Writing the Body: Enchantment, Nature, and Embodiment (Poetry)

Zoë Brigley is a Welsh-American writer who works as Assistant Lecturer at the Ohio State University. She is an award-winning writer, receiving an Eric Gregory Award for the best British poets under 30, and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Zoë is the editor of Poetry Wales and Poetry Editor for Seren Books, together with Rhian Edwards. She has three Poetry Book Society recommended collections: The Secret (2007), Conquest (2012), and Hand & Skull (2019) all published by Bloodaxe. Her poetry chapbooks include Aubade After a French Movie (Broken Sleep, 2020) and Into Eros (Verve Publishing, 2021), and her non-fiction work include Notes from a Swing State (Parthian Books, 2020) and Otherworlds: Writing on Nature and Magic (Broken Sleep, 2021). In 2021, Zoë co-edited 100 Poems to Save the Earth (Seren) together with Kristian Evans, and she is also an editor for Modron magazine, writing on the ecological crisis.

Rupinder Kaur Waraich (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in the West Midlands, whose work spans poetry, writing and performance. Her work often looks at the linguistic intersection of the body, history, sexuality and spirituality through the feminine narrative and gaze. Rupinder’s debut poetry collection, Rooh (2018), was published by Verve Poetry Press. Her second collection Tigress with Wings (February, 2026) published by Seren Books. Her poems have appeared in several journals and magazines, including Wasafiri, 14 Poems, Poetry Wales, and more. She has also contributed an essay, on Punjabi poetess Amrita Pritam, published by Routledge India in their Writer Provocateur series. As a BBC New Creative, she produced The Girls That Hide and Seek, a spoken word piece that addresses gendered violence. She has been a recipient of DYCP twice to further aid in her curiosity of being an artist. Her recent work blends poetry, dance, and film, as seen in her performance art films Finding Kali and The Search.