What She Said Newcastle Book Launch | Northern Stage
Arts
Literary Arts
Join us to celebrate the launch of Ilisha Thiru Purcell’s debut pamphlet, What She Said, with readings from Shash Trevett and Mymona Bibi. There will also be a Q&A with Ilisha hosted by Mymona.
The event will be held in Stage 3 of Northern Stage.
Ilisha Thiru Purcell’s debut pamphlet asks the question of how a body, be it human, water, land, or animal, can contain and live through what has happened to it.
‘In her stunning debut pamphlet, Ilisha Thiru Purcell reworks and revivifies the millennia old Tamil poetic practice of Thinnai – the poetics of a codified landscape – transplanting it to her home environment in the North East of England. Her perfectly crafted, almost elegiac poems root trauma and recovery deeply within a landscape which acts not just as witness, but also as a canvas. For me, reading What She Said felt like coming home: not to a home I once abandoned, but to the comforting presence of the old within the new. An exciting fresh voice which plays with form and metaphor with breath taking skill, this is diasporan poetics at its best.’ – Shash Trevett; The Naming of Names (Smith|Doorstop 2024) and co-editor of Out of Sri Lanka (Bloodaxe 2023)
Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event and there will be a book signing after the Q&A.
Content information:
please note that themes of sexual violence will be discussed during the event. Age 16+ recommended.
Access information:
There is step-free access to Stage 3. The theatre has three lifts providing access to all parts of the building, including the accessible toilets, baby changing facilities, and stage 3. Wheelchair accessible spaces are available and can be reserved.
https://northernstage.co.uk/your-visit/access/
About the speakers:
Ilisha Thiru Purcell
is an award-winning Sri Lankan-Scottish poet from Newcastle upon Tyne. She was part of the inaugural Poets of Colour Incubator Programme and was a Young Creative Associate with New Writing North. Ilisha was a Poet in Residence at the 2025 StAnza Poetry Festival, winning the Futurist Award. She has been shortlisted for the James Berry Prize and Nine Arches’ Primers. Her work has appeared in publications such as Bi+ Lines Anthology, Butcher’s Dog, and Third Space Anthology. What She Said is Ilisha’s debut poetry pamphlet and was published by Verve Poetry Press in April 2025. @ilishadoespoetry
Shash Trevett
is a poet, critic and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. Born in Sri Lanka, she now lives in the U.K. Her poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies, she has read variously across the U.K and internationally and is a winner of a Northern Writers’ Award.
Out of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala and English Poetry from Sri Lanka and its Diasporas
(Bloodaxe 2023, Penguin India 2023) which she co-edited with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Seni Seneviratne, was one of the
Times Literary Supplement’s
Books of the Year for 2023. Her collection,
The Naming of Names,
was published by Smith|Doorstop in September 2024 and her translations are studied as part of the Cambridge IGCSE and A Level English syllabus.
An experienced workshop leader, Shash has presented at academic conferences both in the U.K and abroad and has been a mentor for both New Writing North and the National Centre for Writing. She is a Ledbury Critic and a Board Member of
Modern Poetry in Translation.
Mymona Bibi
is a Bengali-British writer, facilitator and teacher based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her writing has been featured in the Ilkley Literature Festival, Magma Poetry, Butcher's Dog, Written Off Publishing, and Lumpen Press. She has produced and performed at events such as the Newcastle Fringe Festival (2023) and NOVUM (2023 and 2024). She created and now facilitates the World Writes multilingual community writing group. @wordsbymymona
Information Source: Ilisha Thiru Purcell | eventbrite