| Set during a twelve-hour factory shift and based on Matthew’s decade long stint working in a plastic molding company in Belfast, Plastic is a rich examination of the workplace, menial labour, community, individuality, poetry itself, and much more besides. It’s illuminating, moving, funny and may well become one of the standout poetry books of 2026.
But don’t just take our word for it, join us to hear all about it. We anticipate tickets selling swiftly so please don’t wait too long before nabbing one for yourself!
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‘Matthew Rice’s Plastic goes where poetry seldom does: the factory floor, the canteen, the night shift, and it does so astutely and with insight and grace. This is real and vital work.’ – Nick Laird, author of Up Late
‘Plastic confronts the daily realities of work and labour, revealing how the body endures the relentless grind. Yet within these poems are flashes of light, moments of grace and a quiet, fond sensibility. This continuous narrative offers a hopeful, heartfelt reorientation, reminding us of the vitality found in the overlooked lives of many. Surprising, tender and true.’ – Hatty Nestor, co-author of The Aching Poem
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Matthew Rice’s poetry has been widely published including in The Poetry Review, Poetry Ireland Review and The Tangerine, and in the anthologies The Best New British and Irish Poets 2017 (Eyewear) and The Forward Book of Poetry 2022 (Faber). He holds an MA in Poetry from Queen’s University, Belfast, and a PhD from The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s. His debut collection, The Last Weather Observer (Summer Palace Press) was published in 2021 and was included on the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s top ten books of the year.
Ralf Webb is the author of the poetry collections Rotten Days in Late Summer and Highway Cottage, and the non-fiction book Strange Relations, which was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. His poems, essays, and fiction have appeared widely, including in the London Review of Books, Fantastic Man, Granta and the Guardian. |
