Tuesday, 14th July, 2009, doors open 6.30pm for 7pm, £4/£3, wine
88 Tavistock Place
London
WC1
Tubes: Russell Square, Kings Cross, St Pancras.
John Lucas pays tribute to Shoestring poets Matt Simpson and Michael Murphy, plus Paul McLoughlin and Rosemary Norman.
Poets from the floor very welcome. Please bring a copy of your poem if you wish to be considered for the anthology sponsored by the thought-provoking Cinnamon Press.
Proceeds to the Cold Weather Shelter.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
CHELTENHAM: Buzzwords Poetry Night
Sunday, 5th July, 2009, £3, £5 if you are able
upstairs at The Exmouth Arms,
Bath Road,
Cheltenham
Guest poet Bob Mee reads from his new collection.
7pm - Workshop led by Bob Mee.
8pm - open mic and Bob Mee reading.
upstairs at The Exmouth Arms,
Bath Road,
Cheltenham
Guest poet Bob Mee reads from his new collection.
7pm - Workshop led by Bob Mee.
8pm - open mic and Bob Mee reading.
EDINBURGH: Kevin Cadwallender book launch
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009, 7.30pm,
The Meadow Bar,
Edinburgh
Voxbox, in association with Smokestack Books, present the launch of Dances with Vowels: New and Selected Poems, by Kevin Cadwallender.
There's a reading by Kevin, plus for one night only a galaxy of Edinburgh and beyond's finest, reading their interpretations of Kevin's poems. Guest readers include Colin Donati, Jenny Lindsay, JL Williams, Eddie Gibbons, Anita Govan and The Chemical Poets. How much fun is that?
http://cadwallenderk.blogspot.com
http://savaged babies.blogspot.com
The Meadow Bar,
Edinburgh
Voxbox, in association with Smokestack Books, present the launch of Dances with Vowels: New and Selected Poems, by Kevin Cadwallender.
There's a reading by Kevin, plus for one night only a galaxy of Edinburgh and beyond's finest, reading their interpretations of Kevin's poems. Guest readers include Colin Donati, Jenny Lindsay, JL Williams, Eddie Gibbons, Anita Govan and The Chemical Poets. How much fun is that?
http://cadwallenderk.blogspot.com
http://savaged babies.blogspot.com
Friday, June 26, 2009
LONDON: Every Day A Battle
Saturday, July 11th, 2009, 6.30pm-8.30pm, £5, all proceeds to charity
Mosaic Rooms,
226 Cromwell Road,
London
SW5 0SW
Wet Ink and Scenery Chewer present Every Day A Battle
We seek, for an evening, to revisit the notion of Earls Court as cultural battleground. This event takes inspiration from Peter Barry's book Poetry Wars: British Poetry of the 1970s and the Battle of Earls Court, which uncovers the 'battle' at the National Poetry Society during the 1970s between radical and conservative factions.
Thirty-five years after Eric Mottram heralded a 'British Poetry Revival', the question of how to negotiate with the poetic mainstream still infiltrates choices made in the everyday practice of many emerging poets. We present the work of several new poets and hope they will be joined by some of the leading figures of this historical moment to revisit the scenes of an important struggle for creative freedom.
Poets:
Sejal Chad, Becky Cremin, Ryan Ormonde, Karen Sandhu, Lawrence Upton, Allen Fisher (on film) and Robert Hampson (tbc).
Mosaic Rooms,
226 Cromwell Road,
London
SW5 0SW
Wet Ink and Scenery Chewer present Every Day A Battle
We seek, for an evening, to revisit the notion of Earls Court as cultural battleground. This event takes inspiration from Peter Barry's book Poetry Wars: British Poetry of the 1970s and the Battle of Earls Court, which uncovers the 'battle' at the National Poetry Society during the 1970s between radical and conservative factions.
Thirty-five years after Eric Mottram heralded a 'British Poetry Revival', the question of how to negotiate with the poetic mainstream still infiltrates choices made in the everyday practice of many emerging poets. We present the work of several new poets and hope they will be joined by some of the leading figures of this historical moment to revisit the scenes of an important struggle for creative freedom.
Poets:
Sejal Chad, Becky Cremin, Ryan Ormonde, Karen Sandhu, Lawrence Upton, Allen Fisher (on film) and Robert Hampson (tbc).
Thursday, June 25, 2009
LONDON: Utter! Cats
Thursday, July 9th, 2009, 7pm-10pm, FREE / donation
Whitechapel Art Gallery,
Whitechapel High Street,
London
(Tube: Aldgate East)
Utter! Spoken Word presents: UTTER! CATS
Open mic and special guests
Open mic special: read 2 poems; one poem of your own about cats, one not about cats, or one from the pile of cat poems written by little old ladies about their dead cats, or T.S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats or something.
Sign up 6.30pm (NO prebooking) - 7.30pm showtime. Winner wins a book of cat poems and a place in the Utter! Ajar Mic 2009 Grand Final. Winner for best fancy dress! (As a cat).
CAT FACE PAINTING!
A SPECIAL CAT FLAP ALL READERS MUST ENTER THROUGH (unless you're disabled)
ALL TOILETS REPLACED WITH LITTER TRAYS!*
Special guests:
Karen Hayley: She's been on the Armstrong & Miller show, Bo Selecta and MTV, she's been in VELOCITY, (the very best of Apples & Snakes) / Black Spring Press / Main Street / Breakfast all day / Gargoyle / Rising / Dogmatika / Pen Pusher / Poetry International Rotterdam, now she's AT Utter! where she'll give us a catalogue of cat facts in a cat suit. Purrrrr-fect.
Graham Buchan: Mild-mannered tom hiding a scratching post of subtly erotic poetry from his book There Is Violence In These Vapours. By the end, you'll be glad they never took him to the vets!
Tim Wells: You know him as the Forward-Prize nominated editor of Rising magazine - the "Reader's Wives of Poetry mags" according to John Cooper Clarke, with poems about dance halls and pool club assassins from his book Rougher Yet. But you didn't know he had cat poems, oh yes.
Hosted by mischevious Ginger Tom Richard Tyrone Jones.
Whitechapel Art Gallery,
Whitechapel High Street,
London
(Tube: Aldgate East)
Utter! Spoken Word presents: UTTER! CATS
Open mic and special guests
Open mic special: read 2 poems; one poem of your own about cats, one not about cats, or one from the pile of cat poems written by little old ladies about their dead cats, or T.S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats or something.
Sign up 6.30pm (NO prebooking) - 7.30pm showtime. Winner wins a book of cat poems and a place in the Utter! Ajar Mic 2009 Grand Final. Winner for best fancy dress! (As a cat).
CAT FACE PAINTING!
A SPECIAL CAT FLAP ALL READERS MUST ENTER THROUGH (unless you're disabled)
ALL TOILETS REPLACED WITH LITTER TRAYS!*
Special guests:
Karen Hayley: She's been on the Armstrong & Miller show, Bo Selecta and MTV, she's been in VELOCITY, (the very best of Apples & Snakes) / Black Spring Press / Main Street / Breakfast all day / Gargoyle / Rising / Dogmatika / Pen Pusher / Poetry International Rotterdam, now she's AT Utter! where she'll give us a catalogue of cat facts in a cat suit. Purrrrr-fect.
Graham Buchan: Mild-mannered tom hiding a scratching post of subtly erotic poetry from his book There Is Violence In These Vapours. By the end, you'll be glad they never took him to the vets!
Tim Wells: You know him as the Forward-Prize nominated editor of Rising magazine - the "Reader's Wives of Poetry mags" according to John Cooper Clarke, with poems about dance halls and pool club assassins from his book Rougher Yet. But you didn't know he had cat poems, oh yes.
Hosted by mischevious Ginger Tom Richard Tyrone Jones.
BIRMINGHAM: BBC Radio 4 UK Performance Poetry Slam
Thursday, 2nd July, 2009, 7.45pm, £4
Birmingham Rep,
Broad Street,
Birmingham
B1 2EP
BBC Radio 4 is organising a UK and Northern Ireland Performance Poetry Slam between 18 of the top UK performance poets, representing the nine BBC regions, in a verse-spilling, wit-spitting, live knockout poetry competition
Each region will choose two performance poets to represent them by pitting proven local slam winners against each other in a series of high-octane verbal battles guaranteed to sort the poetic wheat from the prosaic chaff.
The Midlands Heat qualifying slam gives you the opportunity to select the two champions of the spoken word in the Midlands that you think should take on representatives from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England and London.
The two inter-regional semi-finals will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Thursday 24th September at 11pm and Thursday 1st October at 11pm. The Grand Final will be broadcast on Thursday 8th October at 11pm.
The UK Performance Poetry Slam forms part of the BBC's multi-platform poetry series running from May to October 2009.
Compere:
Giovanni "Spoz" Esposito
Line-up:
Chris Vickers
George "Poshboy" Hardwick
Emma Pursehouse
Steve Rooney
Brenda Read-Brown
Simon Lee
Mark Neil
Bohdan Piaceski
Cherrie "Riddlewoman" Gillings
Sean "Evoke" Welch
Mohammed "DubLe" Shariff
Michelle "Mother" Hubbard
Rob Gee
Jude Simpson
Ash Dickinson
BOOK: 0121 245 2000 / www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
Birmingham Rep,
Broad Street,
Birmingham
B1 2EP
BBC Radio 4 is organising a UK and Northern Ireland Performance Poetry Slam between 18 of the top UK performance poets, representing the nine BBC regions, in a verse-spilling, wit-spitting, live knockout poetry competition
Each region will choose two performance poets to represent them by pitting proven local slam winners against each other in a series of high-octane verbal battles guaranteed to sort the poetic wheat from the prosaic chaff.
The Midlands Heat qualifying slam gives you the opportunity to select the two champions of the spoken word in the Midlands that you think should take on representatives from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England and London.
The two inter-regional semi-finals will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Thursday 24th September at 11pm and Thursday 1st October at 11pm. The Grand Final will be broadcast on Thursday 8th October at 11pm.
