Roshni Gallagher & Clementine Ewokolo Burnley
WithRoshni Gallagher and Clementine Ewokolo Burnley
On:24th September 2026, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Attendance options:
Join us for a special double-feature poetry launch event with Edinburgh-based poets Roshni Gallagher and Clementine Ewokolo Burnley!
They will both be here to celebrate the publication of their brand new collections, Gallagher's Even the Trees and Burnley's Belling the Leopard, with poetry readings and conversation.
This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the poetry readings.
About Even the Trees:
In her debut collection Roshni Gallagher asks what can be seen, named or remembered. From Scotland to Guyana, the poems explore the porous boundary between the past and the present, and how ecological landscapes and landscapes of the mind and body are permanently altered by migration and memory. The elegiac series of poems Kala Pani reflects on the history and legacy of Indian indentured labourers in the Caribbean. Following the experience of women in the moment of rupture as they cross the ocean, these poems hover at the border of what is known and unknown.
Other poems navigate stories from Gallagher’s mixed heritage, from the Windrush generation to the sod houses in Ireland. She explores the tension between historical and personal silence – what can and can’t be spoken about. But stories are retained in the objects around us, from a pair of earrings made from stolen gold to a painting of a waterfall in the childhood home.
The poems look through windows, emerge from darkness, and traverse spaces ‘on the edge of things’ where land gives way to water. Seeing and being seen are often painful, yet there is beauty, healing and connection in what we choose to give our attention to.
About Belling the Leopard:
In her wide-ranging debut collection, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley asks what remains after once-familiar places and people have gone. The poems criss-cross the Atlantic, beginning in the 1850s. The voices of Caribbean returnees to the west African coast mingle with those of west African recaptives, German missionaries, and kidnappers. They witness the changes in family life through the generations as villagers or townsfolk are uprooted or stay put or uproot themselves, defying expectations by leaving or returning.
Her poems address the past only to illuminate what people can become to each other in the present, whether in Africa or Europe. In one sequence a group of university students from far-flung parts discover the freedoms of student halls in Glasgow. In sequences set in the Hebrides old friends recognise a late-blooming love after decades apart. In other poems, a woman consults her scars. Each sight, sound or smell has its threat value in Germany, and children of mixed heritage switch between languages in Italy. Weary of searching outward, women drop anchor in themselves. A couple find grounding in the non-human world that surrounds them. Going back in search of belonging proves futile only because connection was there all along.
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Roshni Gallagher Author
Roshni Gallagher is a poet and librarian from Leeds of mixed Indo-Guyanese and Irish heritage. She lives in Edinburgh. She has received an Edwin Morgan Poetry Award (2022) and a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award (2022), and was joint winner of the James Berry Poetry Prize in 2024. Her pamphlet Bird Cherry was published by VERVE Poetry Press in 2023, and her first book-length collection, Even the Trees, is published by Bloodaxe Books in 2026. Her work has appeared in a variety of literary publications including Best Scottish Poems, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, Irish Pages and Magma. She has an MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of St Andrews.
Clementine Ewokolo Burnley Author
Clementine Ewokolo Burnley grew up in Victoria, Cameroon, and has lived between Scotland, Italy and Germany for forty years. She has an M.Sc. in Computational Linguistics from Manchester University and is a part-time, practice-based student at the Research Society for Process Oriented Psychotherapy, studying post-traumatic growth. She was joint winner of the James Berry Poetry Prize in 2024, and her first book-length collection, Belling the Leopard (Bloodaxe Books, 2026) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her pamphlet Radical Pairings (Ignitionpress, 2023) was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award. She has received an Edwin Morgan Second Life Award (2020) and the RSL Sky Award (2021) for creative nonfiction. She lives in Edinburgh.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.