Poetry and Practice: John Lyons and Osman Yousefzada in conversation

Poetry and Practice: John Lyons and Osman Yousefzada in conversation

08 Feb 2025 - 08 Feb 2025

Join us for a very special in conversation event focusing on the importance of poetry in the work of two interdisciplinary artists, John Lyons and Osman Yousefzada. Coming from different generations and communities but united by their love of poetry, they will discuss their writing and its role in their wider practice through their current exhibitions ‘Carnivalesque’ and ‘When will we be good enough?'. This event will include poetry readings as well as a discussion chaired by contemporary poetry expert, Prof Anthony Caleshu from the University of Plymouth.

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Standard ticket - £ 6
Concession / Members - £ 4
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About John Lyons

John Lyons (b.1933) is a painter and poet. Born and brought up in Trinidad and Tobago, he came to the UK to study art at Goldsmiths College in London (1959-64), then trained as an art teacher at Newcastle University (1964-65). In 1967 he moved to Manchester, where he lived and worked for 30 years. Developing his painting practice alongside teaching full time, he has exhibited regularly in solo and group shows since 1979, and is a prize-winning poet, with eight published volumes. Contributing energetically to national and regional creative scenes, Lyons has selected for exhibitions, served on boards and judging panels, and acted as an external purchaser for the Arts Council Collection (1987–1989). From 1998-2004 he ran community arts organisation Hourglass Studio Gallery in Hebden Bridge with his partner Jean Rees, which endured until 2012. His work is held in public collections including the Arts Council Collection, Kirklees Museums and Galleries, Touchstones Rochdale, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He lives and works in Cambridgeshire.

About Osman Yousefzada

Osman Yousefzada (b. 1977) was born and brough up in Birmingham, UK, the son of first-generation migrants from South Asia. He describes his practice as auto ethnographic, where personal stories become political. South Asian influences are what many might first see when they encounter but his work, but it is far broader and unravels global histories that remain relevant today. They are explored through moving image, installations, text works, sculpture, garment making and performance. Yousefzada is a research practitioner at the Royal College of Art, London and a visiting fellow at Cambridge University. His exhibition at The Box follows three significant solo exhibitions during the last 12 months at Charleston in Firle, Cartwright Hall in Bradford and Palazzo Franchetti in conjunction with the 60th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale.

About Anthony Caleshu

Anthony Caleshu is the author of five books of poems, most recently Xenia etc. (Shearsman, 2023), which responds to contemporary visual art. His poems have appeared widely on both sides of the Atlantic, including Agni, Boston Review (as winner of the Boston Review Poetry Prize), Conjunctions, Denver Quarterly, Grant, Narrative, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Review and TLS. Born in the USA, he moved to Ireland in the mid-1990s and then to Southwest England where he is Professor of Poetry and Director of the Arts & Culture Programme at the University of Plymouth.

Image credits
John Lyons in his studio, 2024. Photo by Cameron Amiri.
Osman Yousefzada behind the scenes at Where It Began, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery. Image courtesy of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.