The UK Performance Poetry Slam forms part of the BBC's multi-platform poetry series running from May to October 2009.
Compere:
Giovanni "Spoz" Esposito
Line-up:
Chris Vickers
George "Poshboy" Hardwick
Emma Pursehouse
Steve Rooney
Brenda Read-Brown
Simon Lee
Mark Neil
Bohdan Piaceski
Cherrie "Riddlewoman" Gillings
Sean "Evoke" Welch
Mohammed "DubLe" Shariff
Michelle "Mother" Hubbard
Rob Gee
Jude Simpson
Ash Dickinson
BOOK: 0121 245 2000 / www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
LONDON: Cinnamon Poets
Friday, 26th June, 2009, 7pm (door open 6.30pm), £4/£3, wine
Trinity United Reform Church
1 Buck St,
Camden Town
(2 minutes Camden Town tube.)
Jan Fortune-Wood presents Cinnamon Press poets Barbara Dordi, Mike Horwood and Bob Mee.
Poets from the floor very welcome.
Cinnamon Press is our new sponsor. Please bring a copy of the poem if you wish to be considered for the new anthology.
Trinity United Reform Church
1 Buck St,
Camden Town
(2 minutes Camden Town tube.)
Jan Fortune-Wood presents Cinnamon Press poets Barbara Dordi, Mike Horwood and Bob Mee.
Poets from the floor very welcome.
Cinnamon Press is our new sponsor. Please bring a copy of the poem if you wish to be considered for the new anthology.
LONDON: Mortlake Festival Poetry Evening
Friday 26th June 2009, doors open 6.30pm for 7pm, wine
St. Mary the Virgin
Mortlake High Street
SW14
Featuring:
Connie Bensley - called the wittiest woman in Britain.
Ruth O'Callaghan - called a lot of other things.
Poets from the floor more than welcome, and they are eligible to be considered for the prestigious Cinnamon Press anthology which will consist of poets from the floor plus internationally known poets.
St. Mary the Virgin
Mortlake High Street
SW14
Featuring:
Connie Bensley - called the wittiest woman in Britain.
Ruth O'Callaghan - called a lot of other things.
Poets from the floor more than welcome, and they are eligible to be considered for the prestigious Cinnamon Press anthology which will consist of poets from the floor plus internationally known poets.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
LONDON: Apples and Snakes Open Mic
Thursday, June 25th, 2009, 7.30pm, FREE
Whitechapel Gallery,
77-82 Whitechapel High Street,
London,
E1 7QX
Open Mic
Newcomers meet the seasoned performers on equal terms. It's simple: a roomful of poets, performers and people who just want to hear poetry. Arrive
early and claim your all-important slot in the spotlight. Hosted by Leetho Thale and featuring Jade Anouka and Jill Abram.
Booking: 0208 465 6154
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
--
Irenosen Okojie
Press & Marketing Officer
Apples & Snakes
020 8465 6147
BIRMINGHAM: Rhymes
Thursday, 25th June, 2009, 8pm-10.30pm, £5 on the door
The Custard Factory Reception
Gibb Street,
Birmingham
Rhymes - The Best of Birmingham's Performance Poetry
This months poets include:
Leeanne Stoddart, the self-confessed confused Afro-Caribbean-Black-British-Americanized poet who can only write love poems even when she doesn't want to.
Aeon, who pours words like honey with insight, emotional intelligence and effortless charm.
New Talent Spot – Ed Wakefield in his latest incarnation as Raimo Koski, explores dark ideas in a humorous way or humorous ideas in a dark way and attempts to reassert his indivuality in the overwhelming face of the horde.
MC: Lorna Meehan
Live music by Israel Costa
The Wordbag Challenge where you the audience have a chance to write and spout your own verse, not to mention the awesome Rhymes Raffle!
Spread the word and come get poetical!
The Custard Factory Reception
Gibb Street,
Birmingham
Rhymes - The Best of Birmingham's Performance Poetry
This months poets include:
Leeanne Stoddart, the self-confessed confused Afro-Caribbean-Black-British-Americanized poet who can only write love poems even when she doesn't want to.
Aeon, who pours words like honey with insight, emotional intelligence and effortless charm.
New Talent Spot – Ed Wakefield in his latest incarnation as Raimo Koski, explores dark ideas in a humorous way or humorous ideas in a dark way and attempts to reassert his indivuality in the overwhelming face of the horde.
MC: Lorna Meehan
Live music by Israel Costa
The Wordbag Challenge where you the audience have a chance to write and spout your own verse, not to mention the awesome Rhymes Raffle!
Spread the word and come get poetical!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
LONDON: The Rambling Tongue
Friday, July 3rd, 2009, 7pm-late
Price: £25 for food and poetry (7pm-late)
£5 for poems and dancing (10pm-late)
The Oubliette Arthouse
170 Westminster Bridge Road,
SE1 7RW
07809 236 133
madsen.michelle@gmail.com
Hammer and Tongue London presents The Rambling Tongue
Fusing food for the mind and the body in the cavernous belly of the Oubliette in Waterloo, foodrambler and Hammer and Tongue London join forces to bring you the best of London's poetry and feasting in one evening of sensory bliss.
The team that brought the massive salad toss to last year's Antic Banquet are taking over the catacombs of one of London's most innovative new art spaces: the Oubliette.
A 60-room former language school and hostel, the Oubliette has been transformed into a maze of theatres, galleries and cinemas by a 14-strong collective of artists over the past month. Although the collective won the first court case, meaning that the Oubliette is safe for the next few weeks, it's likely that the owners will get the property back fairly soon so this (unless we are very lucky) is going to be a one-off extravaganza.
We will turn the basement of the building into a banqueting hall, where poets will punctuate a sumptuous three course feast with words to feed the soul. From 10pm we pass the space over to
a group of the UK's finest spoken word artists, including Salena Godden, Dizraeli and Kate Tempest, hosted by the soulful Angry Sam and the bitingly wicked Michelle Madsen. DJs and dancing will follow to keep the festivities going into the early hours.
Price: £25 for food and poetry (7pm-late)
£5 for poems and dancing (10pm-late)
The Oubliette Arthouse
170 Westminster Bridge Road,
SE1 7RW
07809 236 133
madsen.michelle@gmail.com
Hammer and Tongue London presents The Rambling Tongue
Fusing food for the mind and the body in the cavernous belly of the Oubliette in Waterloo, foodrambler and Hammer and Tongue London join forces to bring you the best of London's poetry and feasting in one evening of sensory bliss.
The team that brought the massive salad toss to last year's Antic Banquet are taking over the catacombs of one of London's most innovative new art spaces: the Oubliette.
A 60-room former language school and hostel, the Oubliette has been transformed into a maze of theatres, galleries and cinemas by a 14-strong collective of artists over the past month. Although the collective won the first court case, meaning that the Oubliette is safe for the next few weeks, it's likely that the owners will get the property back fairly soon so this (unless we are very lucky) is going to be a one-off extravaganza.
We will turn the basement of the building into a banqueting hall, where poets will punctuate a sumptuous three course feast with words to feed the soul. From 10pm we pass the space over to
a group of the UK's finest spoken word artists, including Salena Godden, Dizraeli and Kate Tempest, hosted by the soulful Angry Sam and the bitingly wicked Michelle Madsen. DJs and dancing will follow to keep the festivities going into the early hours.
LONDON: Glam Slam UK
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009, 8pm, £5/£3/FREE for slammers
Royal Vauxhall Tavern
372 Kennington Lane,
SE11 5HY
A Poetry Slam competition in two rounds.
First Round: Four competing categories:
DARK poem - a sad poem wearing all black
GLAD poem - a happy poem in colourful clothes
SHAG poem - sexy words in lingerie, fetish, flesh
DRAG poem - gender-bending words in drag
Second Round: A Grand Final on the night,
with a £100 Grand Prize for the BEST VERBAL VOGUE!
See more details here:
http://blog.myspace.com/glamslamuk
Also: non-competitive open mic slots and special guest performers (Susie Showers, The Fallen Raconteur, Hilda Eusebio, Qwee).
Royal Vauxhall Tavern
372 Kennington Lane,
SE11 5HY
A Poetry Slam competition in two rounds.
First Round: Four competing categories:
DARK poem - a sad poem wearing all black
GLAD poem - a happy poem in colourful clothes
SHAG poem - sexy words in lingerie, fetish, flesh
DRAG poem - gender-bending words in drag
Second Round: A Grand Final on the night,
with a £100 Grand Prize for the BEST VERBAL VOGUE!
See more details here:
http://blog.myspace.com/glamslamuk
Also: non-competitive open mic slots and special guest performers (Susie Showers, The Fallen Raconteur, Hilda Eusebio, Qwee).
LONDON: Days of the Roses
Wednesday, 24th June, 2009, 7pm-11pm
Filthy McNasty's Whiskey Cafe,
Amwell Street,
Islington
Featured poets:
Sofie Mayer http://www.sophiemayer.net/
Christopher Horton http://christopherhorton.blogspot.com
Lesley Saunders http://www.lesleysaunders.org.uk/
plus the usual mix of Royal Holloway based fiction and verse.
Filthy McNasty's Whiskey Cafe,
Amwell Street,
Islington
Featured poets:
Sofie Mayer http://www.sophiemayer.net/
Christopher Horton http://christopherhorton.blogspot.com
Lesley Saunders http://www.lesleysaunders.org.uk/
plus the usual mix of Royal Holloway based fiction and verse.
LONDON: Ride The Word XI
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 7pm-9pm, FREE
The CAFE YUMCHAA
45 Berwick Street,
Soho,
London
W1
Vincent De Souza (poetry)
Sue Hubbard (poetry)
Chrissie Gittins (poetry)
Richard Bardsley (prose)
Jay Merill (prose)
Also, by popular demand: FLOORSPOTS (on a first come first served basis).
Hosted by Jay Merill & Vincent De Souza
National Write a Poem about the News Day!
Wednesday, 24th June, 2009
The news can be poetry
and poetry can be news.
Feel like you can't do anything about what's going on in the news?
Writing a poem about it could be empowering and enlightening.
Feel like poetry's not relevant to the world today?
Use the vast amount of material in the news to inspire your words.
Let's get it happening in classrooms, bedrooms, newsrooms...
Add your poem to the snapshot of the day being created at
poetryasithappens.wordpress.com
The news can be poetry
and poetry can be news.
Feel like you can't do anything about what's going on in the news?
Writing a poem about it could be empowering and enlightening.
Feel like poetry's not relevant to the world today?
Use the vast amount of material in the news to inspire your words.
Let's get it happening in classrooms, bedrooms, newsrooms...
Add your poem to the snapshot of the day being created at
poetryasithappens.wordpress.com
LONDON: Iain Sinclair, Tim Wells, Jay Bernard
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 8pm, £8/£6
Soho Theatre,
21 Dean Street,
London
W1D 3NE
Booking: 020 7478 0100 / www.sohotheatre.com
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
APPLES & SNAKES IN SOHO
Featuring Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair, the poet laureate of London’s peripheries, takes a break from pacing the streets and ventures into W1. With a brace of big-selling books behind him – including London Orbital and Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire – he is the arch-sniffer-out of the sense of place. Although ‘banned’ by certain borough councils for suggesting that the capital is worth more than whatever fast buck is being wrung out of it this week, he continues to strike a chord with those Londoners who prefer to look beyond the obvious. He will read a selection of his poetry and prose.
Also on the bill is Tim Wells, who has been described as ‘a bit like Henry Mayhew interviewing Eek-A-Mouse in an East End tailor’s’. Originally one of the ranting poets – and not allowed to forget it – Tim Wells is another writer with the essence of London underneath his fingernails. His latest collection Rougher Yet is currently available from Donut Press.
Jay Bernard, meanwhile, has been resident writer on a pair of allotment sites in London and Oxford as part of My Place Or Yours, an ongoing programme of poetic placements across the UK. As such, she’s been delving into the nature of urban green space and literally getting to know her onions. Join her as she presents a barrowload of words and film-clips documenting her experiences so far.
All told, it’s the ultimate guided tour for lateral thinkers. With poetry. And seats.
Soho Theatre,
21 Dean Street,
London
W1D 3NE
Booking: 020 7478 0100 / www.sohotheatre.com
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
APPLES & SNAKES IN SOHO
Featuring Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair, the poet laureate of London’s peripheries, takes a break from pacing the streets and ventures into W1. With a brace of big-selling books behind him – including London Orbital and Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire – he is the arch-sniffer-out of the sense of place. Although ‘banned’ by certain borough councils for suggesting that the capital is worth more than whatever fast buck is being wrung out of it this week, he continues to strike a chord with those Londoners who prefer to look beyond the obvious. He will read a selection of his poetry and prose.
Also on the bill is Tim Wells, who has been described as ‘a bit like Henry Mayhew interviewing Eek-A-Mouse in an East End tailor’s’. Originally one of the ranting poets – and not allowed to forget it – Tim Wells is another writer with the essence of London underneath his fingernails. His latest collection Rougher Yet is currently available from Donut Press.
Jay Bernard, meanwhile, has been resident writer on a pair of allotment sites in London and Oxford as part of My Place Or Yours, an ongoing programme of poetic placements across the UK. As such, she’s been delving into the nature of urban green space and literally getting to know her onions. Join her as she presents a barrowload of words and film-clips documenting her experiences so far.
All told, it’s the ultimate guided tour for lateral thinkers. With poetry. And seats.
Monday, June 22, 2009
GALWAY: The Cat's Cradle IV launch
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 11am
Unit 6,
Merlin Park University Hospital,
Galway
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust warmly invites you to the launch of The Cat’s Cradle IV: Hard Times Come Again - Memoirs and Stories from patients in Units 5 and 6, edited by Kevin Higgins. Children from Scoil Íde, Salthill and Scoil Mhuire, Clarinbridge will read poems written in response to The Cat’s Cradle and will perform for the patients.
Refreshments will be served.
Unit 6,
Merlin Park University Hospital,
Galway
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust warmly invites you to the launch of The Cat’s Cradle IV: Hard Times Come Again - Memoirs and Stories from patients in Units 5 and 6, edited by Kevin Higgins. Children from Scoil Íde, Salthill and Scoil Mhuire, Clarinbridge will read poems written in response to The Cat’s Cradle and will perform for the patients.
Refreshments will be served.
GALWAY: Over The Edge Summer Poetry Special
Friday, July 3rd, 2009, 8pm, FREE
Sheridan's Wine Bar,
14-16 Church Yard Street,
Galway
John Corless lives and writes in County Mayo in the Irish Riviera. His poetry is a mix of political, satirical, ecclesiastical and rural and has been described as Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (2008) and is currently researching for a PhD. He writes poetry, fiction and drama. His work has been published in magazines and collections worldwide. His creative writing classes in the Castlebar campus of GMIT are very popular. His first collection of poems Are You Ready? was published recently by Salmon Poetry.
Tom Lavelle lives in Galway and works as the finance director of a manufacturing company. He is currently a participant in the Advance Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre and as part of that group read his work at last year’s Clifden Arts Week. His poems have appeared in Revival, West 47 online and The Cuirt Annual. Tom was shortlisted for the Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading in both 2008 and 2009 and in the 2008 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. This autumn he will be embarking on an M Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan.
Anthony Daly was born in Galway in 1979. He gained a BA Degree in Classics and History from NUI. Galway. He has been writing poetry for about the past decade and has published several poems in the local press. He has acted with Selkie Theatre in 2008 in their production last summer of Goodwill, as well as in several other productions and shows over the last six years. Anthony has been a many time participant in the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, was a Featured Reader at the March 2005 Over The Edge: Open Reading and was shortlisted for the 2007 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading.
John Liddy was born in Youghal, Co. Cork, grew up in Limerick and now lives in Spain. His poetry collections include Boundaries (1974), The Angling Cot (1991), Song of the Empty Cage (1997), Wine and Hope (1999), Cast-A-Net (2003) & The Well: New and Selected Poems (2007). La Barca de la Arena (a translation by Francisco Rivero in Spanish of The Angling Cot) & Poisionous Pleasure (a translation by John Liddy from Tosigo Ardento by José Maria Álvarez) were published recently. He lives in Madrid.
All welcome. For further information contact 087-6431748.
Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.LONDON: Apples and Snakes Open Mic
Thursday, June 25th, 2009, 7.30pm, FREE
Whitechapel Gallery,
77-82 Whitechapel High Street,
London,
E1 7QX
Open Mic
Newcomers meet the seasoned performers on equal terms. It's simple: a roomful of poets, performers and people who just want to hear poetry. Arrive
early and claim your all-important slot in the spotlight. Hosted by Leetho Thale and featuring Jade Anouka and Jill Abram.
Booking: 0208 465 6154
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
--
Irenosen Okojie
Press & Marketing Officer
Apples & Snakes
020 8465 6147
GALWAY: The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam
Monday, June 22nd, 2009, 9pm, 5/3 Euros
The Crane Bar,
Sea Road,
Galway
The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam, with guest poet Pete Mullineaux
Galway poet Pete Mullineaux has played from Cuirt to Glastonbury, Greenham Common to Trafalgar Square, alongside such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Melvin Bragg and the Pogues. His first poem Harvest Festival was published in Macmillan's anthology Poetry and Song, when he was aged 13. Pete grew up in Bristol but in the late 70's, early 80's deserted to London to join the punk rock band The Resisters. Music, drama and poetry have been the driving forces of Pete's life ever since. He even managed to fit in a first class honours in drama from Middlesex University along the way!
His collection A Father's Day (Salmon Poetry, 2008) has been described by various reviewers as 'tender and lyrical', 'gorgeously resonant' and 'grimly funny' and drawn comparisons with Brian Patten and John Cooper-Clarke.
Guest MC is Miceal Kearney. Poets wishing to take part in the two-round slam please bring along two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized. The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.
Info: john walsh @ 091-593290
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/
The Crane Bar,
Sea Road,
Galway
The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam, with guest poet Pete Mullineaux
Galway poet Pete Mullineaux has played from Cuirt to Glastonbury, Greenham Common to Trafalgar Square, alongside such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Melvin Bragg and the Pogues. His first poem Harvest Festival was published in Macmillan's anthology Poetry and Song, when he was aged 13. Pete grew up in Bristol but in the late 70's, early 80's deserted to London to join the punk rock band The Resisters. Music, drama and poetry have been the driving forces of Pete's life ever since. He even managed to fit in a first class honours in drama from Middlesex University along the way!
His collection A Father's Day (Salmon Poetry, 2008) has been described by various reviewers as 'tender and lyrical', 'gorgeously resonant' and 'grimly funny' and drawn comparisons with Brian Patten and John Cooper-Clarke.
Guest MC is Miceal Kearney. Poets wishing to take part in the two-round slam please bring along two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized. The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.
Info: john walsh @ 091-593290
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/
IRELAND: Heaventree Press / O’Bheal Poetry Tour
Heaventree Press poets Michael McKimm, Jonathan Morley and Antony Owen join Cork-based poets Paul Casey, Jennifer Matthews and Billy Ramsell for readings in Waterville, Cork, Dublin and Belfast.
Waterville, Co. Kerry – Monday 22nd June, 12.30pm – Solstice Arts Festival -
www.feilenagreine.com/index.htm
Cork – Monday 22nd June, 9pm – O'Bheal, upstairs at The Long Valley, Winthrop Street
www.obheal.ie
Dublin – Tuesday 23rd June, 7pm - Cassidy's, Westmoreland Street
www.cassidysbar.ie
Belfast - Wednesday 24th June, 7pm - The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University.
(Lecture Theatre G09, Lanyon Building)
All events are FREE
Waterville, Co. Kerry – Monday 22nd June, 12.30pm – Solstice Arts Festival -
www.feilenagreine.com/index.htm
Cork – Monday 22nd June, 9pm – O'Bheal, upstairs at The Long Valley, Winthrop Street
www.obheal.ie
Dublin – Tuesday 23rd June, 7pm - Cassidy's, Westmoreland Street
www.cassidysbar.ie
Belfast - Wednesday 24th June, 7pm - The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University.
(Lecture Theatre G09, Lanyon Building)
All events are FREE
Saturday, June 20, 2009
LONDON: Sundays at the Oto
Sunday, June 21st, 2009, 3pm-5pm, £4
Café Oto
18-22 Ashwin Street,
Dalston,
London
E8 3DL
“poetry and music with the post-avant crowd for your Sunday afternoon pleasure”
Jeff Hilson, Ian McLachlan and Johan de Wit
Expect rigorous, radical and really quite astonishing performances at this event, with a set from two of Britain’s most uncompromisingly experimental poets performing with a well-established multi-instrumentalist improvising musician, himself with a strong connection with poetry.
Jeff Hilson is a contemporary British poet of great wit and inventiveness, who plays a major role in contemporary innovative writing, and whose readings are fast, infused with the comedy of language, and breathtaking in their creative approach.
Ian McLachlan is an improvising musician with a strong interest in poetry, who has done several performances with Johan de Wit and other poets (including Chris Torrance).
Johan de Wit is a Dutch-born writer of contemporary British poetry, whose work is singled out by its project of creating an absolute poetry of unalloyed language, acting as a rigorous detoxifier to the language centres of the brain – a truly avant-garde figure, a genuine explorer of language continents others don’t even know about.
For further information:
http://www.myspace.com/sundaysattheoto
Facebook Group: Sundays at the Oto
Café Oto
18-22 Ashwin Street,
Dalston,
London
E8 3DL
“poetry and music with the post-avant crowd for your Sunday afternoon pleasure”
Jeff Hilson, Ian McLachlan and Johan de Wit
Expect rigorous, radical and really quite astonishing performances at this event, with a set from two of Britain’s most uncompromisingly experimental poets performing with a well-established multi-instrumentalist improvising musician, himself with a strong connection with poetry.
Jeff Hilson is a contemporary British poet of great wit and inventiveness, who plays a major role in contemporary innovative writing, and whose readings are fast, infused with the comedy of language, and breathtaking in their creative approach.
Ian McLachlan is an improvising musician with a strong interest in poetry, who has done several performances with Johan de Wit and other poets (including Chris Torrance).
Johan de Wit is a Dutch-born writer of contemporary British poetry, whose work is singled out by its project of creating an absolute poetry of unalloyed language, acting as a rigorous detoxifier to the language centres of the brain – a truly avant-garde figure, a genuine explorer of language continents others don’t even know about.
For further information:
http://www.myspace.com/sundaysattheoto
Facebook Group: Sundays at the Oto
Friday, June 19, 2009
LEAMINGTON SPA: Rhyming The Coconut
Saturday, June 20, 2009, 7.30pm prompt start, £2
Bath Place Community Venture,
Bath Place,
Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire,
CV31 3AQ
Rhyming The Coconut is a variety show of comic poetry with poems, songs, sketches and stories that celebrate the lighter side of verse. We combine performance poetry, comic songwriting and character comedy into an eclectic evening of rhyming fun.
The line-up includes:
Poet Dave Seymour with his odes to inanimate objects
Songwriter/singer Matt Priest and his unique mix of accapella poetry set to music
The world premiere of lost 70s cop TV show Steward’s Enquiry
The thoughts of recently paroled receptacle enthusiast The Jar Man
Monologic musings from the travels of rambling man Paul Cuff
Special guests are comic poet Emma Williams, who will be performing some of her bawdy fairytales, and writer Martha Greengrass, who will be reading her horticultural horror story.
The event will be hosted by comic poet Tom Steward, who will also be debuting a new epic poem about a smoking pigeon. During the show you’ll have the opportunity to enter your couplets into a competition to win some truly terrible prizes!
For more info on the event, look up Rhyming The Coconut on Facebook or contact Tom Steward on tomsteward1@hotmail.co.uk.
‘We put the rhyme in the coconut…then you’ll feel better’
Thursday, June 18, 2009
EDINBURGH: Word Power, with Matt Merritt, Rob A Mackenzie, Andrew Philip and James W Wood
Saturday, 20th June, 2009 12 noon - 1pm, FREE
Word Power Books
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9DB
Scotland
Matt Merritt is a poet and journalist. His first collection, Troy Town, was published in March 2008 by Arrowhead Press and his chapbook, Making the Most of the Light, in 2005 by Happenstance Press.
Rob A Mackenzie is based in Edinburgh. His poetry pamphlet, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in 2005. His first full collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, was published by Salt in March 2009.
Andrew Philip was born in 1975. He has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press - Tonguefire (2005) and Andrew Philip: A Sampler (2008) - and was chosen as a Scottish Poetry Library "New Voice" in 2006. The Ambulance Box, his first book of poems, was published in March 2009 by Salt.
James W. Wood’s poems, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide range of literary magazines in Britain, America and Canada. His pamphlet, The Theory of Everything, was published by Happenstance Press in 2006, and Inextinguishable by Knucker Press in 2008.
Word Power Books
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9DB
Scotland
Matt Merritt is a poet and journalist. His first collection, Troy Town, was published in March 2008 by Arrowhead Press and his chapbook, Making the Most of the Light, in 2005 by Happenstance Press.
Rob A Mackenzie is based in Edinburgh. His poetry pamphlet, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in 2005. His first full collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, was published by Salt in March 2009.
Andrew Philip was born in 1975. He has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press - Tonguefire (2005) and Andrew Philip: A Sampler (2008) - and was chosen as a Scottish Poetry Library "New Voice" in 2006. The Ambulance Box, his first book of poems, was published in March 2009 by Salt.
James W. Wood’s poems, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide range of literary magazines in Britain, America and Canada. His pamphlet, The Theory of Everything, was published by Happenstance Press in 2006, and Inextinguishable by Knucker Press in 2008.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
LEWES: Simon Welsh
Thursday, June 18th, 2009, 8pm doors, 8.30pm show
The Lewes Arms,
Lewes,
1 Mount Place,
Lewes,
East Sussex
Oliver’s Poetry is celebrating its third birthday – with a special gig night at its club, Lewes Poetry, starring Brighton performance poet and storyteller Simon Welsh. Open mic readers are very welcome.
The Oliver’s Poetry site has been updated with new poem Alternative Versions by Jeremy Page at:www.oliverspoetry.com
The Lewes Arms,
Lewes,
1 Mount Place,
Lewes,
East Sussex
Oliver’s Poetry is celebrating its third birthday – with a special gig night at its club, Lewes Poetry, starring Brighton performance poet and storyteller Simon Welsh. Open mic readers are very welcome.
The Oliver’s Poetry site has been updated with new poem Alternative Versions by Jeremy Page at:www.oliverspoetry.com
LONDON: Days of the Roses
Wednesday, 24th June, 2009, 7pm-11pm
Filthy McNasty's Whiskey Cafe,
Amwell Street,
Islington
Featured poets:
Sofie Mayer http://www.sophiemayer.net/
Christopher Horton http://christopherhorton.blogspot.com
Lesley Saunders http://www.lesleysaunders.org.uk/
plus the usual mix of Royal Holloway based fiction and verse.
Filthy McNasty's Whiskey Cafe,
Amwell Street,
Islington
Featured poets:
Sofie Mayer http://www.sophiemayer.net/
Christopher Horton http://christopherhorton.blogspot.com
Lesley Saunders http://www.lesleysaunders.org.uk/
plus the usual mix of Royal Holloway based fiction and verse.
GALWAY: The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam
Monday, June 22nd, 2009, 9pm, 5/3 Euros
The Crane Bar,
Sea Road,
Galway
The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam, with guest poet Pete Mullineaux
Galway poet Pete Mullineaux has played from Cuirt to Glastonbury, Greenham Common to Trafalgar Square, alongside such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Melvin Bragg and the Pogues. His first poem Harvest Festival was published in Macmillan's anthology Poetry and Song, when he was aged 13. Pete grew up in Bristol but in the late 70's, early 80's deserted to London to join the punk rock band The Resisters. Music, drama and poetry have been the driving forces of Pete's life ever since. He even managed to fit in a first class honours in drama from Middlesex University along the way!
His collection A Father's Day (Salmon Poetry, 2008) has been described by various reviewers as 'tender and lyrical', 'gorgeously resonant' and 'grimly funny' and drawn comparisons with Brian Patten and John Cooper-Clarke.
Guest MC is Miceal Kearney. Poets wishing to take part in the two-round slam please bring along two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized. The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.
Info: john walsh @ 091-593290
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/
The Crane Bar,
Sea Road,
Galway
The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam, with guest poet Pete Mullineaux
Galway poet Pete Mullineaux has played from Cuirt to Glastonbury, Greenham Common to Trafalgar Square, alongside such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Melvin Bragg and the Pogues. His first poem Harvest Festival was published in Macmillan's anthology Poetry and Song, when he was aged 13. Pete grew up in Bristol but in the late 70's, early 80's deserted to London to join the punk rock band The Resisters. Music, drama and poetry have been the driving forces of Pete's life ever since. He even managed to fit in a first class honours in drama from Middlesex University along the way!
His collection A Father's Day (Salmon Poetry, 2008) has been described by various reviewers as 'tender and lyrical', 'gorgeously resonant' and 'grimly funny' and drawn comparisons with Brian Patten and John Cooper-Clarke.
Guest MC is Miceal Kearney. Poets wishing to take part in the two-round slam please bring along two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized. The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.
