Colpitts Poetry Live: Rachel Burns, Peter Sragher and Kitchy Retro

Colpitts Poetry Live second show of the autumn season is another exciting cabaret style night with a variety of poetry and music featuring a very special bill of local and international talent reading from new publications.

Rachel Burns was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne and lives in County Durham. She will be reading from her debut collection, My Last Address, Horses, Horses, Horses, is published with Broken Sleep Books. Rachel won the Classical Association Poetry Prize in 2026 and came second in the Disabled Poets Prize 2024. Her poetry has been widely anthologised, including COAL Smith/Doorstop and North Country, Saraband. She has facilitated poetry workshops for The Ginkgo Prize, Tees Women Poets, The Writing School and Creative Future.

My Last Address, Horses, Horses, Horses is a raw, propulsive book of poems and lyric prose that moves through teenage motherhood, addiction, poverty, care work, violence, and the long afterlife of classed shame with furious clarity and bruised humour. Across six sections, Burns writes from buses, pubs, kitchens, prisons, foodbanks, council estates, and the uneasy calm of nature reserves, allowing memory to return in flashcuts, refrains, and narrative riffs that feel as immediate as speech.

Peter Sragher is an internationally acclaimed Romanian poet, translator and electrifying live performer, born in Bucharest in 1960. Writing in Romanian, German, English and Spanish, he has published ten poetry collections internationally and performed his work extensively across Europe and the Americas, including appearances in Paris, Berlin and New York. His energetic, direct performance style draws on the spirit and immediacy of the Beat poets, he often collaborates with other art forms and musicians making poetry something to be heard and experienced as much as read on the page.

Peter comes to Colpitts Poetry Live at Redhills for the Durham and UK launch of The Performance, his new collection written in English illustrated with india ink drawings by renowned Greek Artist Stavros Deligiorgis and published by Mycelium Press . A longstanding organiser of international poetry festivals and literary exchange, including Poetry – A Harbour to the Danube in Galați, Peter brings to Durham a poetry shaped by travel, language, performance and encounters across cultures.

‘’Sragher’s work takes us to a place where words flow like lava or dance delicately across the mind with an expressive style all of his own – he is playful, takes risks and both on the page and stage there is sense of language being pushed to its limits and made anew” – Andy Willoughby

KITCHY RETRO

Featured musical guests for the evening Kitchy Retro are a warm and engaging North East singer-songwriter duo, writing and performing original music inspired by their love of Americana, country and the rich traditions of American roots music.With warmth, humour and a relaxed, natural style, KitchyRetro bring a collection of original material shaped by a love of great music, strong melodies and the traditions that continue to inspire them.

Plus open mic for your poems and original songs – sign up at 7pm.