On today’s episode of The Poems We Made Along the Way Gregory Kearns speaks to Roma Havers about writing for commission early in a career, queerness in the archive, and following meaningful coincidences.
Roma Havers is a queer poet, theatre-maker and unsolicited go-go dancer – from your hometown but living in Manchester with their partner, allotment and every stone they’ve ever pocketed. Commissioned by Orchestra’s Live, Manchester City of Literature and Manchester Museum, among many others, they are known for their ‘joyful, communal and tender’ work. Their debut collection ‘The Natural Way’ was published by Carcanet in February 2026.
Books and other things
The Natural Way: https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781800175464/the-natural-way/
You can also use our affiliate link for Bookshop to find most of the books by most of the guests from the show. They are organised into lists for each series. If you use this link, we get a fraction of the money you spend: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/series-six-the-poems-we-made-along-the-way
We’d also recommend enquiring with your local bookshops or libraries as well.
Things to read/watch/listen/etc in relationship to this interview:
Kayleigh Hicks & Roma Havers - Act 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxfzeGIVKb4&t=20s
Let the Artists in! Roma Havers: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/let-artists-roma-havers
The Usual
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Theme tune: Joe Chesterman-March who can be found here: https://joecm.co.uk
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