist Nhu Xuan Hua reflects on the fragility of memory and the ways stories are communicated – or withheld – across generations. Hua grew up feeling a palpable distance from her Vietnamese heritage and notes the this body of work visualises the dissipation of family memory through migration and cultural rupture.

Hua considers the feelings that words can evoke, prompting a familiar and comforting connection to memories that we may not consciously recall. Join us at the gallery for a live poetry event set against the backdrop of Hua’s evocative exhibition. At this event, poets will perform 15 minute readings followed by a short Q&A with the audience. There will be a drinks reception and a chance to look at the exhibition after. Performers include Poet Laureate of Wales, Hanan Issa, who's work explores themes of home, identity, and language. 

The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you, please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.

Performers


Hanan Issa

Hanan is a Welsh-Iraqi writer, filmmaker, and artist. Her work spans multi-disciplines including poetry, essay and prose, theatre, film, and animation.

Her publications include her debut poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts that won Burning Eye Books’ 2019 pamphlet competition, Welsh Plural: Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books), her children’s poetry anthology And I Hear Dragons (Firefly Press) and Chronic Women (Honno Press). Her winning monologue With Her Back Straight was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues. She is part of the writers room for Channel 4’s award-winning series We Are Lady Parts. Her work has been featured by Poetry Wales, Poetry Society, Hay Festival, ITV Wales, BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Wales Millennium Centre, TATE Liverpool, Transpoesie, Cardiff University, National Trust, and the Barbican Centre. Her short film The Golden Apple - a Ffilm Cymru/ BBC Wales commission is available on iPlayer. In 2025 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Bangor University. She is currently under commission writing a full-length performance for Wales Millennium Centre. She was the 2023 Hay International Fellow and is the current National Poet of Wales until 2027.

Read More 

More performers to be announceD

YOUR VISIT and Access

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Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.
Have any questions about your visit? Get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk

SAFETY MEASURES

Accessible VEnue

Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.

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Seating

This workshop will be seated.

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Step free

Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.

location

This event will take place in Gallery 1, on the ground floor.

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Drinks reception

There will be light refreshments available at this event.

Inspired by

Nhu Xuan Hua 
Of Walking on Fire

Free exhibition
Curated by Bindi Vora

Find out more

TICKETING POLICY

Autograph's events are popular and often sell out. We recommend booking a ticket in advance. If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 24 hours before the start of the event. You do not need to bring your paper ticket to the event.

The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.


PHOTOGRAPHy AT THIS EVENT

Please note that photography will take place at this event. Images from this event may be used by Autograph and external press for marketing and promotional use, including: printed and online publicity, social media, press releases, or other use. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let a member of staff know on the day.



Exhibition supported by

Banner image: Nhu Xuan Hua, Singer “How much love can be repeated?”, Honey baby, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. Copyright © Nhu Xuan Hua.
Performers: 1) Courtesy Hanan Issa.
Visit and Access: Photograph by Kate Elliott.
Inspired by: Inspired by: Nhu Xuan Hua, The one who couldn't talk [detail], 2021. © the artist.