AUTHOR OF NEW Poison Girls book This is a Message to Persons Unknown Rich Cross will be in conversation with Sue Cooper at Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham on 27 April 2026.

Cooper (aka Bella Donna) was a founder member of Poison Girls, playing bass at the band’s first ever live gig in The Vault club in Brighton in 1977 and many thereafter, and providing the bass tracks for the band’s earliest demo recordings.

After leaving the band, Cooper maintained close friendships with the Poison Girls family, and organised and hosted gigs for the band when they were on tour in the UK. Cooper played bass with the band one last time during Poison Girls’ 1995 reunion gig in London.

Cross will interview Cooper about the band’s formative Brighton days, and Cooper will then interview Cross about the band’s later history and the writing of the book.

There will be the chance to hear selected tracks from the soon-to-be-released CD box set Poison Girls–Persons Unknown: The Complete Recorded History, view a digital display of samples from the band’s extraordinary art work, and ask questions of both Cross and Cooper.

This is a Message to Persons Unknown: The Story of Poison Girls, with Rich Cross and Sue Cooper (Bella Donna)
27 April 2026 | Event: 19:00-20:30
Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH
Tickets: £5.00 (or £25.00 with paperback copy of the book)
Event details | Book now