LONDON: Lumen Poetry Series

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

BIRMINGHAM: Tongue-Tied

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.

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

GALWAY: Over The Edge Summer Poetry Special

Friday, July 3rd, 2009, 8pm, FREE
Sheridan's Wine Bar,
14-16 Church Yard Street,
Galway

Ailbhe Darcy has published poems in Ireland, Britain and the US, and writes critically for a number of publications including The Stinging Fly and Verbal. She recently appeared as part of the prestigious Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, and has read at the London Irish Centre, Poetry Café, RADA, Dublin’s Liberty Hall and Keats’ House. She has just embarked on a PhD in contemporary poetry at the University of Notre Dame. Her poetry features in the recently published anthology Voice Recognition 21 Poets For The 21^st Century (Bloodaxe) and will also feature in the generation defining anthology to be published by Bloodaxe early next year Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets.

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/

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

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

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’

OXFORD: The Quarterly Report