Rainbow Verses: A night of queer poetry from Indie presses

Indie Bookshop Week would be incomplete without an indie press extravaganza, and we're giving it a Pride twist by serving up THREE sensational poets for a truly unmissable night!

We bring you Kym Deyn, reading from their newest collection Folkish! And with them, Nathan Evans performing from Homography! And last but by no means least, gorgeous local talent Zain Rishi, with Noon!

Our Poets:

Kym Deyn is a poet and weird fiction writer who runs The Braag CIC, a micro-press based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Their debut poetry collection Folkish was published by Nine Arches in 2026 and was a Poetry Book Society Reccomendation.They have been widely published in anthologies and journals for their poetry and prose, including Butcher’s Dog, Oxford Poetry, 14 Poems and Strange Horizons.

Zain Rishi is a writer from Birmingham, who graduated with a masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh in 2023 and has since worked in independent bookselling. He won the 27th annual Ware Poets Competition, placed third in the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize and was highly commended in the Poetry Wales Award 2024-25. His poetry has featured in Magma, Wildness, Fourteen Poems, Gutter, Propel and various anthologies. He is currently based in Edinburgh. Noon is his debut poetry pamphlet.

Nathan Evans' poetry has been published by Magma, Fourteen Poems, Broken Sleep, Royal Society of Literature and Manchester Metropolitan University. His collection Threads was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize, his second collection CNUT is published by Inkandescent. He was longlisted for the 2020 Live Canon Poetry Competition. His debut novella One Last Song was longlisted for Polari Book Prize and was one of iNewspaper’s best books for Pride 2024. His short fiction has been anthologized by Muswell Press (Queer Life, Queer Love) and his debut collection, All the Young Queers was published in 2025. He is recipient of an Arts Council award to Develop his Fiction Practice with mentorship from Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst. His work in theatre and film has been funded by Arts Council England, toured with the British Council, archived in the British Film Institute, broadcast on Channel 4 and presented at venues including Royal Festival Hall and Royal Vauxhall Tavern.