LONDON: Fawzia Kane collection launch

Tuesday, January 31^st, 2012, 6.30-8.30/9pm, FREE, light refreshments

The Trinidad and Tobago High Commission

42 Belgrave Square,
London
SW1X 8NT

Waterloo Press and the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission cordially invite you to the launch of Tantie Diablesse, by Fawzia Kane

Fawzia Kane is a spinner of tales and tall stories, sometimes in the mischievous and charming voice of Tantie Diablesse (the ageless spirit of an ex-slave who is part-healer, part-witch), on other occasions in the voices of the odd and bright characters who populate this book: Borges’s Imaginary Beings, The Mighty Sparrow (a calypso singer from the 50s), ‘La Cuentista Bonita,’ ‘The Douen’ (the lost souls of children who died before being baptized) and the poet herself, as a child growing up in Trinidad. In these rich and varied poems Kane resurrects ‘buried songs’ and their ‘dreams of disquiet’ - Dr Tamar Yoseloff

LONDON: Valley Press Fest!

Friday, 27th January, 2012, 7pm-9pm, £2 on the door

The Horseshoe,

24 Clerkenwell Close,

London,

EC1R 0AG

Valley Press comes to London for the southern leg of 'Valley Press Fest'; an evening celebrating the books and authors of Yorkshire's favourite independent publishing house. Held in the function room of The Horseshoe (Clerkenwell Close), the evening will feature readings from Jo Brandon, Norah Hanson, Steve Rudd and (in a first ever London appearance) VP founder Jamie McGarry. Tickets are just £2, and will be available on the door. See you there! Full details: http://www.valleypressuk.com/vpfest/

BIRMINGHAM: Hit The Ode

Thursday, 26th January, 2012, 7.30pm, £5
The Victoria,
48 John Bright St,
Birmingham
B1 1BN

Apples and Snakes presents Hit the Ode
The best poetry from the region, the country and the world at the heart of Birmingham.
An electrifying night of spoken word poetry by the best performers from around the corner - and around the world. Each Hit the Ode features one act from the Midlands, one from elsewhere in the UK, and, uniquely, one international guest.

www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk / www.facebook.com/hittheode / www.applesandsnakes.org

BIRMINGHAM: Poetry Bites

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012, 7.30pm, £5/£4

The Kitchen Garden Cafe
17 York Road
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7SA 

Guest poet is Matt Merritt, reading from his Nine Arches Press collection hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica. 

Open mic slots also available - arrive early to book one, or call Jacqui Rowe on 07971 018 825.

LEICESTER: Shindig!

Monday, 23rd January, 2012, 7.30pm, FREE

The Western,
Western Road,
Leicester

Featured poets are Jessica Mayhew, John Lucas, Phil Brown and Helen Calcutt.

Jessica Mayhew is 22, and is part way through her degree at the University of Northampton, where she is studying English Literature and Creative Writing. A pamphlet, Someone Else's Photograph, will be published by Crystal Clear Creators in March 2012.

Phil Brown teaches English in Sutton and has been regularly writing poetry for about 10 years. In 2009 he was shortlisted for the Crashaw Prize and won the Eric Gregory Award in

2010. His debut collection, Il Avilit, has just been published by Nine Arches Press. He is the Poetry Editor for the online magazine and chapbook publisher, Silkworms Ink.

John Lucas’s most recent book is Next Year Will Be Better: A Memoir of England in the 1950s. He runs Shoestring Press.

Helen Calcutt was born in 1988 and grew up in the West Midlands, with familial roots in South West Wales. Her first pamphlet collection is forthcoming next year with Perdika.

She works as a visiting writer for, among others, Creative Alliance, Writing West Midlands, and The Young People’s Writing Squads. She was awarded an Arvon writing Grant in

September 2011.

Sign up for open mic slots on the door.

NEWCASTLE: Scratch Tyne

Sunday, 22nd January, 2012, 6.30pm, FREE

Floor 2,
Commercial Union House,
29-47 Pilgrim Street,
Newcastle
NE1 6QE

Apples and Snakes presents Scratch Tyne
New poems, new poets – be a critical friend and help to shape our spoken word culture. A monthly night where you can be the first to hear new poems from spoken word artists both established and unfamiliar. This is a short but intense hour of work rehearsed throughout the afternoon. We welcome anyone with skills and expertise in creative writing, drama and performance or other forms of stagecraft. The evening is free, all we ask of you is your honest feedback.

www.applesandsnakes.org

LONDON: Fawzia Kane collection launch

Tuesday, January 31^st, 2012, 6.30-8.30/9pm, FREE, light refreshments

The Trinidad and Tobago High Commission

42 Belgrave Square,
London
SW1X 8NT

Waterloo Press and the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission cordially invite you to the launch of Tantie Diablesse, by Fawzia Kane

Fawzia Kane is a spinner of tales and tall stories, sometimes in the mischievous and charming voice of Tantie Diablesse (the ageless spirit of an ex-slave who is part-healer, part-witch), on other occasions in the voices of the odd and bright characters who populate this book: Borges’s Imaginary Beings, The Mighty Sparrow (a calypso singer from the 50s), ‘La Cuentista Bonita,’ ‘The Douen’ (the lost souls of children who died before being baptized) and the poet herself, as a child growing up in Trinidad. In these rich and varied poems Kane resurrects ‘buried songs’ and their ‘dreams of disquiet’ - Dr Tamar Yoseloff

LONDON: Resolution

Thursday, January 26th, 2012, 7.30pm, FREE

Room 1.08

The Bank of Ideas

Sun Street,

Hackney

near Liverpool Street tube station and Finsbury Square.

RESOLUTION is an evening of dissent and discussion at the Bank of Ideas, featuring:

JOE DUNTHORNE // author of Submarine and recent unofficial poet-in-residence at OccupyLSX

IAN BONE // anarchist publisher of Class War and the Bristolian, famously dubbed “The Most Dangerous Man in Britain” by the Sunday People

ALAN MORRISON // editor of the Recusant and Poetry in Defence of the Welfare State

IAN PARKS // FAYE LIPSON // PETER BEARDER aka PETE THE TEMP (host) // more TBA

RESOLUTION will be held at the Bank of Ideas, a disused office block in London's financial district. Since being reclaimed by the Occupy movement it has gone on to deliver thought-provoking events and workshops, as well as provide an important example of grassroots, leaderless organisation.

Hosted by Occupy participant Peter Bearder, aka Pete the Temp, devised by Jody Porter (poetry editor of the Morning Star) and experimental poet Emma Hammond, the night aims to raise awareness of the Occupy movement and encourage involvement and support from the arts and the media.

For more information visit: http://tiny.cc/Resolution2012

PLYMOUTH: Forked

Thursday, January 19th, 2012, 8.30pm, £7 on the door / £5 in advance / £4 NUS

The B-Bar,
Barbican Theatre,
Plymouth
PL1 2NJ

Apples and Snakes presents Forked
Poetry to inspire, delight and provoke!
 

Featuring: Ant the Rant, Isley Lynn, Last Child Dancing and your host, Mama Tokus

www.wegottickets.com / www.applesandsnakes.org

GALWAY: Over The Edge Ninth Birthday Reading

Thursday, January 19th, 2012, 6.30-8pm

Galway City Library

The Featured Readers are Dearbhaile Houston, Damian Cunnifee and Leanne O'Sullivan. This is a very special occasion as it is now exactly nine years since Over The Edge was born in Galway City Library in January 2003.

 

Dearbhaile Houston grew up in Co. Galway. She is in her first year of New Media and English at the University of Limerick, learning the art of procrastination and strong coffee. She began attending Creative Writing classes with Susan Millar DuMars last spring and recently won the Seán Uí Riordáin prize for poetry in the Oireachtas na Gaeilge Literary Competition 2011.

Damian Cunniffe is from Abbeyknockmoy in  North County Galway. In 2011 he was longlisted for the Fish Publishing International Short Story Prize, the Ink Tears Prize and was joint winner of the Lonely Voices Short Story Introductions competition run by the Irish Writers Centre. He was also runner-up in the fiction section of the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer Of The Year competition. His work has been published in Crannóg and the Cúirt Journal. Damien has had articles published in several newspapers, including the Galway Advertiser. He is currently working on a play and a collection of short stories.

Leanne O’Sullivan was born on the Beara Peninsula in west Cork in 1983, and now lives in Cork city. Her poetry collections are Waiting for My Clothes (2004) and Cailleach: The Hag of Beara (2009) both published by Bloodaxe Books. Her work has been included in various anthologies, including Selina Guinness’ The New Irish Poets and Billy Collins’s Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry. In 2009 Leanne was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry bursary; in 2010 she won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature; and in 2011 she received the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of Galway City Council & The Arts Council. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

LONDON: Velvet Tongue Erotic Literary Soiree

Monday, January 30^th, 2012, 7pm-10.30pm, £3 donation, free for participants

Bar Kick,

127 Shoreditch High Street,

London

E1 6JE

(Old St/Liverpool St tubes).
Contact phone number: 07733263823 (Ernesto)

Email:ernesto@sarezale.com

Web: http://velvettongueuk.blogspot.com/

After four excellent editions in February, May, August and November 2011, Ernesto Sarezale brings Velvet Tongue back to the Bar Kick.

Featured performers are Mel Jones and Chris Dangerfield, with special appearances by Al Cowie, Michael Wynne and (via Skype) Deborah Lazaroff.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/325563797472122/

To get a flavour of what happens at Velvet Tongue, here are some previews, reviews, reports and videos:

http://velvettongueuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/reviews-previews-and-reports.html

OPEN MIC SLOTS: Bring along your sexy words and share them with us. Have you got an erotic poem, a sexy short story, a salacious monologue, a sexually explicit section of your novel, a provocative comic strip, a risqué stand-up routine? Would you like to share a piece of erotica from an author you admire? Come and read it in front of an appreciative audience. FREE entrance to open mic performers.

To sign up for the five-minute open mic slots, email Ernesto at ernesto@sarezale.com, or give your name on the night in case there are any slots left.

LONDON: Lumen Poetry Series

Tuesday, 17^th January, 2012, doors open 6.30pm for 7pm, £5/£4, WINE

Lumen
88 Tavistock Place
WC1

Tubes: Russell Square, Kings Cross, St Pancras.

Ruth O'Callaghan presents Shoestring Poets Stuart Henson, Christine McNeil and Costas Nisiotis.

Poets from the floor very welcome.

BIRMINGHAM: Poetry Bites

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012, 7.30pm, £5/£4

The Kitchen Garden Cafe
17 York Road
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7SA 

Guest poet is Matt Merritt, reading from his Nine Arches Press collection hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica. 

Open mic slots also available - arrive early to book one, or call Jacqui Rowe on 07971 018 825.

BIRMINGHAM: Hit The Ode

Thursday, 26th January, 2012, 7.30pm, £5
The Victoria,
48 John Bright St,
Birmingham
B1 1BN

Apples and Snakes presents Hit the Ode
The best poetry from the region, the country and the world at the heart of Birmingham.
An electrifying night of spoken word poetry by the best performers from around the corner - and around the world. Each Hit the Ode features one act from the Midlands, one from elsewhere in the UK, and, uniquely, one international guest.

www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk / www.facebook.com/hittheode / www.applesandsnakes.org

LONDON: Jawdance

Wednesday, 25th January, 2012, 7.30pm, FREE

Rich Mix,
35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road,
London,
E1 6LA

Apples and Snakes presents Jawdance
Yes - poetry; a stage; a microphone; you. Put it all together and you’ve got Jawdance, the spoken-word show that’s hipper than a thousand Shoreditch hipsters wearing hipsters. And let’s not neglect to mention the special guests, the poetry films, the competitions and the genial host. Sign up for open mic:

www.richmix.org.uk/ www.applesandsnakes.org

NEWCASTLE: Scratch Tyne

Sunday, 22nd January, 2012, 6.30pm, FREE

Floor 2,
Commercial Union House,
29-47 Pilgrim Street,
Newcastle
NE1 6QE

Apples and Snakes presents Scratch Tyne
New poems, new poets – be a critical friend and help to shape our spoken word culture. A monthly night where you can be the first to hear new poems from spoken word artists both established and unfamiliar. This is a short but intense hour of work rehearsed throughout the afternoon. We welcome anyone with skills and expertise in creative writing, drama and performance or other forms of stagecraft. The evening is free, all we ask of you is your honest feedback.

www.applesandsnakes.org

PLYMOUTH: Forked

Thursday, January 19th, 2012, 8.30pm, £7 on the door / £5 in advance / £4 NUS

The B-Bar,
Barbican Theatre,
Plymouth
PL1 2NJ

Apples and Snakes presents Forked
Poetry to inspire, delight and provoke!
 

Featuring: Ant the Rant, Isley Lynn, Last Child Dancing and your host, Mama Tokus

www.wegottickets.com / www.applesandsnakes.org

LONDON: Paper Tiger Poetry

Friday, January 13^th, 2012, 7.30pm, pay what you can entry fee

Tea House Theatre
139 Vauxhall Walk
Vauxhall
London
SE11 5HL (round the corner from Vauxhall tube on Victoria line)

A new edition of Paper Tiger Poetry at the Tea House Theatre...

Hosted by Alain English with a great headline feature act: Paul Lyalls, promoting his book Catching the Cascade, currently on its second reprint – fantastic poet, inventive and ironic.

Star of BBC2’s/CBBC’s Big Slam Poetry House, Paul wrote and starred in the sell-out Edinburgh family show Are we nearly there yet? His poetry is funny and moving and his poetry workshops produce extraordinary poems from children of all ages. His new full collection 'Catching the cascade' (Flipped eye) is available from all bookshops and Amazon & has been shortlisted for the 2012 People's Book Prize. Paul has worked and performed with Michael Rosen, George Best, Jean Binta Breeze, Will Self, John Hegley, Benjamin Zepphaniah and Andrea Leavy to name but a few. Paul has also been selected as as one of the London 2012 Shake the Dust poets.

www.paul-lyalls.com

Support from Will Hames and Kevin Reinhardt plus open-mic (sign up from 7pm).

LEICESTER: Shindig!

Monday, 23rd, January, 2012, 7.30pm, FREE
The Western,
Western Road,
Leicester

Featured poets are Jessica Mayhew, John Lucas, Phil Brown and Helen Calcutt.

Jessica Mayhew is 22, and is part way through her degree at the University of Northampton, where she is studying English Literature and Creative Writing. A pamphlet, Someone Else's Photograph, will be published by Crystal Clear Creators in March 2012.

Phil Brown teaches English in Sutton and has been regularly writing poetry for about 10 years. In 2009 he was shortlisted for the Crashaw Prize and won the Eric Gregory Award in

2010. His debut collection, Il Avilit, has just been published by Nine Arches Press. He is the Poetry Editor for the online magazine and chapbook publisher, Silkworms Ink.

John Lucas’s most recent book is Next Year Will Be Better: A Memoir of England in the 1950s. He runs Shoestring Press.

Helen Calcutt was born in 1988 and grew up in the West Midlands, with familial roots in South West Wales. Her first pamphlet collection is forthcoming next year with Perdika.

She works as a visiting writer for, among others, Creative Alliance, Writing West Midlands, and The Young People’s Writing Squads. She was awarded an Arvon writing Grant in

September 2011.

Sign up for open mic slots on the door.

LONDON: Hammer and Tongue Camden

Monday, January 9th, 2012, 7.30pm-11pm, £5

Green Note Cafe

106 Parkway

Camden

 

We have had the most incredible slammers come and wow us with their musing and artistry,,, join them for a chance to win a place in the H&T National slam 2012 by signing up on the door from 7.30. the first 8 poets to sign up get to slam and come in for free.

 

FEATURE POETS!

 

The incredible HANNAH JANE WALKER and CHRIS THORPE will be gracing our stage with an exerpt of their Edinburgh Fringe Festival award winning five star show, THE OH FUCK MOMENT

 

We are also exceedingly delighted and overexcited to welcome Seiriol Davies to the H&T Camden stage. Playwright and poet and alround amazing performer, Seiriol Davies is wizardly soul, not to be missed!

 

Hosted by Michelle Madsen, who's very much looking forward to seeing y'all on Monday!