Contemporary women poets will come together to launch a new anthology, Fanfare, in St Albans next Friday, February 19.

Led by founder member, Dilys Wood, poets from Kent, Sussex and North London will join local members of Second Light Women’s Network to launch Fanfare at the Ver Poets’ Friday meeting at St Michael’s Parish Centre.

Since its beginnings, in 1994, Second Light has supported and promoted the work of many notable poets, some of whom will be present at the launch reading.

Maggie Butt, Anne Stewart and Katherine Gallagher among others will read from both Fanfare and its sister collection, Her Wings of Glass, which was published in 2014.

The poems deal with urgent contemporary issues, war and climate change, and also the eternal questions of love, finding meaning and relationships.

Admission is £4 at the door which includes refreshments.