Info: john walsh @ 091-593290
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/
CHESTERFIELD: The Five
Sunday, 28th June, 2009, 6pm, FREE
Central Methodist Church,
38 Saltergate,
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire
S40 1UH
Many years ago they were the Five and published a single joint collection Malediction on Cam Fodder, performing just once together. Reunited, they found they were all still writing. Members of The Five, Colin Gibson, Simon Iredale, Tom Rudge and Christopher Warren, will be taking over the Central Methodist Church, Chesterfield, for an evening of poetry with a spiritual tinge. Samples of their recent work can be found at lyricpoetry.co.uk
Central Methodist Church,
38 Saltergate,
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire
S40 1UH
Many years ago they were the Five and published a single joint collection Malediction on Cam Fodder, performing just once together. Reunited, they found they were all still writing. Members of The Five, Colin Gibson, Simon Iredale, Tom Rudge and Christopher Warren, will be taking over the Central Methodist Church, Chesterfield, for an evening of poetry with a spiritual tinge. Samples of their recent work can be found at lyricpoetry.co.uk
LONDON: Ride The Word XI
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 7pm-9pm, FREE
The CAFE YUMCHAA
45 Berwick Street,
Soho,
London
W1
All-Star Salt cast:
Vincent De Souza (poetry)
Sue Hubbard (poetry)
Chrissie Gittins (poetry)
Richard Bardsley (prose)
Jay Merill (prose)
Also, by popular demand: FLOORSPOTS (on a first come first served basis).
Hosted by Jay Merill & Vincent De Souza
National Write a Poem about the News Day!
Wednesday, 24th June, 2009
The news can be poetry
and poetry can be news.
Feel like you can't do anything about what's going on in the news?
Writing a poem about it could be empowering and enlightening.
Feel like poetry's not relevant to the world today?
Use the vast amount of material in the news to inspire your words.
Let's get it happening in classrooms, bedrooms, newsrooms...
Add your poem to the snapshot of the day being created at
poetryasithappens.wordpress.com
The news can be poetry
and poetry can be news.
Feel like you can't do anything about what's going on in the news?
Writing a poem about it could be empowering and enlightening.
Feel like poetry's not relevant to the world today?
Use the vast amount of material in the news to inspire your words.
Let's get it happening in classrooms, bedrooms, newsrooms...
Add your poem to the snapshot of the day being created at
poetryasithappens.wordpress.com
LONDON: Sean Bonney
Thursday, 18th June, 2009, 7pm, FREE
Parasol Unit,
Foundation for Contemporary Art,
14 Wharf Road,
London
N1 7RW
Sean Bonney will read a selection of his poetry in the gallery. Sean is a contemporary English poet whose many poems and essays have featured in some of the leading innovative magazines. His recent works include Document: hexprogress, 2006, and Baudelaire in English, 2008.
Contact: Natalia Owdziej on 0207 490 7373 or email Natalia@parasol-unit.org to book.
Parasol Unit,
Foundation for Contemporary Art,
14 Wharf Road,
London
N1 7RW
Sean Bonney will read a selection of his poetry in the gallery. Sean is a contemporary English poet whose many poems and essays have featured in some of the leading innovative magazines. His recent works include Document: hexprogress, 2006, and Baudelaire in English, 2008.
Contact: Natalia Owdziej on 0207 490 7373 or email Natalia@parasol-unit.org to book.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
LONDON: Spoken Word All Stars
Monday, 15th June, 2009, 7pm, £11.50 / £9.50
King’s Place,
Hall One,
90 York Way,
London,
N1 9AG
Spoken Word All Stars
Take five poets and one musician, give them a stage and see what they do with it. Rip it up and replace it with wall-to-wall words and an unflagging backbeat, is what we’re anticipating. Expect a seamless segue of poetry, improvised and otherwise, jousting with jazzy rhythms and forging a hip-hop-skip-and-jump of its very own. But who are these wonder-wordsmiths?
Well, there’s:
Charlie Dark: silver-tongued showman with the charisma of a DJ and the energy of a dozen ordinary poets.
Kat Francois: physically flamboyant teller of tales, part harrowing, part hilarious, always captivating.
John Berkavitch: beatboxing, breakdancing badboy with a rising reputation in hip-hop theatre.
El Crisis: smooth-voiced king of incantations, be they to his Creator or to his car.
Lucid: socially-sussed Mancunian lass to whom the stage is a second home.
But five onto one – isn’t that unfair? Not when the musician is globally-acclaimed sax-player Jason Yarde, a man with a genre-transcending sense of invention; a man who’s worked with everyone from Hugh Masekela to Jonzi D, and wins awards on an almost daily basis.
All stars? Yes indeed. The brave new face of spoken word? You bet.
Booking: 0844 264 0321 / www.kingsplace.co.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
King’s Place,
Hall One,
90 York Way,
London,
N1 9AG
Spoken Word All Stars
Take five poets and one musician, give them a stage and see what they do with it. Rip it up and replace it with wall-to-wall words and an unflagging backbeat, is what we’re anticipating. Expect a seamless segue of poetry, improvised and otherwise, jousting with jazzy rhythms and forging a hip-hop-skip-and-jump of its very own. But who are these wonder-wordsmiths?
Well, there’s:
Charlie Dark: silver-tongued showman with the charisma of a DJ and the energy of a dozen ordinary poets.
Kat Francois: physically flamboyant teller of tales, part harrowing, part hilarious, always captivating.
John Berkavitch: beatboxing, breakdancing badboy with a rising reputation in hip-hop theatre.
El Crisis: smooth-voiced king of incantations, be they to his Creator or to his car.
Lucid: socially-sussed Mancunian lass to whom the stage is a second home.
But five onto one – isn’t that unfair? Not when the musician is globally-acclaimed sax-player Jason Yarde, a man with a genre-transcending sense of invention; a man who’s worked with everyone from Hugh Masekela to Jonzi D, and wins awards on an almost daily basis.
All stars? Yes indeed. The brave new face of spoken word? You bet.
Booking: 0844 264 0321 / www.kingsplace.co.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
LONDON: Ride The Word X
Monday, June 15th, 2009, 7pm-9.30pm, FREE
Stratford Library,
3 The Grove,
London
E15 1EL
Ride the Word X features Richard Bardsley (Salt prose), Samuel (local poet), Jay Merrill (Salt prose), Mark Norfolk (experimental drama) and Vincent De Souza (Salt poet), plus guests Penumbra Magazine, a mini-talk by editors Elle and Alex, and guest readers.
Stratford Library,
3 The Grove,
London
E15 1EL
Ride the Word X features Richard Bardsley (Salt prose), Samuel (local poet), Jay Merrill (Salt prose), Mark Norfolk (experimental drama) and Vincent De Souza (Salt poet), plus guests Penumbra Magazine, a mini-talk by editors Elle and Alex, and guest readers.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
NORWICH: Mark Cocker, Paul Farley, Katrina Porteous & Matt Merritt
Sunday, 14th June, 2009, 3pm & 6.30pm
Norwich Arts Centre
Cafe Writers - four leading nature-based authors read from their work.
Mark Cocker – Guardian Country Diarist and author of Crow Country and Birds Britannica explores the ‘poetry of fact’; award-winning poet Katrina Porteous recaptures the lost language of a Northumbrian fishing community and sings the music of water; Bird Watching journalist Matt Merritt lets feathered and metaphorical birds flit through his poems, and Next Generation poet Paul Farley escapes the inner city on the back of a cranky heron.
Not to be missed. Bring your binoculars and a picnic. Drink from the bar only until 11pm.
*Yes, you can actually bring a picnic. The binoculars can be metaphorical.
3pm Matt Merritt and Katrina Porteous £4
6.30pm Paul Farley and Mark Cocker £6
Ticket for both events £8.
Norwich Arts Centre
Cafe Writers - four leading nature-based authors read from their work.
Mark Cocker – Guardian Country Diarist and author of Crow Country and Birds Britannica explores the ‘poetry of fact’; award-winning poet Katrina Porteous recaptures the lost language of a Northumbrian fishing community and sings the music of water; Bird Watching journalist Matt Merritt lets feathered and metaphorical birds flit through his poems, and Next Generation poet Paul Farley escapes the inner city on the back of a cranky heron.
Not to be missed. Bring your binoculars and a picnic. Drink from the bar only until 11pm.
*Yes, you can actually bring a picnic. The binoculars can be metaphorical.
3pm Matt Merritt and Katrina Porteous £4
6.30pm Paul Farley and Mark Cocker £6
Ticket for both events £8.
Friday, June 12, 2009
LONDON: Cinnamon Poets
Friday, 26th June, 2009, 7pm (door open 6.30pm), £4/£3, wine
Trinity United Reform Church
1 Buck St,
Camden Town
(2 minutes Camden Town tube.)
Jan Fortune-Wood presents Cinnamon Press poets Barbara Dordi, Mike Horwood and Bob Mee.
Poets from the floor very welcome.
Cinnamon Press is our new Sponsor. Please bring a copy of the poem if you wish to be considered for the new anthology.
Trinity United Reform Church
1 Buck St,
Camden Town
(2 minutes Camden Town tube.)
Jan Fortune-Wood presents Cinnamon Press poets Barbara Dordi, Mike Horwood and Bob Mee.
Poets from the floor very welcome.
Cinnamon Press is our new Sponsor. Please bring a copy of the poem if you wish to be considered for the new anthology.
LONDON: Mortlake Festival Poetry Evening
Friday 26th June 2009, doors open 6.30pm for 7pm, wine
St. Mary the Virgin
Mortlake High Street
SW14
Featuring:
Connie Bensley - called the wittiest woman in Britain.
Ruth O'Callaghan - called a lot of other things.
Poets from the floor more than welcome, and they are eligible to be considered for the prestigious Cinnamon Press anthology which will consist of poets from the floor plus internationally known poets.
St. Mary the Virgin
Mortlake High Street
SW14
Featuring:
Connie Bensley - called the wittiest woman in Britain.
Ruth O'Callaghan - called a lot of other things.
Poets from the floor more than welcome, and they are eligible to be considered for the prestigious Cinnamon Press anthology which will consist of poets from the floor plus internationally known poets.
