Pure and Good and Right in Leamington Spa: Sunday 15th May

PureandGoodandRight

PureandGoodandRight is an open mic with guest poets night in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. "PureandGoodandRight is DELIGHTED and EXCITED this month to present World Poetry Slam Champion, ELVIS McGONAGALL. Elvis will be supported by a popular and regular visitor to PureandGoodandRight, Oxford’s Laura King. And budding local poets will take the stage in our open mic sessions to present their own varied and wonderful poetry!"

It’s all happening from 7.30pm on Sunday 15th July at the Fox, Clarendon Avenue, Leamington Spa CV32 4RU. Admission is £3 (£2 NUS/OAP).

You can find out more at www.kellywit.com.

London's Speakeasy: Monday 9th July

London's Speakeasy

Marie Lloyd Bar, 289 Mare Street, Hackney, London E8
7pm
Monday July 9th

The latest in the regular poetry and spoken word night features performances from Ebele, FLOetic Lara, Naomi Woddis, Patricia Foster and "Salena Saliva" Godden. Opening event in Hackney Empire Theatre's SPICE Festival.

Free event.

"The centerpiece of July's Speakeasy is Ebele's solo show, WomaniFunkHerDeliQa, a powerful mix of personal and ancient myth, crossing continents, time and breaking taboos - embellished with a warm, rich and original sense of humour. Ebele will be ably supported by some of Baden (and the Speakeasy crowd)'s favourite female poets and performers, namely:

FLOetic Lara: a dynamic artiste, combining sensational singing with passionate poetry

Naomi Woddis - a writer and performer at present living a pauper's existence in Highbury.

Patricia Foster: emotive writer and performer, one of the nicest insomniacs you'll ever meet

Notorious poet, singer & writer "Salena Saliva" Godden: sassy, savvy & salacious."

Word Incest, London: Monday 9th July

Word Incest

Riflemaker Gallery, 79 Beak Street, London W1F 9SU
6.30pm
Monday 9th July

Malgorzata Kitowski and the Word Incest poets present an experimental happening combining words, music and performance.

"Malgorzata Kitowski and the Word Incest poets Cut-up text read simultaneously with other overlapping material will create re-cut-up Word Incest: text rounds and simultaneous sounds punctuated by improvised music. The performers will move about through the audience to create spacial and aural osmosis. Every member of the (kinetic) audience will experience a unique event as sound/vision/voices blur-merge."

See www.riflemaker.org

Vane Women in Darlington: Wednesday 11th July

Vane Women are Losing It!

Venue: Garden Bar, Darlington Arts Centre
Organiser: Vane Women
Start time: 19:30 Wed 11 Jul 2007
Website: www.vanewomen.co.uk

Are you? Whether it’s your spectacles, your marbles, your sense of humour or the plot… make sure you don’t lose out altogether and join Vane Women for a evening of sparkling poetry and prose. Why not find a piece of your own to bring along for the open mic slot?

Tickets: £4 (£2 discounts)

Darlington Arts Centre
Vane Terrace
Darlington
DL3 7AX

Langoustine: Experimental Poetry & Fiction etc. at the Poetry Cafe: TONIGHT

La Langoustine est Morte

Saturday July 7th
7.30pm

"A thrilling fusion of multimedia, abstract poetics, risqué fictions, spiritual songs and ambient mischief."

Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton Street
Covent Garden
London

Shortfuse, Islington: Thursday July 19th

Shortfuse: Last Show of the Season

Thursday 19th July

Nathan Penlington hosts a feature length performance from the forthcoming
Edinburgh Fringe show by the other star of 'Fist of Fun' and 'This morning
with Richard not Judy' Stewart Lee. Plus American poet Jamie Kilstein, and
the fantastic troubadour poet and comedian A.F. Harrold.

SHORTFUSE returns
on 13th September 2007.

With Resident Host:
NATHAN PENLINGTON-
'A natural performer, witty, inventive, stylish and original' - Rob Newman
'The best qualified performance poet in the country' - BBC Radio 3, The Verb

Every Thursday @ The Camden Head, Camden Walk, Islington, London, N1
Tube: Angel.
Doors: 8.30pm. Admission: £5 waged / £3 concessions.

BIG WORD, EDINBURGH: Thursday 19th July

THE BIG WORD - END OF SEASON

Thursday 19th July
@ The Jazz Bar, Chambers St, Edinburgh.
Doors 8.30 - show 9-11pm
£4/3 concs.

Featuring: Aisle 16-er ROSS SUTHERLAND, Slam winners Robin Cairns & Nic E Melville, GRAEME HAWLEY, newcomer Drew Taylor & music from HAZEL MORRISON
Hosted by Jenny Lindsay

The annual chaos and influx of 'artistes' and fashionable bohemians into the Scottish capital is nigh upon us! THE BIG WORD ends its season before it becomes impossible to rent a venue for less than ten million thousand pints of virgins blood...

Come celebrate the end of a great season, which has seen a truly brilliant change of venue, some of the best performance poets in Britain, a guarantee of funding for another season, and a heated Summer Slam! (The Big Word uses the word 'summer' ironically, and in denial of the fact that June is the wettest month on record. Every single year.)

ROSS SUTHERLAND, from 'poetry boyband' Aisle 16. Also featuring are NIC E MELVILLE & ROBIN CAIRNS, GRAEME HAWLEY, DREW TAYLOR, and HAZEL MORRISON!

Worcester SpeakEasy: Tuesday 24th July

Worcester SpeakEasy changes venues

The next Worcester SpeakEasy experience is due to take place on Tuesday the 24th of July at The Plough in Fish Street, Worcester starting at about 7.30pm.

All are welcome FOR FREE to either come and soak in the athmosphere or even to get up and perform themselves. It's a date for your diary!

MySpace

Poetry Library re-opens in London's South Bank Centre!

Sean Borodale, Tobias Hill and Iain Sinclair read poems about London at the South Bank Centre

You can find links to the Poetry Library and a write-up of the Poetry Library's re-opening celebrations on my writing blog, Raw Light.

Enjoy!

Poetry in Galway: Friday July 13th

Over the Edge in Galway

Over The Edge presents a reading by Eamonn Wall, Celeste Auge & Michael O’Loughlin, plus the Galway launch of Trio, a collection showcasing Limerick poets, Noel Harrington, Ger Sheehy and Edward O’Dwyer.

Sheridan’s Wine Bar, 14-16 Church Yard Street, Galway
Friday, July 13th
8pm

AF Harrold & Elvis McGonagall at Ledbury: Saturday 7th July

AFH & Elvis McGonagall at the Ledbury Poetry Festival

Saturday July 7th,
Burgage Hall
8.30pm.
£6.

"AF Harrold and Elvis do something along the lines of Yaks ‘n’ Kilts ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll in a room in Ledbury. It should be a lot of fun.

Have a look at www.elvismcgonagall.co.uk and Ledbury Festival."

UTTER! 18 in London: Wednesday July 25th

UTTER!#18

Storytelling special with Roger Robinson, Guy Jackson,
Alison Brumfitt, Jane Wibberley, Raymond Blake and the ajar mic
contest

Date and time: 8pm, Weds July 25th, 2007
Address: Salisbury Hotel, 1 Grand Parade,
Green Lanes, London N4 1JX.
Tube: Turnpike Lane / Manor House.
Bus: 141, 29, 41, 67. Overland: Harringey Green Lanes.
Phone: 07711 483 819

Cost: FREE ENTRY, with FREE SWEETS!!

Plus the by now slightly legendary AJAR MIC COMPETITION – You, the
audience, vote to give either:

Word for Word's very own proper poet SEJAL CHAD
JONNY VIRGO (anything but a poetry virgin)
BECKY FURY (lives up to her name, which is really her real name) or
GEORGINA HARRIS (a talented singer-songwriter who lives down the road)

a PAID FEATURE LENGTH SLOT next month and a place in our £150 GRAND
FINAL on August 29th!

Your host is RICHARD TYRONE JONES, who's been doing this sort of thing
for years without much press.

Email RICHARDTYRONEJONES@gmail.com or phone 07711 483 819 for more
info, pictures, glamour shots, etc…

Matthew Sweeney howls to a Black Moon: Thursday, July 5th

Matthew Sweeney

Thursday 5th July
Time? (not been told, check website below)
London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL

The well-known poet Matthew Sweeney reads from his latest collection Black Moon. Free drinks and nibbles.

£6 ticket

Tickets from 0207 269 9030 or www.lrbshop.co.uk

-- Negotiating the borders and hinterlands of Central and Eastern Europe, the homesick 'flaneur' surveys the surrounding devastation with the same mixture of fascination and alarm he feels when he discovers the sweat-mark on his T-shirt makes a perfect map of Ireland. The poems in Black Moon (Cape), Sweeney's latest collection, are parables of threat and parties for the end of the world; they speak eloquently of damage, displacement and the resulting swell of terror. --

SHORTFUSE in Islington: Thursday 5th July

Shortfuse: Rachel Pantechnikon and Alison Brumfitt

Thursday 5th July
8.30pm
The Camden Head, Camden Walk, Islington, London, N1

Shortfuse is a hot poetry and performance venue in Islington. This Thursday, children's author and well-known performer Rachel Pantechnikon and Poetry Idol 10 winner Alison Brumfitt perform alongside stand-up comedian Tony Law, who presents a full length preview of his Edinburgh show.

Admission: £5 / £3 concessions.

www.20six.co.uk/shortfuse

Salt Margins @ The Whitechapel Galler, London: this Thursday, July 5th

Salt Margins

Thursday 5th July
7pm
Whitechapel Gallery

This is a joint venture between Salt Publishing and Penned in the Margins. The venue is upstairs at the Whitechapel Gallery, 80 - 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX and the event will feature readings from poets Richard Burns, Lane Ashfeldt and Aoife Mannix.

Free. No booking necessary.

www.whitechapel.org
020 7522 7888

Linton Kwesi Johnson & Friends at the SBC: Thursday 5th July

Linton Kwesi Johnson and Friends

Part of the LONDON LITERATURE FESTIVAL.

Front Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1
7.30pm
Thursday 5th July

Renowned reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson has invited an all-star line-up of some of most musical and socially conscious poets from across the globe: Amina Baraka and Amira Baraka (US), founders of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem; Jayne Cortez (US); Kendel Hippolyte (St Lucia) and Lesego Rampolokeng (South Africa).

Tickets: £9
London Literature Festival offer: Book 2 events save 10%; 3-5 events save 20%; 6-8 events save 30%; 9+ events save 40%.

book online www.southbankcentre.co.uk
or by phone 0871 663 2500

London Literature Festival 2007: What's On This Week

Southbank Centre hosts
the first London Literature Festival

29 June – 12 July 2007, Southbank Centre

Wednesday 4 July
• Sean Borodale, Tobias Hill & Iain Sinclair
7.00 pm Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall £7

Celebrating the reopening of the Poetry Library, three poets pay tribute to London as muse. Sean Borodale's topographical poem Notes for an Atlas 'rings with sadness, haphazardness and utterly modern beauty' (Robert MacFarlane). Tobias Hill's Nocturne in Chrome & Sunset Yellow is an acutely observed hymn to the city. Iain Sinclair, one of London's great writers, reads poems on the city from his recent collection The Firewall. This event coincides with the Saison Poetry Library exhibition of books on the theme of London.

Thursday 5 July
• London SLAM Champions
6.30 pm Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall Admission Free

In this showcase of the Rise Slam Champions, MC Joelle Taylor introduces you to some of the most innovative rhyming and rapping young stars of London's spoken-word scene.

Thursday 5 July
• Linton Kwesi Johnson and Friends
7.30 pm Queen Elizabeth Hall, £9

For one night only renowned reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson has invited an all-star line-up of some of most musical and socially conscious poets from across the globe: Amina Baraka and Amira Baraka (US), founders of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem; Jayne Cortez (US); Kendel Hippolyte (St Lucia) and Lesego Rampolokeng (South Africa).

Saturday 7 July
• Plant a Poem with Malika Booker
11.00 am Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall
Suitable for children ages seven and over £4 Children, Accompanying adults free

Plant a poem as part of the Sheds, Beds and Breads installation in Southbank Centre Square. Poet and performer Malika Booker reads her garden poems, and leads a poetry writing workshop before leading everyone out to plant flower seeds and mark them with their specially crafted poem.

Sunday 8 July
• Nii Ayikwei Parkes
12.30 pm Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall £6 Adults, £4 Children

Part human, part spider, combining wisdom with cunning, Ananse the Spider Trickster is one of the most important figures in West African storytelling. These classic moral tales and proverbs are retold with flair and imagination by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

Perdika Press Celebration Reading: Monday July 9th

Perdika Press First Anniversary Celebration Reading

Launching Akhmatova by Tom Jones and Torch of Venus by Peter Brennan.

Also featuring Nick Potamitis, Mario Petrucci, Christine North, Adam Simmonds.

Time: Monday, July 9 at 7:30.
Venue: Fig Restaurant, 169 Hemingford Road, Barnsbury, LONDON, N1 1DA.
Nearest tube: Caledonian Road (Piccadilly Line).
Admission £3.50 (concs. £2.50) to include a glass of wine or fruit juice.

Please note the restaurant will not be serving food this evening.

Hammer & Tongue Summer Cabaret in Oxford: TONIGHT Tuesday 3rd July

Hammer & Tongue Summer Cabaret

@ The Vaults and Garden, Oxford
Tuesday 3rd of July 2007
6:30 - 10:30

"Top performance and top nosh in a venue that's posh with
The Bold 'n' Spiky Poetry Show
a sneak preview of Rob Gee and Steve Larkin's new show before it returns to Canada where it received critical acclaim last year: plus music from Spiderwoods, bewitching Oxford folk goths

+
Chantelle Pike
Playmusic Magazine Unsigned Acoustic Act Award Winner 2007
+ madness from The Mighty Zork
Wild poetic compositions and classical kazoo montages!
Hosted by Sophia Blackwell
First class literature - live

+
Organic and Fair Trade food
tickets £12/£10 conc. to reserve call 01865 200 550 or email events@hammerandtongue.co.uk food served from 6:30, show 8 - 10:30

Aoife Mannix at the SBC: Wednesday 11th July

Aoife Mannix presents an extract from her new show.

Wednesday 11th July
4pm & 7.45pm

An intimate scratch performance featuring live music performed by Janie Armour.

Born in a snowstorm in Stockholm on the stroke of midnight, this is a poet’s tale of what happened next and for a long time after that. Lyrical, captivating, strange and familiar this is the story of a child and a woman curious to know where she fits. Welcome to Growing Up An Alien, the intricate world of poet performer Aoife Mannix.

This is an extract 'in rehearsal'. You are welcome to stay after the scratch and join in a discussion with Aoife and the production team.

When: Wednesday 11 July @ 4pm and 7.45pm
Where: Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
Tickets: £5
Box office: 0871 663 2500
Info: www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Over the Edge Poetry Reading in Galway: Friday July 13th

Poetry in Galway

Over The Edge presents a reading by Eamonn Wall, Celeste Auge & Michael O’Loughlin, plus the Galway launch of Trio, a collection showcasing Limerick poets, Noel Harrington, Ger Sheehy and Edward O’Dwyer.

Sheridan’s Wine Bar, 14-16 Church Yard Street, Galway
Friday, July 13th, 8pm.

There is no entrance fee. All welcome. For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.

www.overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

Poetry Bites at the MAC, Birmingham: Thursday 5th July

Poetry Bites at the MAC

MAC, Birmingham
Thursday 5th July
7.30pm
Hosted by Jacqui Rowe.

Poetry Bites is an open mic and poetry night which offers floor spots where you can share your own poetry with an appreciative audience together with readings by leading poets. July’s Poetry Bites guest is Mario Petrucci, who has been called “as close as we have to a 21st century renaissance man.” A major exponent of public art, authentic performance and hybrid forms, particularly science in poetry, Mario was the first poet in residence at the Imperial War Museum and with BBC Radio 3. Heavy Water, his award-winning poem about Chernobyl, was made into a film by Seventh Art. His new collection, Flowers of Sulphur, is published in July by Enitharmon.

If you would like to read or perform your own work, please arrive early to book a floor spot.

See www.macarts.co.uk for details of how to book and find the venue.

Poetry Bites with Mario Petrucci @ MAC, Birmingham
Guest poet & open mic
Thursday 5th July
7.30pm

Ledbury Poetry Festival: What's on Today

Sunday 1st July at the Ledbury Festival

Bernard O'Donoghue and Theo Dorgan
Burgage Hall 12.15pm – 1.15pm £8
Bernard O’Donoghue, a very fine poet and reader, won the Whitbread Prize for the second of his five collections. His most recent work, a verse translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, has received glowing reviews.
Theo Dorgan is a poet, broadcaster, translator, editor and documentary scriptwriter; his Jason and The Argonauts, to music by Howard Goodall, was commissioned by and premiered in the Royal Albert Hall in 2004.
Sponsored by Magma Poetry Magazine & Culture Ireland

The Gaelic Note: Poetry and Music
Burgage Hall 2.00pm – 3.00pm £6
Join Theo Dorgan and others for a celebration of Gaelic- poems, translations and music. The line-up will include Paddy Bushe and Ciaran Carson, for a feast of writing and music-making in the great tradition of Irish Gaelic, a language made for poetry and song.

Jilly Cooper's Desert Island Poems
Community Hall 2.00pm – 3.00pm £8
The best-selling media superstar and author of The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Rivals, Riders, Polo, romance novels like Octavia and most recently, Wicked!, appears at Lebury to chat about her favourite poems. Readers of Wicked! will know that it is dotted with poems by poets like Robert Frost and Matthew Arnold. This event is bound to throw up some surprises and lots to interest, amuse and inspire.
Sponsored by The Friends of The Ledbury Poetry Festival

Micheal O'Siadhail and Nigel McLoughlin
Burgage Hall 3.45pm – 4.45pm £8
Micheal O’Siadhail is the author of 11 poetry collections, most recently Globe. Deeply rooted in Ireland, he is at home in the European and American traditions and exemplifies the breadth of modern Irish poetry.
Nigel McLoughlin is Course Leader for Creative Writing and Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Gloucestershire. His books include Songs for No Voices and Blood. Nigel has kindly stepped in to replace Medbh McGuckian.

Ciaran Carson and Sinead Morrissey
Burgage Hall 5.30pm – 6.30pm £8
An unmissable event with two outstanding writers from Belfast. Ciaran Carson has won the Irish Times Literature Prize, the T S Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize for Breaking News in 2003.
Sinead Morrissey is the youngest ever recipient of the Patrick Kavanagh Award; short-listed for the T S Eliot and a winner of the Michael Hartnett Award in 2005 for her latest, the excellent The State of the Prisons.
Sponsored by PN Review

For tickets, maps, venue information etc, visit www.poetry-festival.com

Peter Wyton performs at Ledbury: Monday July 2nd

Peter Wyton at the LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL

‘A BRIEF & POETICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND’
Monday July 2nd
8pm to 10pm
Ther Market Theatre, Ledbury
(Event 24)

"18 historically based poems composed by Peter Wyton will be presented, linked by sketches devised by John Burns, the Festival’s founder. In the hands of these two alone, the programme might be expected to descend into unseemly farce, but this fate has been deftly avoided by the inclusion of locally based Lucy Chalkley, a consummately skilled actress whose professionalism adds more than a touch of class to the proceedings. Notwithstanding her gallant efforts, amongst the delights on offer along the via from Roman occupation to the present day, the audience will encounter Boadicea’s estranged husband going on about her driving, King Ethelred will be revealed as more Unsteady than Unready, chastity belts will be plugged as the new must-have fashion accessory, Oliver Cromwell squares up to a Health & Safety inspector and Beatrix Potter is introduced to rap culture. There will be an Olde English Grammar lesson, a revealing kiss-and-tell episode involving Flora Macdonald & Bonnie Prince Charlie, Elizabeth Tudor appears on ‘Blind Date’ and Disraeli and Gladstone go head to head with Queen Vic as referee.

Not everybody and everything gets sent up. Hereward the Wake, Scott of the Antarctic, the bandmaster of the Titanic and the Old Contemptibles are all examples of persons who will be treated with due respect."

Tickets are available from the Festival Box Office, 0845 4581743

Heart Beats Poetry Night, Liverpool: Wednesday July 25th

Heart Beats Poetry Night

Wednesday July 25th
@ The Casa, Hope Street, Liverpool (wheelchair accessible and smoke-free!)
Doors open 8pm
£3/£2.50 on the door.

After a run of six events, with a wide variety of fantastic poets and musicians, Liverpool’s first ever rhyme’n’roll poetry night, will have its End Party later this month. Heart Beats will be taking a break until more funding comes in, but will be going out with a bang!

This is one of the most exciting line-ups that Heart Beats has put together, bringing you heart-stopping performances from:

Janet Hamill
Coming all the way from New York, especially to read at Heart Beats, Janet is a hypnotic and inspiring performance poet, using classic rock'n'roll rhythms to give shape to visions of Morocco, the streets of New York and encounters with ghosts from the past. A mentor and friend to punk poet legend, Patti Smith, Janet's first ever performance in Liverpool is not to be missed!

WORKSHOP: Janet will also be running a writing poetry workshop on Wednesday July 25th at 4pm, in association with the Windows Project. Please contact Dave Ward on dw.windowsproject@btinternet.com or call 0151 709 3688 for more details. Please book early to avoid disappointment!

Alicia Stubbersfield
Alicia is a northern poet whose third collection, Joking Apart, came out at the end of 2006 to rave reviews. She read at this year's Ledbury Poetry Festival and writes with a refreshing blend of tenderness, honesty and wit.

Clare Pollard
Clare Pollard has published three collections of poetry, the latest of which is 'Look, Clare! Look!' (Bloodaxe, 2005). Her first play, 'The Weather' (Faber, 2004) was performed at the Royal Court. Her poems are like ‘shards of glass, brittle, dangerous things that work their way under your skin’.

PLUS Live music from Friday's Ghost - These BBC Radio & Xfm favourites bring dark and brooding electro-rock with hints of Interpol & haunted New York basements...

PLUS OPEN MIC: Your chance to get up and have a go. Bring a poem, song or sketch and perform in a supportive environment.

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