Magical Animals: A Tribute to Jackie Hagan at Contact

Jackie Hagan (1981-2024) was an award-winning poet, playwright and performer, and an absolute force of nature well known on the live literature scene in Manchester – and well missed.

As a fitting tribute to Jackie, who sadly passed away last year, her friends are bringing back, for one night only, Magical Animals, the poetry session she used to host at Sandbar and other venues. In the spirit of the original event, you can expect a celebration charged with emotions and filled with humour, friendship and collaborations – “what Jackie loved even more than a jumble sale was a lively, messy poetry night”.

Originally from Skelmersdale in Lancashire, Jackie Hagan was a multi-award-winning poet, playwright and performer who became a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow in 2018. A trainer and activist, she was passionate about class, sexuality, disability and accessibility, and was nominated for a Women of the World award for effecting social change using spoken word. She worked extensively for the British Council, represented the UK in slam poetry in Rio de Janeiro, and was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary short. She won a Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show twice, was a Creative Future Literary Award winner, and regularly appeared on BBC Ouch! and BBC Radio 4. In 2023, she was a headliner at Morecambe Poetry Festival.

Jackie Hagan suffered from APS, a disorder of the immune system that causes an increased risk of blood clots, and systemic sclerosis, a rare, chronic disease that is four times more common among women than among men. She was a double amputee, and after her first amputation in 2015, she toured with her show Some People Have Too Many Legs. Other shows included This Is Not A Safe Space and Cosmic Scallies, and she starred in and wrote an episode of Crip Tales for BBC Four and BBC America – Paper Knickers was broadcast in 2020.

All profits from this event will go to Scleroderma and Raynaud’s UK, SRUK.co.uk.