IRELAND: Heaventree Press / O’Bheal Poetry Tour
Heaventree Press poets Michael McKimm, Jonathan Morley and Antony Owen join Cork-based poets Paul Casey, Jennifer Matthews and Billy Ramsell for readings in Waterville, Cork, Dublin and Belfast.
Waterville, Co. Kerry – Monday 22nd June, 12.30pm – Solstice Arts Festival -
www.feilenagreine.com/index.htm
Cork – Monday 22nd June, 9pm – O'Bheal, upstairs at The Long Valley, Winthrop Street
www.obheal.ie
Dublin – Tuesday 23rd June, 7pm - Cassidy's, Westmoreland Street
www.cassidysbar.ie
Belfast - Wednesday 24th June, 7pm - The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University.
(Lecture Theatre G09, Lanyon Building)
All events are FREE
Waterville, Co. Kerry – Monday 22nd June, 12.30pm – Solstice Arts Festival -
www.feilenagreine.com/index.htm
Cork – Monday 22nd June, 9pm – O'Bheal, upstairs at The Long Valley, Winthrop Street
www.obheal.ie
Dublin – Tuesday 23rd June, 7pm - Cassidy's, Westmoreland Street
www.cassidysbar.ie
Belfast - Wednesday 24th June, 7pm - The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University.
(Lecture Theatre G09, Lanyon Building)
All events are FREE
BIRMINGHAM: Rhymes
Thursday, 25th June, 2009, 8pm-10.30pm, £5 on the door
The Custard Factory Reception
Gibb Street,
Birmingham
Rhymes - The Best of Birmingham's Performance Poetry
This months poets include:
Leeanne Stoddart, the self-confessed confused Afro-Caribbean-Black-British-Americanized poet who can only write love poems even when she doesn't want to.
Aeon, who pours words like honey with insight, emotional intelligence and effortless charm.
New Talent Spot – Ed Wakefield in his latest incarnation as Raimo Koski, explores dark ideas in a humorous way or humorous ideas in a dark way and attempts to reassert his indivuality in the overwhelming face of the horde.
MC: Lorna Meehan
Live music by Israel Costa
The Wordbag Challenge where you the audience have a chance to write and spout your own verse, not to mention the awesome Rhymes Raffle!
Spread the word and come get poetical!
The Custard Factory Reception
Gibb Street,
Birmingham
Rhymes - The Best of Birmingham's Performance Poetry
This months poets include:
Leeanne Stoddart, the self-confessed confused Afro-Caribbean-Black-British-Americanized poet who can only write love poems even when she doesn't want to.
Aeon, who pours words like honey with insight, emotional intelligence and effortless charm.
New Talent Spot – Ed Wakefield in his latest incarnation as Raimo Koski, explores dark ideas in a humorous way or humorous ideas in a dark way and attempts to reassert his indivuality in the overwhelming face of the horde.
MC: Lorna Meehan
Live music by Israel Costa
The Wordbag Challenge where you the audience have a chance to write and spout your own verse, not to mention the awesome Rhymes Raffle!
Spread the word and come get poetical!
LONDON: The Word's A Stage
Friday, 12th June, 2009, 8pm, £8/£5
The Albany,
Douglas Way,
London,
SE8 4AG
Booking: 020 8692 4446 / www.thealbany.org.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
Four new poets face the bright lights
We present a four-pack of rapidly-rising artists, all of them sizing-up the spoken word and seeing how far they can stretch it. They’ve spent a few weeks at poetry bootcamp with top director Yael Shavit, who’s had them polishing their acts until they can see their faces in them. So you’re getting the best of both worlds here: all the work is brand new, but finely-honed too. And unlike some silly TV reality show, nobody got voted off. How could they, when they’re all equally good?
And here they are:
Investigating Samuel L Jackson’s hair and its place in popular culture - poetry siren Dzifa Benson
Lifting the lid on queer identity in the 21st century – the irrepressible Dean Atta
Getting inside mental illness via multiple characters – spoken-word chameleon Jasmine Cooray
Giving the lowdown on cosmetics and how they define our urban styles - urbane tribesman Nick Field
Four pieces probing the notion of self-image in the 21st century; four shows in the making; four genial poets with yards of talent, just itching to share it with you, the audience.
Brought to you by Apples & Snakes – the final word in a world that’s full of them
The Albany,
Douglas Way,
London,
SE8 4AG
Booking: 020 8692 4446 / www.thealbany.org.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
Four new poets face the bright lights
We present a four-pack of rapidly-rising artists, all of them sizing-up the spoken word and seeing how far they can stretch it. They’ve spent a few weeks at poetry bootcamp with top director Yael Shavit, who’s had them polishing their acts until they can see their faces in them. So you’re getting the best of both worlds here: all the work is brand new, but finely-honed too. And unlike some silly TV reality show, nobody got voted off. How could they, when they’re all equally good?
And here they are:
Investigating Samuel L Jackson’s hair and its place in popular culture - poetry siren Dzifa Benson
Lifting the lid on queer identity in the 21st century – the irrepressible Dean Atta
Getting inside mental illness via multiple characters – spoken-word chameleon Jasmine Cooray
Giving the lowdown on cosmetics and how they define our urban styles - urbane tribesman Nick Field
Four pieces probing the notion of self-image in the 21st century; four shows in the making; four genial poets with yards of talent, just itching to share it with you, the audience.
Brought to you by Apples & Snakes – the final word in a world that’s full of them
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
LONDON: Iain Sinclair, Tim Wells, Jay Bernard
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 8pm, £8/£6
Soho Theatre,
21 Dean Street,
London
W1D 3NE
Booking: 020 7478 0100 / www.sohotheatre.com
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
APPLES & SNAKES IN SOHO
Featuring Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair, the poet laureate of London’s peripheries, takes a break from pacing the streets and ventures into W1. With a brace of big-selling books behind him – including London Orbital and Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire – he is the arch-sniffer-out of the sense of place. Although ‘banned’ by certain borough councils for suggesting that the capital is worth more than whatever fast buck is being wrung out of it this week, he continues to strike a chord with those Londoners who prefer to look beyond the obvious. He will read a selection of his poetry and prose.
Also on the bill is Tim Wells, who has been described as ‘a bit like Henry Mayhew interviewing Eek-A-Mouse in an East End tailor’s’. Originally one of the ranting poets – and not allowed to forget it – Tim Wells is another writer with the essence of London underneath his fingernails. His latest collection Rougher Yet is currently available from Donut Press.
Jay Bernard, meanwhile, has been resident writer on a pair of allotment sites in London and Oxford as part of My Place Or Yours, an ongoing programme of poetic placements across the UK. As such, she’s been delving into the nature of urban green space and literally getting to know her onions. Join her as she presents a barrowload of words and film-clips documenting her experiences so far.
All told, it’s the ultimate guided tour for lateral thinkers. With poetry. And seats.
Soho Theatre,
21 Dean Street,
London
W1D 3NE
Booking: 020 7478 0100 / www.sohotheatre.com
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
APPLES & SNAKES IN SOHO
Featuring Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair, the poet laureate of London’s peripheries, takes a break from pacing the streets and ventures into W1. With a brace of big-selling books behind him – including London Orbital and Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire – he is the arch-sniffer-out of the sense of place. Although ‘banned’ by certain borough councils for suggesting that the capital is worth more than whatever fast buck is being wrung out of it this week, he continues to strike a chord with those Londoners who prefer to look beyond the obvious. He will read a selection of his poetry and prose.
Also on the bill is Tim Wells, who has been described as ‘a bit like Henry Mayhew interviewing Eek-A-Mouse in an East End tailor’s’. Originally one of the ranting poets – and not allowed to forget it – Tim Wells is another writer with the essence of London underneath his fingernails. His latest collection Rougher Yet is currently available from Donut Press.
Jay Bernard, meanwhile, has been resident writer on a pair of allotment sites in London and Oxford as part of My Place Or Yours, an ongoing programme of poetic placements across the UK. As such, she’s been delving into the nature of urban green space and literally getting to know her onions. Join her as she presents a barrowload of words and film-clips documenting her experiences so far.
All told, it’s the ultimate guided tour for lateral thinkers. With poetry. And seats.
LEAMINGTON SPA: Rhyming The Coconut
Saturday, June 20, 2009, 7.30pm prompt start, £2
Bath Place Community Venture,
Bath Place,
Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire,
CV31 3AQ
Rhyming The Coconut is a variety show of comic poetry with poems, songs, sketches and stories that celebrate the lighter side of verse. We combine performance poetry, comic songwriting and character comedy into an eclectic evening of rhyming fun.
The line-up includes:
Poet Dave Seymour with his odes to inanimate objects
Songwriter/singer Matt Priest and his unique mix of accapella poetry set to music
The world premiere of lost 70s cop TV show Steward’s Enquiry
The thoughts of recently paroled receptacle enthusiast The Jar Man
Monologic musings from the travels of rambling man Paul Cuff
Special guests are comic poet Emma Williams, who will be performing some of her bawdy fairytales, and writer Martha Greengrass, who will be reading her horticultural horror story.
The event will be hosted by comic poet Tom Steward, who will also be debuting a new epic poem about a smoking pigeon. During the show you’ll have the opportunity to enter your couplets into a competition to win some truly terrible prizes!
For more info on the event, look up Rhyming The Coconut on Facebook or contact Tom Steward on tomsteward1@hotmail.co.uk.
‘We put the rhyme in the coconut…then you’ll feel better’
Bath Place Community Venture,
Bath Place,
Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire,
CV31 3AQ
Rhyming The Coconut is a variety show of comic poetry with poems, songs, sketches and stories that celebrate the lighter side of verse. We combine performance poetry, comic songwriting and character comedy into an eclectic evening of rhyming fun.
