The National Poetry Library presents Playback Poetics, an evening of exploring and listening to the library’s unique collection of vinyl records, spanning eight decades of recorded poetry.

For this edition, the LRB presents highlights from their series of new poetry recordings produced to mark the paper’s 45th anniversary – including the first playback of the concluding fourth volume of the project.

As recently showcased on Jarvis Cocker’s Someday Service on 6 Music, the LRB 45s feature readings by actors of poems first published in the pages of the LRB, recorded in thematically and acoustically resonant locations, released exclusively on vinyl.

The evening features communal listening of some of these recordings alongside selections from the National Poetry Library collections.

Joining the discussion in between, about the history and future of recorded poetry, is poet and philosopher Denise Riley, whose poem ‘A Part Song’ features on Volume 4 of the LRB 45s, read by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh.