Members of Stockport Write Out Loud will be taking part in a collaborative event of piano music and poetry readings at Stockport art gallery on Saturday 13 April, inspired by an exhibition that was conceived by Stockport Write Out Loud’s organiser John Keane.

The Music of Poetic Objects is an event of piano music performed by Mark Sheeky and poetry readings, each inspired by a different object, poem, or work of art on show in the current Ekphrastic Towers exhibition, an experiment that explores the pathways of inspiration that span different media. The exhibition, conceived by John Keane, began with a series of strange objects. Poems were written about these, then artwork was painted or drawn about the poems, then more art and poems inspired by those works. The new piano pieces to be heard on April 13 have been composed as musical versions of some of the poems, objects, and artworks on show.

Ekphrasis is the act of transforming a visual artwork into a poem or piece of writing, but more broadly a transformation of an art idea across different forms. Mark Sheeky is a contemporary artist, painter, and performer based in Cheshire. The event begins at 12pm. More details.

Meanwhile Stockport Write Out Loud holds its regular monthly meeting at the art gallery on Monday 8 April, when regulars and newcomers share their poems.  Each month fragments of poetic contributions are gathered into a collage poem. You can read March’s here. Entry is a £1.50 donation, and it begins at 7pm. More details and Map

ARTWORK: 'SILVER' BY MARK SHEEKY, 2019