Kate Noakes' seventh poetry collection The Filthy Quiet launched at The Poetry Cafe in London on World Poetry Day this week, with an appreciative audience of poets and poetry lovers and flowing Côtes du Rhône.
Mark Blayney (Loud Music Makes you Drive Faster) and Susie Wild (Better Houses) brought both filth and quiet in their support sets before the queen of the night, Kate Noakes, read from her deeply personal autobiographical new collection to much applause and subsequent book sales and signings.
The Filthy Quiet explores the pain of losing a long-built life and the joys of exploring a new one. This is a howl that ends with a hallelujah.
Kate's next reading will be in Cardiff on Wednesday 27 March 2019 as a guest at the Company of Words regular open mic at Little Man Coffee Company, 6.30pm, £3 entry.
Praise for The Filthy Quiet:
‘Kate Noakes’ new collection is a trove of rich materials – rare minerals, sharp sense-impressions and resonant myths.’ – Philip Gross
‘Kate Noakes’ The Filthy Quiet is ... always brightly striking onwards, generating its own irresistible energy.’ – Jane Commane
'The Filthy Quiet is a whirling journey across a lifetime, over great emotional highs and lows. Chronicling the collapse of one long-term relationship and the trials and tribulations of forging a new life. Noakes’ collection is intense and deeply personal.' – PBS Spring Bulletin 2019
Kate Noakes has previously published six collections of poetry. She was elected to the Welsh Academy of Letters in 2011 and her website is archived by the National Library of Wales. She suffers from itchy feet and has lived in Australia, California, South Africa and France, but has spent most of her life in the South East of England. She has finally settled in London. Educated at the Universities of Reading and South Wales, her poetry mentors have been Gillian Clarke, Tony Curtis, Philip Gross, and Mimi Khalvati.
