Evacuee veterans of Coventry’s wartime Blitz have been invited to Write Out Loud poet Antony Owen’s launch of his new collection, The Dreaded Boy, on Wednesday 15 June. The Dreaded Boy is a suite of poems documenting the violence and loss inflicted by modern warfare, and was partly inspired by a Remembrance event which Owen organised in November 2009 for a charity helping injured paratroopers.

Publishers Pighog Press will be donating £1 from each pamphlet sold to the Karen Woo Foundation, set up in memory of the aid doctor killed in Afghanistan. Signed copies will be on sale at the launch at Coventry’s Inspire Bar, New Union Street, at 8 pm. Up to 100 people supporting peace and reconciliation have been invited to attend the event, which is also part of Coventry’s Positive Images festival. Entry is free. More details and map