BRADFORD: Word Life

Friday, 30th April, 2010, £5, 8pm
Theatre In The Mill,
Bradford

Denis Jones (http://www.myspace.com/denisjones) has over the last three years developed a show-stopping live performance based around the core of his exceptional and unique guitar-playing style and rich, soulful voice. Utilising a loop station and all manner of samplers and effects, Denis creates vast, complex orchestrations of beat-box rhythms, multi-layered vocals and other-wordly sounds which veer from subtle heart-wrenching folk and blues to heavy bass-driven electronica. Denis has collaborated with many high profile artists from all over Europe, including a track with Dusseldorf artist Kemo which was included on Marcus Intelex's Fabric Live 35 compilation. He has also worked with John Ellis and Luke Flowers (Cinematic Orchestra), Jon Thorne (Lamb) and Henry Da Massa (Micah P Hinson).
http://www.myspace.com/denisjones

Tim Turnbull is an award-winning writer and performer. In 2006 he won the Contenders, the Arts Foundation's £10,000 prize for performance poetry (as featured on BBC2's Culture Show), and his book, Stranded in Sub-Atomica, was nominated for the Forward Prize for best first collection. Starting out in punk bands, Turnbull developed an engaging stage presence and has delighted audiences across the UK, the USA, Ireland and Germany.
http://www.timturnbull.co.uk/

Mike Garry is an acclaimed Mancunian poet. He has performed poetry since 1994, worked in hundreds of schools and held residencies in prisons, hospitals and art galleries. His work celebrates the beautiful ugliness of the city. His heroes are the underdogs and lost souls who wander the streets searching for answers. A finalist in a Poem for Manchester judged by Andrew Motion and winner of numerous poetry slams worldwide. Mikes' poetry has been published widely and his live performances are explosive and unmissable. As well as his work in education and the community, he has performed poetry on BBC Radio 4, Granada Television and on many local radio stations. A prolific writer, he has published three collections of his own poetry.

Kayo Chingonyi is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. He has performed his work at Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, Soho Theatre, The Southbank Centre and Buckingham Palace as well as countless live venues across the country. His work has been broadcast on Radio Five Live, Sheffield Live and Colourful Radio. He has won a number of slam titles including the Poetry Society's 'Respect' Slam 2003, The Roundhouse Slam 2007 and Farrago Easter Slam 2008. He is currently working towards a pamphlet and first collection.
http://kchingonyi.wordpress.com/

Hosted by Joe Kriss. A poet in his own right and project manager of Word Life - an organisation dedicated to promoting poetry in performance and on the page.

LONDON: Ride The Word XX

Wednesday, 28th April, 2010, 6.30pm, FREE
The Phoenix
Artists Club
Charing Cross Road
(1 Phoenix Street)
London WC2H ODT

Book launch of God of the Pigeons, by Jay Merill, short story collection, published by Salt, April 2010, and also starring Vincent De Souza, Salt poet (Weightless Road, Resurrecting Knives)

plus special guests Waterloo Press, with readers John Donoghue, Simon Jenner, Niall McDevitt and Naomi Foyle

also Completely Novel, introduced by Anna Lewis with readers

FLOOR SPOTS WELCOME!
on first-come, first-served basis

Hosted by Jay Merill and Vincent De Souza.

LEAMINGTON SPA: PUREandGOODandRIGHT

Sunday, April 25th, 2010, 7.30pm, £3/£2
The Fox,
Leamington Spa
CV32 4RZ

Each month we also invite a fabulous guest performance poet and this month we have the very talented and funny Simon Lee. According to Google, he owns an international art gallery, produces a range of guitars, is a professor of economics, features in a poem by William Wordsworth, and was recently sent to prison for an offence involving 'flames of passion' (that is, arson). Unfortunately, none of those Simons are performing at PGR this month so you'll just have to make do with the Birmingham-based version.

Solicitor-by-day and poet-by-night, Simon's poems tackle the pressing issues of today, including why we should love lawyers, why tax is sexy, and why we need more modern-day superheroes.
Simon has performed at a variety of venues including a shopping centre in Cheltenham as part of last year's Literature Festival Voices Off programme, a number of libraries, and several living rooms. He has also won a few poetry slams including Slam The Atom at the Cheltenham Science Festival

With open mic support from…….yes……YOU!
Come and share your poems - seasoned poets & first time performers most welcome! As we aim for a 7.30pm start please arrive a bit earlier to book a slot!!!

If you're planning to come along, or would like to know more about the night, please email pgrpoetryandpints@talktalk.net

BRISTOL: Uri & Me

Sunday, April 25th, 2010, 7.30pm-10pm, £5
Cube Cinema,
4 Princess Row
Bristol

Stand-up/magician Nathan Penlington presents Uri & Me – a show that looks behind the spoonbending cultural icon to reveal the subtle, complex, and caring nature that has created a boardgame, a folding bike, a range of porcelain plates, over fourteen books, a line of jewellery produced exclusively for QVC, a collection of psychically energised teddy bears, and a pop album. Uri claims telepathy, clairvoyance, ESP, dowsing for oil, bending metal are real – Uri & Me will make those things real for you too.

Nathan Penlington seamlessly fuses poetry, comedy, storytelling, and award winning magic with writing that is intelligent, accessible and entertaining to create a unique form of literary cabaret. He has performed his work on BBC Radio 1, Radio 3 and Radio 4. He performs at venues and festivals across the UK, Europe and the USA, and has shared stages with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Ricky Gervais and Stewart Lee.

'A natural performer, witty, inventive, stylish and original' - Robert Newman
'Nathan Penlington's fusion of wit, storytelling and visuals are garnering critics' plaudits and attention' - Time Out

Support on the night - Byron Vincent
From surreal punk rock disquisition about the socialist inclinations of the Smurfs to astutely acerbic examinations of the fraying tapestry of British culture. Byron Vincent’s oratory fuses comedy, poetry and doe eyed bewilderment to create a unique and entertaining spoken word experience. Catch him before the national tour.

BIRMINGHAM: Myra Connell & Simon Turner launches

Saturday, 24th April, 2010, 3pm-5pm, FREE
The Quaker Hall,
The Priory Rooms,
Bull Street,
Birmingham
B4 6AF
(map here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=b4+6af&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=15.089889,46.362305&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Birmingham,+West+Midlands+B4+6AF,+United+Kingdom&z=16)

The Birmingham launch of Myra Connell's From the Boat and Simon Turner's Difficult Second Album. Two brand new collections from Birmingham poets, launched this spring by Nine Arches Press.

With readings by Myra Connell and Simon Turner, with compere Julie Boden.

About the publications:
Simon Turner’s Difficult Second Album not only fulfils all the threats and promises of his debut, You Are Here (Heaventree, 2007), but also rightfully sees him take his place as a true troubadour of the surreal. Featuring his most accomplished work to date, this second collection is not in fact difficult, but rather darkly precise, quick-witted and modestly bold. Turner has an eye for infectious and joyously offbeat lines, rendering both the incongruous and beautiful in his own version and voice.

Myra Connell's poems From the Boat come from a time of waiting, of mourning, and of finding small consolations. They are, many of them, small poems, the opposite of heroic. Bare, spare in mood, and exploring a sense of dislocation and disorientation, they look coldly at what is left when almost everything is pared away. And yet they rejoice in moments of revelation – the golden flash of carp in a pool, a red jacket on a woman in a cafe; and the words, the language, the poems themselves, never feel doubtful or uncertain in their own power.

www.ninearchespress.com

GLASGOW: Last Monday at Rio

Monday, April 26th, 2010, 8pm, FREE
The Rio Cafe,
27 Hyndland Street,
Glasgow

"The culture of a nation is capsuled in what its people say to each other."
We'll be saying things to each other at the Rio Cafe again this final Monday of the month. This is the culture. Love it or lose it!

Headline act will be Mike Dillon, Irish of origin, resident in Edinburgh, a popular winner of the Scottish Slam Championships 2009. We've also been teased with the probability of a visit from Jack McLean, legendary columnist of the Glasgow Herald, radio broadcaster, journalist and a man blessed with that most sacred of possessions, the Glasgow of the mind and the soul.

Five minute spots as ever for those who want to take, shake or bellyache the mic. Book your place by return e-mail please. Severe Malcolm can't make it so Cairns is your compere. robin.cairns@btconnect.com

LONDON: BEAT

Monday, April 26th, 2010 (and every Monday), 8pm, FREE
Midnight at McQueen,
51 - 56 Tabernacle Street,
London
EC2A 4AA

"The best spoken word night in London" - Gary Fairfull
"Dylan Thomas meets the X-factor" - Big Issue
Recommended by the Arts Council

On stage:
Robert Auton - the sharpest copwyriter of poetry
Sophie Cameron – the funniest foul mouth of the North returns after being caught up in Volcanic ashes last week
Gary Fairfull - the urban club legend and Scottish poet returns after being stuck on a train from Scotland last week, due to Volcanic ashes..
Tomas Adejumo - the velvet voice, the ladies choice
Marville Beatbox - best beatbox in the UK
Ant the Rant - performs his legendary post club single: "Colostomy Del Mar"
and more to be announced

