Ellen Renton You and Yours Poetry Tour

Rift is proud to present the first in a new series of events focussed on creating attentive listening environments. We are delighted to welcome Scottish writer and performer Ellen Renton for the Manchester leg of her upcoming tour celebrating the release of her new pamphlet 'You and Yours'.

Her poetry has been published in Magma, Gutter, Wet Grain, and the Best Scottish Poems list, and her debut pamphlet An Eye For An Eye For An Eye was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press in 2021

Swinging across timelines and from the mundane to the surreal, You and Yours is a study in grief: how it exists beyond seismic losses in the stories we inherit, in shifting friendships, and in uncertain landscapes. These poems celebrate the self as a malleable entity under the influence of all the lives it encounters, and balance the pain that characterises the loss of a profound connection with the wonder of having it in the first place.

Ellen is the writer of two works for theatre, the one woman show Within Sight, and the Stellar Quines 2023 production Disciples. She regularly works across forms with other artists, such as on the collaborative album My Noise is Nothing with DJ and electronic musician Lord of the Isles.

She has been the recipient of an artist associateship from Disability Arts Online and the Edwin Morgan Trust, an Unlimited Partner Award, an Imaginate Jerwood Fellowship, and a Cove Park Emerging Scottish Literature Residency award.

Also joining us on the night is Glaswegian spoken-word artist Kate Ireland. She has performed headline shows across the UK and supported the likes of Antony Szmierek, Joshua Idahen and Jacob Alon on their UK tours. Her debut poetry collection, Adaptive Strategies for a Sensitive System, is published by Burning Eye Books.Kate has released electronic spoken word music in collaboration with producers and DJs and runs the socially engaged arts community collective Blether.

Her acclaimed one-woman show Golden Time (and Other Behavioural Management Strategies) premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025 before transferring to Roundhouse and HOME.