This Book Event has already taken place - but you can watch the replay if you missed it

Michael Pedersen – The Cat Prince & Other Poems

WithMichael Pedersen
In conversation withRoddy Woomble

At: The Portobello Bookshop

On:7th July 2023, 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Michael Pedersen – The Cat Prince & Other Poems at The Portobello Bookshop

We're delighted that Michael Pedersen is returning to the bookshop for an event to launch his brand new collection of poems, The Cat Prince & Other Poems. We've hosted brilliant events with Michael over the last few years and his book, Boy Friends, was our first Porty by Post non-fiction subscription box book so it's great to be able to welcome him back for another launch. Michael will be in conversation with musician and frontman of rock band Idlewild, Roddy Woomble,

This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.

In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of The Cat Prince & Other Poems – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on the website against a single copy of The Cat Prince & Other Poems. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book.

About The Cat Prince & Other Poems:

The Cat Prince & Other Poems is the third collection from prize-winning poet, and author of Boy Friends, Michael Pedersen. All moggy moxie, Pedersen croons to the beauty and devastation of love, loss, friendship, cats and careless joy. Equal parts tender and trenchant, raw and ribald, plangent and smutty, these poems exhibit an emotionally charged, fantastical playground of language and lore.

From the brutalising death of a cherished friend comes a gut-wrenching grief. And so begins a tenacious quest for light, lustre and survival as Pedersen pays tender tribute to a gorgeous, life- altering friendship. In doing so, he harks back to the hilarity of being young, reckless and petrified: memories of boys showboating in a fishing tackle shop, games of feline metamorphosis, laments for demolished buildings and a case of constipation of the most pernicious stock.

As frisky as it is fierce, The Cat Prince pounces around the poet’s emotional and physical landscapes, past and present, unfankling a Scotland full of gothic splendour and nature’s majesty. These poems reveal a poet at his bravest and most vulnerable. The Cat Prince & Other Poems purrs with affection, flashes its teeth, then digs in the claws.

Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.

Participants:

Michael Pedersen Author

Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet, scribbler, stitcher. He’s produced two acclaimed collections of poetry (Polygon Books) with a poetic prose debut, Boy Friends, published by Faber & Faber in July 2022. He won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, the John Mather’s Trust Rising Star of Literature Award, and was a finalist for the 2018 ‘Writer of the Year’ at The Herald Scottish Culture Awards. Pedersen also co-founded the literary collective Neu! Reekie!, and has 15 Christmas Jumpers: responsibly sourced and worn shamelessly from mid-October. His new collection, The Cat Prince & Other Poems, will be published in July 2023.

Roddy Woomble Chair

Roddy Woomble is a Scottish musician and writer. He has released six solo albums, and nine albums with the rock band Idlewild, who he fronts. 

The venue

The Portobello Bookshop

46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA

Telephone: 0131 629 6756

Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com


Wheelchair Access

We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.

Sound

We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.