The Book of Jonah: Luke Kennard in Conversation with Caleb Klaces

York Literature Festival 2026

About the Talk

What does it mean to be a prophet, or false prophet, in the year 2025? Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2021, and author of The Book of Jonah (2025), Luke Kennard joins York St John University poet and lecturer Caleb Klaces to discuss contemporary poetry, the prose poem and Kennard’s impressive body of work. Both poets who have recently published prose projects, Kennard and Klaces join forces to reflect on form and how poetics might inform their general writing practice.

About the Speakers

Luke Kennard

Luke, is a poet and writer of fiction who was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1981. He won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2005 and his first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published later that year. He has published several poetry collections, including The Harbour Beyond the Movie (shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection); A Lost Expression; Cain (shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize); and Notes on the Sonnets (winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection); and The Book of Jonah. He is also the author of two novels: The Transition (longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize), and The Answer to Everything. He is also a professor at the University of Birmingham.

Caleb Klaces

Caleb is the author of the novels Mr Outside and Fatherhood, Northern Writers Award winner and the poetry collections Away From Me and Bottled Air, Eric Gregory Award winner.

Doors will open up to 30 minutes before the event.