The line-up includes:
Poet Dave Seymour with his odes to inanimate objects
Songwriter/singer Matt Priest and his unique mix of accapella poetry set to music
The world premiere of lost 70s cop TV show Steward’s Enquiry
The thoughts of recently paroled receptacle enthusiast The Jar Man
Monologic musings from the travels of rambling man Paul Cuff
Special guests are comic poet Emma Williams, who will be performing some of her bawdy fairytales, and writer Martha Greengrass, who will be reading her horticultural horror story.
The event will be hosted by comic poet Tom Steward, who will also be debuting a new epic poem about a smoking pigeon. During the show you’ll have the opportunity to enter your couplets into a competition to win some truly terrible prizes!
For more info on the event, look up Rhyming The Coconut on Facebook or contact Tom Steward on tomsteward1@hotmail.co.uk.
‘We put the rhyme in the coconut…then you’ll feel better’
GALWAY: An evening of poetry and fiction
Friday, June 12th, 2009, 9pm, FREE
Sheridan's Wine Bar,
Church Yard Street,
Galway
Writers visiting Galway for the American Conference for Irish Studies conference at NUIG will be reading alongside local poets.
Visiting writers Christine Casson, Ben Howard, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Eamonn Wall, John Menaghan, Thomas O’Grady, Ed Madden, Daniel Tobin and David Gardiner will read alongside Alan Jude Moore, Gary King and Lorna Shaughnessy.
For further details call 087-6431748.
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com
http://www.nuigalway.ie/research/centre_irish_studies/acis_09.html
http://www.acisweb.com/index.php
Sheridan's Wine Bar,
Church Yard Street,
Galway
Writers visiting Galway for the American Conference for Irish Studies conference at NUIG will be reading alongside local poets.
Visiting writers Christine Casson, Ben Howard, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Eamonn Wall, John Menaghan, Thomas O’Grady, Ed Madden, Daniel Tobin and David Gardiner will read alongside Alan Jude Moore, Gary King and Lorna Shaughnessy.
For further details call 087-6431748.
http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com
http://www.nuigalway.ie/research/centre_irish_studies/acis_09.html
http://www.acisweb.com/index.php
GALWAY: Creative Non-fiction with American and Irish Writers
Thursday, June 11th, 2009, 6.30pm
Galway City Library
Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies presents an evening of creative non-fiction with visiting American writers Jim Rogers, Christine Cusick and Jim Murphy and local writers Kevin Higgins and Patricia Burke Brogan.
Jim Rogers is editor of New Hibernia Review. His creative non-fiction has appeared in New Letters, ISLE, and elsewhere. His book of essays about cemeteries is forthcoming from Blue Road Press and is provisionally titled Northern Orchards: Places Near the Dead.
Christine Cusick is an Assistant Professor of English at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. She has published ecocritical readings of contemporary Irish poetry and landscape photography as well as place-based creative non-fiction. Her edited collection, which includes her interview with Tim Robinson, is titled Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts and is forthcoming from Cork University Press.
Jim Murphy is Director of the Irish Studies Program at Villanova University. In March 2008 Irish America Magazine named him of its TOP 100 IRISH AMERICANS.
Kevin Higgins is writer-residence at Merlin Park Hospital, working with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. Using reminiscence techniques Kevin worked with patients at Units 5 and 6 of the hospital to compile the The Cat’s Cradle: Dancing On Prospect Hill (2008) and the topical The Cat’s Cradle: Hard Times Come Again (2009).
Patricia Burke Brogan is a native of Galway City. She is a poet, visual artist and playwright. She is the author of the award-winning play Eclipsed which exposed the abuses perpetuated at the now infamous Magdalen Laundries. Eclipsed was published by Salmon in 1994, republished by the same publisher in 1997 and again by Wordsonthestreet in 2007. Patricia is currently working on her autobiography, Memoir with Grykes and Turloughs.
Galway City Library
Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies presents an evening of creative non-fiction with visiting American writers Jim Rogers, Christine Cusick and Jim Murphy and local writers Kevin Higgins and Patricia Burke Brogan.
Jim Rogers is editor of New Hibernia Review. His creative non-fiction has appeared in New Letters, ISLE, and elsewhere. His book of essays about cemeteries is forthcoming from Blue Road Press and is provisionally titled Northern Orchards: Places Near the Dead.
Christine Cusick is an Assistant Professor of English at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. She has published ecocritical readings of contemporary Irish poetry and landscape photography as well as place-based creative non-fiction. Her edited collection, which includes her interview with Tim Robinson, is titled Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts and is forthcoming from Cork University Press.
Jim Murphy is Director of the Irish Studies Program at Villanova University. In March 2008 Irish America Magazine named him of its TOP 100 IRISH AMERICANS.
Kevin Higgins is writer-residence at Merlin Park Hospital, working with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. Using reminiscence techniques Kevin worked with patients at Units 5 and 6 of the hospital to compile the The Cat’s Cradle: Dancing On Prospect Hill (2008) and the topical The Cat’s Cradle: Hard Times Come Again (2009).
Patricia Burke Brogan is a native of Galway City. She is a poet, visual artist and playwright. She is the author of the award-winning play Eclipsed which exposed the abuses perpetuated at the now infamous Magdalen Laundries. Eclipsed was published by Salmon in 1994, republished by the same publisher in 1997 and again by Wordsonthestreet in 2007. Patricia is currently working on her autobiography, Memoir with Grykes and Turloughs.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
LONDON: Sundays at the Oto
Sunday, June 21st, 2009, 3pm-5pm, £4
Café Oto
18-22 Ashwin Street,
Dalston,
London
E8 3DL
“poetry and music with the post-avant crowd for your Sunday afternoon pleasure”
Jeff Hilson, Ian McLachlan and Johan de Wit
Expect rigorous, radical and really quite astonishing performances at this event, with a set from two of Britain’s most uncompromisingly experimental poets performing with a well-established multi-instrumentalist improvising musician, himself with a strong connection with poetry.
Jeff Hilson is a contemporary British poet of great wit and inventiveness, who plays a major role in contemporary innovative writing, and whose readings are fast, infused with the comedy of language, and breathtaking in their creative approach.
Ian McLachlan is an improvising musician with a strong interest in poetry, who has done several performances with Johan de Wit and other poets (including Chris Torrance).
Johan de Wit is a Dutch-born writer of contemporary British poetry, whose work is singled out by its project of creating an absolute poetry of unalloyed language, acting as a rigorous detoxifier to the language centres of the brain – a truly avant-garde figure, a genuine explorer of language continents others don’t even know about.
For further information:
http://www.myspace.com/sundaysattheoto
Facebook Group: Sundays at the Oto
Café Oto
18-22 Ashwin Street,
Dalston,
London
E8 3DL
“poetry and music with the post-avant crowd for your Sunday afternoon pleasure”
Jeff Hilson, Ian McLachlan and Johan de Wit
Expect rigorous, radical and really quite astonishing performances at this event, with a set from two of Britain’s most uncompromisingly experimental poets performing with a well-established multi-instrumentalist improvising musician, himself with a strong connection with poetry.
Jeff Hilson is a contemporary British poet of great wit and inventiveness, who plays a major role in contemporary innovative writing, and whose readings are fast, infused with the comedy of language, and breathtaking in their creative approach.
Ian McLachlan is an improvising musician with a strong interest in poetry, who has done several performances with Johan de Wit and other poets (including Chris Torrance).
Johan de Wit is a Dutch-born writer of contemporary British poetry, whose work is singled out by its project of creating an absolute poetry of unalloyed language, acting as a rigorous detoxifier to the language centres of the brain – a truly avant-garde figure, a genuine explorer of language continents others don’t even know about.
For further information:
http://www.myspace.com/sundaysattheoto
Facebook Group: Sundays at the Oto
GALWAY: Poetry and Fiction
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009, 9pm, FREE
Sheridan’s Wine Bar,
Church Yard Street,
Galway
Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) presents poetry and fiction at Sheridan’s Wine Bar. Writers visiting Galway for the ACIS conference at NUIG will be reading alongside local poets.
Visiting writers Mary O’Donoghue, Joseph Lennon, Nathalie Anderson, Donna Potts, Drusilla Wall, Tyler Farrell, John Redmond and Ray McManus will read alongside Maureen Gallagher, John Walsh and Mary Madec.
For further details call 087-6431748.
Sheridan’s Wine Bar,
Church Yard Street,
Galway
Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) presents poetry and fiction at Sheridan’s Wine Bar. Writers visiting Galway for the ACIS conference at NUIG will be reading alongside local poets.
Visiting writers Mary O’Donoghue, Joseph Lennon, Nathalie Anderson, Donna Potts, Drusilla Wall, Tyler Farrell, John Redmond and Ray McManus will read alongside Maureen Gallagher, John Walsh and Mary Madec.
For further details call 087-6431748.
Monday, June 08, 2009
LONDON: Sean Bonney
Thursday, 18th June, 2009, 7pm, FREE
Parasol Unit,
Foundation for Contemporary Art,
14 Wharf Road,
London
N1 7RW
Sean Bonney will read a selection of his poetry in the gallery. Sean is a contemporary English poet whose many poems and essays have featured in some of the leading innovative magazines. His recent works include Document: hexprogress, 2006, and Baudelaire in English, 2008.
Contact: Natalia Owdziej on 0207 490 7373 or email Natalia@parasol-unit.org to book.
Parasol Unit,
Foundation for Contemporary Art,
14 Wharf Road,
London
N1 7RW
Sean Bonney will read a selection of his poetry in the gallery. Sean is a contemporary English poet whose many poems and essays have featured in some of the leading innovative magazines. His recent works include Document: hexprogress, 2006, and Baudelaire in English, 2008.
Contact: Natalia Owdziej on 0207 490 7373 or email Natalia@parasol-unit.org to book.
LONDON: Lumen Poetry Series
Tuesday, 9th June, 2009, doors open 6.30pm for 7pm, £4/£3, Wine
88 Tavistock Place
London
WC1
Tubes: Russell Square, Kings Cross, St Pancras.
Proceeds to the Cold Weather Shelter
Ruth O'Callaghan presents Alan Brownjohn, Cristina Viti and Stephen Watts.
