This Spring Sutton House are working with The Gypsy Caravan Theatre Project, who are bringing a traditional gypsy caravan into the grounds of Sutton House and using it as a stage from which to tell stories. The theme this year is Women and Power and they've asked Pages to host a night of women telling stories, so we're delighted to welcome Meryl Pugh to read from her debut poetry collection, Natural Phenomena, followed by a performance from the Norfolk Broads, a low pitched four-piece female folk ensemble.

A book of witnessing and overhearing, Natural Phenomena is the long-awaited debut poetry collection by Meryl Pugh. A city lies in ruins. Spires topple, planes fall. Rubble is broken by wildflower. The radio chatter of birdsong. Follow the poet as futurist and flaneuse as she searches for unexpected beauty in a landscape of plastic, wire and glass. With a probing, precise lyric, these poems monitor the urban landscape on the edge of change, revealing the flora and fauna of its hidden spaces, and transforming its wild edgelands into a many-voiced song.
Meryl has a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and writes about interiority, environment and poetics. The author of two pamphlets — The Bridle (Salt Publishing, 2011) and Relinquish (Arrowhead, 2007) — she lives in East London and teaches creative writing and poetry for Morley College.

The Norfolk Broads sing traditional songs from the British Isles and America, usually unaccompanied. They are drawn to songs that tell a story, and the people and emotions at the centre of those stories. From dark tales of murder and seduction to ballads of love and hope, the Broads take these stories and reimagine them, their four-part harmonies bringing life back to long quiet words. The stories of women and their lives are a constant source of inspiration, and the Broads enjoy exploring this female side to the folk world.

Please note, this is an outdoor event, so please wear suitable warm clothing. There will be hot drinks on sale.