Top UK poets/performers every Monday. Presented by BEAT host/ producer Andreas Grant

BRADFORD: Word Life

Friday, 30th April, 2010, £5, 8pm
Theatre In The Mill,
Bradford

Denis Jones (http://www.myspace.com/denisjones) has over the last three years developed a show-stopping live performance based around the core of his exceptional and unique guitar-playing style and rich, soulful voice. Utilising a loop station and all manner of samplers and effects, Denis creates vast, complex orchestrations of beat-box rhythms, multi-layered vocals and other-wordly sounds which veer from subtle heart-wrenching folk and blues to heavy bass-driven electronica. Denis has collaborated with many high profile artists from all over Europe, including a track with Dusseldorf artist Kemo which was included on Marcus Intelex's Fabric Live 35 compilation. He has also worked with John Ellis and Luke Flowers (Cinematic Orchestra), Jon Thorne (Lamb) and Henry Da Massa (Micah P Hinson).
http://www.myspace.com/denisjones

Tim Turnbull is an award-winning writer and performer. In 2006 he won the Contenders, the Arts Foundation's £10,000 prize for performance poetry (as featured on BBC2's Culture Show), and his book, Stranded in Sub-Atomica, was nominated for the Forward Prize for best first collection. Starting out in punk bands, Turnbull developed an engaging stage presence and has delighted audiences across the UK, the USA, Ireland and Germany.
http://www.timturnbull.co.uk/

Mike Garry is an acclaimed Mancunian poet. He has performed poetry since 1994, worked in hundreds of schools and held residencies in prisons, hospitals and art galleries. His work celebrates the beautiful ugliness of the city. His heroes are the underdogs and lost souls who wander the streets searching for answers. A finalist in a Poem for Manchester judged by Andrew Motion and winner of numerous poetry slams worldwide. Mikes' poetry has been published widely and his live performances are explosive and unmissable. As well as his work in education and the community, he has performed poetry on BBC Radio 4, Granada Television and on many local radio stations. A prolific writer, he has published three collections of his own poetry.

Kayo Chingonyi is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. He has performed his work at Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, Soho Theatre, The Southbank Centre and Buckingham Palace as well as countless live venues across the country. His work has been broadcast on Radio Five Live, Sheffield Live and Colourful Radio. He has won a number of slam titles including the Poetry Society's 'Respect' Slam 2003, The Roundhouse Slam 2007 and Farrago Easter Slam 2008. He is currently working towards a pamphlet and first collection.
http://kchingonyi.wordpress.com/

Hosted by Joe Kriss. A poet in his own right and project manager of Word Life - an organisation dedicated to promoting poetry in performance and on the page.

LONDON: Vahni Capildeo

Thursday, 22nd April, 2010, 7pm, FREE
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art
14 Wharf Road, London, N1 7RW
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7490 7373
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7490 7775
asha@parasol-unit.org

Poetry Reading by Vahni Capildeo

Vahni Capildeo (b.1973, Trinidad) arrived in the UK in 1991. After completing a DPhil in Old Norse at Oxford University, she held a Research Fellowship at Girton College, Cambridge. Her first volume of poetry, No Traveller Returns (Salt) appeared in 2003 and tells the story of the early part of this transitionary period in her life, through a series of poems and prose poems divided into sections based on time, voice or place. Her work appears in numerous literary journals.

LONDON: St Benets Poetry Series

Thursday, 22nd April, 2010, 7pm (doors open 6.30pm), £5/£4, wine
St. Benets Church
Queen Victoria Street (corner of White Lion Hill)
Blackfriars
EC4V 4ER

Ruth O'Callaghan presents Bluechrome poets, including Sue Guiney, Adele Ward, and a host of others, plus open mic. Please bring a copy of the poem if you wish to be considered for the new anthology.

GALWAY: 2010 Cúirt Festival Over The Edge Showcase reading

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010, 3pm
Town Hall Theatre,
Galway

The five featured authors this year are Cristina Galvin, Tom Lavelle, Geraldine Mitchell, Marcella Morgan and Áine Tierney.

The Over the Edge reading series began in January 2003. Each month, the Over the Edge: Open Reading puts the spotlight on emerging poets and fiction writers - sessions end with an open mic, where anyone can get in on the act. Co-organisers Kevin Higgins and Susan Millar DuMars (host) are grateful for the continued support of Galway City Library, Galway City Council, The Arts Council, Poetry Ireland, The Cúirt Festival and, especially, the many talented writers who have taken part in the series during the past seven years.

Cristina Galvin has an MA in Writing from NUIG and teaches yoga in Galway and surrounding areas. She loves books written from a child’s point of view and playing with this perspective in her own fiction and non-fiction. She was long-listed in the 2008 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Cristina also writes poetry and her work features in the anthologies Ink For Air and Three Times Daily.

Tom Lavelle lives in Galway and works for a manufacturing company. He is 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, Boyne Berries, The Stony Thursday Book, Crannóg, West 47 online, The Cuirt Annual, ROPES and The Shop. Tom was shortlisted for the Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading in both 2008 and 2009 and in the Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. He is currently working on an M Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan.

Geraldine Mitchell was born in Dublin and lives near Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. In between she has lived in France, Algeria, Spain and England where she taught English and worked as a freelance journalist. Her previous publications include two novels for young people and a biography. Her poems have been widely published in Irish journals and in the Oxfam Calendar 2009. She won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2008. In their comments the judges, Moya Cannon and Theo Dorgan, said that Geraldine’s poems display: “a clear-eyed sensibility that considers, but does not judge human fragility”.

Marcella Morgan is originally from Maynooth, but has been living in Galway for the past year and a half. She spends her days fixin’ troushers in an alterations shop in town, and her nights writing poems about her angry womb. She has attended several writing workshops with Susan Millar DuMars where she learnt how to make a bomb using bread soda, an empty beer can and a thong. Susan also taught her how to spell trousers. Marcella was short-listed for 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, is a finalist in this year’s Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam and has also been a featured reader at North Beach Poetry Nights.

Áine Tierney is from Rosmore, Co. Tipperary. She has worked as a secondary school English teacher, but is presently researching for a PhD in Philosophy on the role of Imagination in Education at University College Cork. She has an MA in Writing from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her writing has appeared in various magazines and newspapers. She had a short story published in the Silverfish anthology, which was funded by South Tipperary County Council’s Per Cent for Art Scheme.

If you, or a writers group you belong to, would be interested in taking part in the Over The Edge Cúirt showcase in the future contact Over The Edge c/o Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, Galway or send a sample of six of your poems or two thousand words of your fiction to us at Over The Edge, 3 Carbry Road, Newcastle, Galway and we will consider you for a Featured Reading at one of the Over The Edge: Open Readings which will make you eligible for the shortlist for the subsequent Cúirt Festival Over The Edge showcase.

http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

LEAMINGTON SPA: PUREandGOODandRIGHT

Sunday, April 25th, 2010, 7.30pm, £3/£2
The Fox,
Leamington Spa
CV32 4RZ

Each month we also invite a fabulous guest performance poet and this month we have the very talented and funny Simon Lee. According to Google, he owns an international art gallery, produces a range of guitars, is a professor of economics, features in a poem by William Wordsworth, and was recently sent to prison for an offence involving 'flames of passion' (that is, arson). Unfortunately, none of those Simons are performing at PGR this month so you'll just have to make do with the Birmingham-based version.

Solicitor-by-day and poet-by-night, Simon's poems tackle the pressing issues of today, including why we should love lawyers, why tax is sexy, and why we need more modern-day superheroes.
Simon has performed at a variety of venues including a shopping centre in Cheltenham as part of last year's Literature Festival Voices Off programme, a number of libraries, and several living rooms. He has also won a few poetry slams including Slam The Atom at the Cheltenham Science Festival

With open mic support from…….yes……YOU!
Come and share your poems - seasoned poets & first time performers most welcome! As we aim for a 7.30pm start please arrive a bit earlier to book a slot!!!

If you're planning to come along, or would like to know more about the night, please email pgrpoetryandpints@talktalk.net

LONDON: Russian and British Poetry Evening

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010, 6.30pm
Calvert 22 Foundation
22 Calvert Avenue
London
E2 7JP
0207 613 2141
info@calvert22.org
www.calvert22.org

Live poetry readings by Russian and British poets will be accompanied by a London premiere of video-poetry screenings.

What is video-poetry? Leading Russian poets and film directors, including Kirill Serebrennikov and Valeria Gai Germanika, amongst others, have come together to create films based on poems read by the poets themselves. The performances are also strongly influenced by European artists of the 70s and 80s, such as Gianni Toti, Richard Kostelanetz, Arnaldo Antunes and Caterina Davinio, whose work was considered experimental and cutting edge 30 years ago, but seems to strike a chord with the world we live in today, where the fusion of poetry, music and film feels only natural.

This evening will offer a unique opportunity to see the works of 15 of the most important names in Russian video poetry, including Joseph Brodsky, Alexander Gormon, Timur Kibirov, Sergey Gandlevsky and other. The programme will be presented by poet Andrei Rodionov and curator Katya Troepolskaya.

Please rsvp@academia-rossica.org

This event is organised as part of the SLOVO Russian literature festival, Academia Rossica in collaboration with Calvert 22 and Penned In the Margins.

LONDON: Shearsman Reading Series

Tuesday, 20th April, 2010, 7.30pm, FREE
Swedenborg Hall
Swedenborg House
20/21 Bloomsbury Way
London
WC1A 2TH

Featured reader is Jaime Robles, who is visiting from California, and will be launching her first Shearsman collection, Anime Animus Anima.

Details of the book that will be officially launched on the evening:
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2010/robles.html

Author bio here:
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/authors/roblesA.html

Lars Amund Vaage had has to withdraw from the reading, owing to illness, and we will therefore hold an open-mic in the first half. Send me an email (shearsman@mac.com) if you would like to read (five mins max); slots will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. I will respond to requests for slots next Sunday, the 18th. We hope to reschedule Lars Amund's reading later in the year.

Disabled access is available, but please let us know in advance if it is required.
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/editorial/readings.html

STOCKTON: You Are Here

Wednesday, 21st April, 2010, 7.45pm, £8/£6
ARC
Dovecot Street,
Stockton on Tees
Tickets: 01642 525199
www.arconline.co.uk

You Are Here – a touring poetry show featuring Colette Bryce, Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott.
See www.youareherepoetryshow.wordpress.com for details

LIVERPOOL: You Are Here

Tuesday, 20th April, 2010, 7pm, £5/£3
The Bluecoat
School Lane,
Liverpool
L1 3BX
Tickets: 0151 702 5324
www.thebluecoat.org.uk

You Are Here – a touring poetry show featuring Colette Bryce, Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott.
See www.youareherepoetryshow.wordpress.com for details

BIRMINGHAM: Sunday Xpress Open Mic

LONDON: Ride The Word XX

Wednesday, 28th April, 2010, 6.30pm, FREE
The Phoenix
Artists Club
Charing Cross Road
(1 Phoenix Street)
London WC2H ODT

Book launch of God of the Pigeons, by Jay Merill, short story collection, published by Salt, April 2010, and also starring Vincent De Souza, Salt poet (Weightless Road, Resurrecting Knives)

plus special guests Waterloo Press, with readers John Donoghue, Simon Jenner, Niall McDevitt and Naomi Foyle

also Completely Novel, introduced by Anna Lewis with readers

FLOOR SPOTS WELCOME!
on first-come, first-served basis

Hosted by Jay Merill and Vincent De Souza.

TRIM: Boyne Readings

Thursday, April 15th, 2010, 8pm, €5, includes tea and biscuits
Boyne Writers
The Village Hall,
Knightsbridge Village,
Longwood Road,
Trim,
Co Meath

The Boyne Readings is a monthly night of poetry on the third Thursday of the month with a guest reader followed by an open mic. This Thursday's invited reader is Kate Dempsey.

http://michaelfarry.blogspot.com/2010/04/boyne-readings-kate-dempsey.html

BRISTOL: Uri & Me

Sunday, April 25th, 2010, 7.30pm-10pm, £5
Cube Cinema,
4 Princess Row
Bristol

Stand-up/magician Nathan Penlington presents Uri & Me – a show that looks behind the spoonbending cultural icon to reveal the subtle, complex, and caring nature that has created a boardgame, a folding bike, a range of porcelain plates, over fourteen books, a line of jewellery produced exclusively for QVC, a collection of psychically energised teddy bears, and a pop album. Uri claims telepathy, clairvoyance, ESP, dowsing for oil, bending metal are real – Uri & Me will make those things real for you too.

Nathan Penlington seamlessly fuses poetry, comedy, storytelling, and award winning magic with writing that is intelligent, accessible and entertaining to create a unique form of literary cabaret. He has performed his work on BBC Radio 1, Radio 3 and Radio 4. He performs at venues and festivals across the UK, Europe and the USA, and has shared stages with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Ricky Gervais and Stewart Lee.

'A natural performer, witty, inventive, stylish and original' - Robert Newman
'Nathan Penlington's fusion of wit, storytelling and visuals are garnering critics' plaudits and attention' - Time Out

Support on the night - Byron Vincent
From surreal punk rock disquisition about the socialist inclinations of the Smurfs to astutely acerbic examinations of the fraying tapestry of British culture. Byron Vincent’s oratory fuses comedy, poetry and doe eyed bewilderment to create a unique and entertaining spoken word experience. Catch him before the national tour.