Introduction to Cloud Care: A book launch with Laura Theis

On 22 March at 7.30pm in The Community Works, we’ll celebrate the publication of Introduction To Cloud Care, the latest poetry collection by Laura Theis.

Expect an evening of poetic transformations, learning some pointers on how to date a were-hare, how a lazy clairvoyant predicts her own future with her phone’s auto-correct, or the shocking truth about why German fairy tales never end in a Happily Ever After…with gorgeous guest readings by Phoebe Nicholson, Holly Moberley and one or two surprises…

Tickets are £5 each (£2 concessions) – book here to avoid disappointment! The building is accessible, but if you have any specific access needs, please drop us an email at oxfordpoetrylibrary@gmail.com beforehand.

Published by the award-winning indie press Broken Sleep Books, Introduction To Cloud Care has already garnered plenty of praise and excitement in advance of its February release:

“‘Introduction to Cloud Care’ struck me with its tenderness and warmth: reading it felt like a springtime walk or seeing your kindest friend at a party. Through a range of encounters and transformations – with an unborn daughter, a dandelion-therapist, the haunting characters of Hansel and Gretel – beauty ‘is never a question’. Simultaneously, these poems are not naive, bearing witness to trees awaiting ‘their respective beheadings’, and deeply in touch with their instincts, ready to ‘run / as soon as running’s required.’ Read it in a meadow, under an oak tree, or hidden in the shed at a house party.”

– Bryony Littlefair

“In Laura Theis’ third collection, published by the inimitable Broken Sleep Books, clouds wait to be asked the right question, muntjac apparitions emerge out of nowhere, daffodils bloom from under sofas and a non-existent child chides her mother for lack of empathy. Surreal, blissful and mesmerising, with each poem effortlessly revealing fresh amazements of the kind we experienced as children turning the pages of our first stories, ‘Introduction to Cloud Care’ already has the hallmark of a classic – coming as it does from a mind infused by fairy tales and ‘dark forests/ grimm siblings’. I loved spending time in Laura’s magical world and plan to revisit often.”

– Jenny Lewis

“Inside the light and air of Laura Theis’s poems, you will find beautiful and sensitive stories of our connection to the natural world and wry observations of desire and the human search for intimacy. This is touching, funny, truly gorgeous writing.”

– Vanessa Lampert

A little more about the readers:

Phoebe Nicholson is a British-American poet and lexicographer. Her work has appeared in various places online and in magazines, but you’re better off catching her around the Oxford open mic scene. You can also find more of her work in a chapbook called Red Devon Mud which contains poems about roots, family, and creeping things, illustrated by her sibling. It can be found here: https://oxfordpoetrylibrary.com/shop/ She also founded and directs the Oxford Poetry Library, a grassroots, volunteer-run library of poetry and hub for creative writing and spoken word based in central Oxford. Find her on instagram: @phoebn

Holly Moberley (she/her) is a queer poet and poison berry from the South East. She is a Poetry Society Young Critic and has been published in fourteen poems, Bi+Lines, Butcher’s Dog & The North. She is Bristol’s 2021 LYRA Slam Champion. Her debut manuscript ‘Kinder Parasites‘ was shortlisted by the Emma Press (2023) and the New Poets Prize (2022.)

Laura Theis’ exophonic work appears in Poetry, Oxford Poetry, Cambridge Poetry, iamb, Mslexia, Rattle, Magma, etc. Her Elgin-Award-nominated debut, an Oxford Poetry Library Book-of-the-Month, won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Prize. Her second book, A Spotter’s Guide To Invisible Things, won the Live Canon Collection Prize and the Arthur Welton Award from the Society of Authors. Other accolades include the Alpine Fellowship Award, Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, AM Heath Prize, Mogford Prize, Hammond House Literary Award, and a Forward Prize nomination.

This event is part of Makespace Oxford‘s series of events in celebration of International Women’s Day held throughout Women’s History Month, designed to celebrate, platform, and showcase women’s voices. Find out more here.