The innovative poet Geraldine Monk will be launching her new collection, They who Saw the Deep, at the University of Sheffield on Tuesday 24 May. At the heart of the collection are poems concerning rivers and seas, from the Libyan sea south of Crete to the tidal bores of Morecambe bay in the north of England, as the world grows increasingly troubled with wars and wild weather events. Monk, an affiliated poet at the university’s Centre for Poetry and Poetics, began publishing poetry in the 1970s, when she had work published by small publishers including Bob Cobbing's Writers Forum. The importance of performance, and the sound of the spoken word has been a major part of her work, and she has often worked with musicians. Her main poetry collections are Interregnum (1994); Noctivagations (2001); Escafeld Hangings (2005); and Ghost & Other Sonnets (2008). Her new collection is available from West House Books in the UK and Parlor Press in the US. Monk with be reading with Harriet Tarlo at Sheffield University’s lecture theatre 5, Hicks Building, at 6pm.