“Leatrice’s Yearbook Signing insists we feel again the way we felt when we were young, and shows us how. Refusing the comforts of distance and cynicism, these frank, yearning, open-hearted poems dare to take seriously the intense early relationships we’re expected to outgrow and forget.”
- Ali Lewis, Author of Absence
Join us to celebrate the launch of Yearbook Signing, the debut poetry collection by Leatrice.
When a bond is severed, we’re encouraged to move on, preserve our dignity, and pretend the relationship never existed. This unrealistic belief is a symptom of a modern anomie that can leave us longing for answers we never receive.
Yearbook Signing challenges this by chronicling relationships and entanglements – recognising the lasting impact that humans have on one another, and the persistence of memory.
Expect poetry, conversation, and celebration, with opportunities to ask questions, purchase signed launch edition copies, and raise a glass with the author and the Reconnecting Rainbows Press community.
Note that the event will take place in the ground floor cafe space, which has step-free access, but the bookshop itself is downstairs in the basement.
Host:
J. Henry (he/him) is an Oxford based queer multidisciplinary artist, writer, and performer with a “great look” (Alex Horne).
As a musician, his 2024 almost self-everythinged debut album, The Peace Lily And The Hurricane, was long-listed for album of the year by podcast This Is Not Happening - narrowly missing out to Charlie XCX’s Brat by 21 places. As a writer, comedian, and cabaret artist, he can usually be found spouting short stories in the basements of Oxford’s public houses.
His underpinning creative principle is a steadfast refusal to take things seriously unless they need to be taken seriously unless, of course, it’s himself.
Instagram: @theoneandonlyjhenry
Featured Poet 1:
Caitlin Upshall (she/her) is a British-American writer, librettist, and composer from the Pacific Northwest. She is the winner of the 2025 Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award, was most recently published in the tiny journal, and her work often explores grief and trauma through a speculative/horror lens.
Instagram: @caitlinupshall /
Featured Poet 2:
Abbie Loosemore (she/her) is a poet based in Oxford. Her poetry centring around fictional dates with celebrities takes listeners on an absurdist romp through cinema and pop culture leaving them wanting more, much like Abbie day to day.
Her poetry has been published by Gobjaw Poetry Collective (2023) and Bullshit Lit (2024). She performs her poetry regularly at open mic nights and hosts an alternative cabaret show in Oxford called Hot Rats.
Instagram: @abbieloosemore
@hotrats.oxford