The Glass Aisle is an astonishing collaboration between two major talents in poetry and music: acclaimed songwriter and singer Brian Briggs, frontman of the Oxfordshire indie-folk band Stornoway and poet Paul Henry.

Paul Henry, who came to poetry through songwriting, performs new poems, plus new and old songs with Brian Briggs, including some Stornoway tracks. The pair then perform their musical collaboration The Glass Aisle, a long poem with songs, inspired by the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal close to Henry’s home and its associations with radio pioneer Marconi and an old union workhouse.

With its songs composed ‘out of the poem’, and brought to life in Brian’s clear tenor this work breaks down the borders between the poem and the song lyric while offering a timeless, affecting elegy to the displaced.

This special event launches Paul Henry’s new poetry collection of the same title – The Glass Aisle – published by Seren.

Henry is author of nine poetry collections. Boy Running was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2016. He features regularly as a presenter and poet on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 4.

Briggs is a founder member of Stornoway. The band has been active since 2006, touring worldwide, producing top 20 albums and playing the main stages at festivals such as Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight.