PATRICK MCGUINNESS & JAMES METHVEN

Patrick McGuinness has published poetry in The Independent, London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement; in 2003 he published his acclaimed translation of Mallarmé's For Anatole's Tomb; the first collection of his own poetry,The Canals of Mars (2004), was shortlisted for the Roland Mathias Prize and translated into Italian in 2006; in 2007 he published a pamphlet collection, 19th Century Blues, which won the Poetry Business Competition; his latest collection is Poems (2009). His poetry is "thoughtful, understated ... infused with an altitudinous grace." He is a fellow and French lecturer at St Anne's College, Oxford.

James Methven is an English don at Oriel College, Oxford whose debut collection Precious Asses, a series of poems after Catallus, won the Poetry Wales/Purple Moose Prize 2009. As Patrick McGuinness puts it, "‘After’ Catullus they may be, but there is nothing passive about these concentrated, ingenious and ferociously funny versions. Marked by variegated obscenity and sudden flashes of disappointed love, Precious Asses is full of wit and cynicism."

Complimentary wine, tea/coffee and biscuits!

Entry: £1 members, £3 students, £5 non-students

Time: 7:30pm