Poets from the floor very welcome. Some five minute spots will be available. Please bring a copy of your poem if you wish to be considered for the anthology sponsored by the thought-provoking Cinnamon Press.
88 Tavistock Place
London
WC1
Tubes: Russell Square, Kings Cross, St Pancras.
Proceeds to the Cold Weather Shelter
Ruth O'Callaghan presents Alan Brownjohn, Cristina Viti and Stephen Watts.
Poets from the floor very welcome. Some five minute spots will be available. Please bring a copy of your poem if you wish to be considered for the anthology sponsored by the thought-provoking Cinnamon Press.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
KINGSTON: Jean Binta Breeze and Keith Waithe
Sunday 7th June, 2009, 7.30pm, £7, £10, £12
Rose Theatre,
24-26 High Street,
Kingston
KT1 1HL
Jean Binta Breeze is the doyenne of Caribbean poetry, a writer and performer of international standing, who has toured the world. Her works, such as Riddym Ravings and The Arrival of Brighteye, reveal a generous and uncompromising vision. She explores a wide range of issues with a sublimely-tuned lyrical sensibility.
As an actress, dancer, choreographer and theatrical director, Jean brings all of her rich artistic experience to her performances. Together with her long-term musical collaborator Keith Waithe - the gifted flautist, composer and leader of Macusi Players - they conjure up a sumptuous, spicy feast of images and sounds lit by the warmth of the light of the Caribbean.
TICKETS from the Rose Theatre or call 0871 230 1552, online booking www.rosetheatrekingston.org
EDINBURGH: Word Power, with Matt Merritt, Rob A Mackenzie, Andrew Philip and James W Wood
Saturday, 20th June, 2009 12 noon - 1pm, FREE
Word Power Books
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9DB
Scotland
All Welcome!
Matt Merritt is a poet and journalist. His first collection, Troy Town, was published in March 2008 by Arrowhead Press and his chapbook, Making the Most of the Light, in 2005 by Happenstance Press.
Rob A Mackenzie is based in Edinburgh. His poetry pamphlet, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in 2005. His first full collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, was published by Salt in March 2009.
Andrew Philip was born in 1975. He has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press - Tonguefire (2005) and Andrew Philip: A Sampler (2008) - and was chosen as a Scottish Poetry Library "New Voice" in 2006. The Ambulance Box, his first book of poems, was published in March 2009 by Salt.
James W. Wood’s poems, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide range of literary magazines in Britain, America and Canada. His pamphlet, The Theory of Everything, was published by Happenstance Press in 2006, and Inextinguishable by Knucker Press in 2008.
Word Power Books
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9DB
Scotland
All Welcome!
Matt Merritt is a poet and journalist. His first collection, Troy Town, was published in March 2008 by Arrowhead Press and his chapbook, Making the Most of the Light, in 2005 by Happenstance Press.
Rob A Mackenzie is based in Edinburgh. His poetry pamphlet, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in 2005. His first full collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, was published by Salt in March 2009.
Andrew Philip was born in 1975. He has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press - Tonguefire (2005) and Andrew Philip: A Sampler (2008) - and was chosen as a Scottish Poetry Library "New Voice" in 2006. The Ambulance Box, his first book of poems, was published in March 2009 by Salt.
James W. Wood’s poems, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide range of literary magazines in Britain, America and Canada. His pamphlet, The Theory of Everything, was published by Happenstance Press in 2006, and Inextinguishable by Knucker Press in 2008.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
LONDON: The Word's A Stage
Friday, 12th June, 2009, 8pm, £8/£5
The Albany,
Douglas Way,
London,
SE8 4AG
Booking: 020 8692 4446 / www.thealbany.org.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
Four new poets face the bright lights
We present a four-pack of rapidly-rising artists, all of them sizing-up the spoken word and seeing how far they can stretch it. They’ve spent a few weeks at poetry bootcamp with top director Yael Shavit, who’s had them polishing their acts until they can see their faces in them. So you’re getting the best of both worlds here: all the work is brand new, but finely-honed too. And unlike some silly TV reality show, nobody got voted off. How could they, when they’re all equally good?
And here they are:
Investigating Samuel L Jackson’s hair and its place in popular culture - poetry siren Dzifa Benson
Lifting the lid on queer identity in the 21st century – the irrepressible Dean Atta
Getting inside mental illness via multiple characters – spoken-word chameleon Jasmine Cooray
Giving the lowdown on cosmetics and how they define our urban styles - urbane tribesman Nick Field
Four pieces probing the notion of self-image in the 21st century; four shows in the making; four genial poets with yards of talent, just itching to share it with you, the audience.
Brought to you by Apples & Snakes – the final word in a world that’s full of them
The Albany,
Douglas Way,
London,
SE8 4AG
Booking: 020 8692 4446 / www.thealbany.org.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
Four new poets face the bright lights
We present a four-pack of rapidly-rising artists, all of them sizing-up the spoken word and seeing how far they can stretch it. They’ve spent a few weeks at poetry bootcamp with top director Yael Shavit, who’s had them polishing their acts until they can see their faces in them. So you’re getting the best of both worlds here: all the work is brand new, but finely-honed too. And unlike some silly TV reality show, nobody got voted off. How could they, when they’re all equally good?
And here they are:
Investigating Samuel L Jackson’s hair and its place in popular culture - poetry siren Dzifa Benson
Lifting the lid on queer identity in the 21st century – the irrepressible Dean Atta
Getting inside mental illness via multiple characters – spoken-word chameleon Jasmine Cooray
Giving the lowdown on cosmetics and how they define our urban styles - urbane tribesman Nick Field
Four pieces probing the notion of self-image in the 21st century; four shows in the making; four genial poets with yards of talent, just itching to share it with you, the audience.
Brought to you by Apples & Snakes – the final word in a world that’s full of them
LONDON: Spoken Word All Stars
Monday, 15th June, 2009, 7pm, £11.50 / £9.50
King’s Place,
Hall One,
90 York Way,
London,
N1 9AG
Spoken Word All Stars
Take five poets and one musician, give them a stage and see what they do with it. Rip it up and replace it with wall-to-wall words and an unflagging backbeat, is what we’re anticipating. Expect a seamless segue of poetry, improvised and otherwise, jousting with jazzy rhythms and forging a hip-hop-skip-and-jump of its very own. But who are these wonder-wordsmiths?
Well, there’s:
Charlie Dark: silver-tongued showman with the charisma of a DJ and the energy of a dozen ordinary poets.
Kat Francois: physically flamboyant teller of tales, part harrowing, part hilarious, always captivating.
John Berkavitch: beatboxing, breakdancing badboy with a rising reputation in hip-hop theatre.
El Crisis: smooth-voiced king of incantations, be they to his Creator or to his car.
Lucid: socially-sussed Mancunian lass to whom the stage is a second home.
But five onto one – isn’t that unfair? Not when the musician is globally-acclaimed sax-player Jason Yarde, a man with a genre-transcending sense of invention; a man who’s worked with everyone from Hugh Masekela to Jonzi D, and wins awards on an almost daily basis.
All stars? Yes indeed. The brave new face of spoken word? You bet.
Booking: 0844 264 0321 / www.kingsplace.co.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
King’s Place,
Hall One,
90 York Way,
London,
N1 9AG
Spoken Word All Stars
Take five poets and one musician, give them a stage and see what they do with it. Rip it up and replace it with wall-to-wall words and an unflagging backbeat, is what we’re anticipating. Expect a seamless segue of poetry, improvised and otherwise, jousting with jazzy rhythms and forging a hip-hop-skip-and-jump of its very own. But who are these wonder-wordsmiths?
Well, there’s:
Charlie Dark: silver-tongued showman with the charisma of a DJ and the energy of a dozen ordinary poets.
Kat Francois: physically flamboyant teller of tales, part harrowing, part hilarious, always captivating.
John Berkavitch: beatboxing, breakdancing badboy with a rising reputation in hip-hop theatre.
El Crisis: smooth-voiced king of incantations, be they to his Creator or to his car.
Lucid: socially-sussed Mancunian lass to whom the stage is a second home.
But five onto one – isn’t that unfair? Not when the musician is globally-acclaimed sax-player Jason Yarde, a man with a genre-transcending sense of invention; a man who’s worked with everyone from Hugh Masekela to Jonzi D, and wins awards on an almost daily basis.
All stars? Yes indeed. The brave new face of spoken word? You bet.
Booking: 0844 264 0321 / www.kingsplace.co.uk
Info: www.applesandsnakes.org
LONDON: Ride The Word X
Monday, June 15th, 2009, 7pm-9.30pm, FREE
Stratford Library,
3 The Grove,
London
E15 1EL
Ride the Word X features Richard Bardsley (Salt prose), Samuel (local poet), Jay Merrill (Salt prose), Mark Norfolk (experimental drama) and Vincent De Souza (Salt poet), plus guests Penumbra Magazine, a mini-talk by editors Elle and Alex, and guest readers.
Stratford Library,
3 The Grove,
London
E15 1EL
Ride the Word X features Richard Bardsley (Salt prose), Samuel (local poet), Jay Merrill (Salt prose), Mark Norfolk (experimental drama) and Vincent De Souza (Salt poet), plus guests Penumbra Magazine, a mini-talk by editors Elle and Alex, and guest readers.
LONDON: Shearsman Reading Series
Tuesday, 2nd June, 2009, 7.30pm, FREE
Swedenborg Hall
Swedenborg House
20/21 Bloomsbury Way
London
WC1A 2TH
Featuring Laurie Duggan, Kenny Knight and Sophie Mayer.
Details of the new collections that will be launched on the evening:
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/dugganThanet.html
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/knight.html
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/mayer.html
Swedenborg Hall
Swedenborg House
20/21 Bloomsbury Way
London
WC1A 2TH
Featuring Laurie Duggan, Kenny Knight and Sophie Mayer.
Details of the new collections that will be launched on the evening:
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/dugganThanet.html
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/knight.html
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2009/mayer.html
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