Join Michael Rosen for a very special evening as he reads from his latest poetry collection “Advantages of Nearly Dying”

Michael Rosen’s new collection for grown-ups records his bewilderment at what happened to him during the COVID crisis, and shares his thoughts about the politics of the pandemic – the ‘crazed incompetence’ of the Tory government and the war against the ‘Oldies’ that led to over 200,000 dead in the UK. Unforgiving, whimsical, grim, warm, philosophical and comical, The Advantages of Nearly Dying is a book about hospital appointments, waiting-rooms, blood-tests, brain-scans, eye-tests – and a song of praise for the NHS.

Prolific children’s writer, Michael Rosen, was born in Middlesex in 1946 and studied English Language and Literature at Oxford University. His first work was a play, Backbone (1968), performed at the Royal Court Theatre while he was still a student. He also wrote poetry and journalism for the student newspaper and magazine during his time at Oxford.

His books include fiction and picture books for children, including the recent Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (2004); Totally Wonderful Miss Plumberry (2006); and Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy (2006). His picture book, We’re Going On a Bear Hunt (1989), won multiple awards. His poetry books include Quick Let’s Get Out of Here (1983); You Wait Till I’m Older Than You (1996); Lunch Boxes Don’t Fly (1999); Uncle Billy Being Silly (2001); and No Breathing in Class (2003) – all of which are based on his own childhood.

He has also edited many anthologies for children, including The Kingfisher Book of Children’s Poetry (1985); Poems for the Very Young (1993); and Classic Poetry, an illustrated collection (1998), and has written two non-fiction books for children about Shakespeare and Dickens.

His non-fiction for adults includes books for teachers, such as Did I Hear You Write? (1989) and A Year with Poetry (1997). He has also recently written three books of autobiography entitled, Carrying the Elephant (2002); This Is Not My Nose (2004) and In the Colonie (2005), and he edited these and added new poems, for a Selected Poems (2007).

Michael Rosen’s work for radio and television includes writing and presenting for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and for the BBC World Service, including the Treasure Islands, Best Words, Meridian Books and Word of Mouth programmes. He won a Sony Radio Gold Award for his series On Saying Goodbye. He has written and presented many single radio documentaries including profiles of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Joan Littlewood, Bertolt Brecht, Maurice Sendak, Le Corbusier and ‘Dr. Seuss’ (Theodore Geisel) along with documentaries on the Second World War German youth movement, the Edelweisspiraten, the fantasy writers of Oxford University, Robert Browning’s ‘Pied Piper’, the unpublished poetry of Ogden Nash, and series on innovative children’s books and sculptors’ materials. He created the children’s television series, Black and White and Read all Over and Everybody Here for Channel 4, and the Channel 5 documentary on the Seven Stories Museum of Children’s Literature in Newcastle, and has presented several series for educational television, such as Rosen’s Poetry Attic and Reading Aloud.

Doors 6.30pm

Show starts 7.30pm

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