Wellington Literary Festival 29th Sept- 20th October
http://www.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk/literary-festival/
Sat 30th Sept – 7th Oct Lichfield Literary Festival
Thurs 4th -13th Oct Birmingham Book Festival
http://www.birminghambookfestival.org/
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Mon 1st The Poetry Train , Slade Rooms,Broad St Wolverhampton, Open mic, £3 in details from ts@tonystringfellow.com
Mon 1st SlamGorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)
Mon 1st The SW@N Club – Spoken Word at the Newhampton, Wolverhampton,Meets every 1st Monday of the month at 8 pm – 10.30 pm. Admission – suggested donation on entry.Peter Chand hosts
Tues 2nd Dave Reeves opens Listen ‘Ere, a new monthly night of spoken word and music, with Julie Boden and Campbell Perry at Warwick Space, Coton End Centre, Warwick. Part of Warwick Words festival. 8.00-10.00pm £5.00
Tues 2nd Mee Club, Kitchen garden cafe , Kings Heath,7.30pm: £7 in, a variety and cabaret night Cat Weatherill hosts
Tues 2ndNight Blue Fruit, Taylor Johns, Canal Basin Coventry,8pm start, free in, Tony Owen hosts-ope mic sign up on the night.With Mathew Stewart
Tues 2nd Word ,Y Theatre, East Street, Leicester LE1 6EY, just opposite Leicester Train Station7pm performers, 8pm, Audience, Open mic plus headliner. £6in
WORD! is the longest running poetry and spoken word night in Leicester. Based at The Y Theatre, Leicester, it takes place on the first Tuesday of every month, between 8.00 and 10.30pm. The evening is composed of an open mic, followed by a booked act-
Tues 2nd Poetry Alight, Emma Purshouse,Paul McDonald, Deborah Tyler Bennet and Roy Marshall headline as part of the Lichfield Literary Festival at the Spark Café Bar, 19 Tamworth Street, Lichfield WA13 6JP. 7.30pm prompt start -10pm Free Entry
Thurs 4th Good Impressions Spoken word, Cafe Impression, Atkins Building Hinckley, LE10 1QU,7.30pm £5in Hosted by Tom Phillips,ist Thursday Monthly
Thurs 4th Yard of Tales,Joules Yard, rear of 53-55 High Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 7AF.
Joules Yard is a unique venue with a licensed bar after 7pm, also serving tea and coffee. If you would like to order a vegetarian meal for the evening, provided by ‘The Green House’ please telephone 01858 463250. Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Meets first Thursday in the month.
Thurs 4th Parole Parlate, Autumn Special, Little Venice, St Nicholas st , Worcester, 730 pm, £3 in:
Thur 4TH NATIONAL POETRY DAY, Matt Black at Ripley Library from 3.00pm till 4.00pm, and then at Belper Library from 7.00 – 8.45. Both are FREE events, but please book tickets from Ripley Library Tel: 01773 743321, or from Belper Library Tel: 01773 824333.
Thursday 4th Word Birthday Special with Kwame Dawes,Central Lending Library, Bishop Street, Leicester 8pm:
Join us at Leicester Central Library for this ‘Lyric Lounge’ and ‘Everybody’s Reading’ special -marking National Poetry Day, Black History Season, , World Mental Health Month -and Word!s 11th Birthday !
£6/£4 concessions
It will feature the Emmy Award winning Kwame Dawes. Born in Ghana and raised in Jamaica, Kwame will share work from his rich body of writing, including his latest poetry collection, ‘Wheels’, and his edited anthology of 50 great Jamaican poets, ‘Jubilation’.
Prior to his performance Kwame will lead a special WORD!Shop, at Leicester Central Library.2-4pm.£3/£2 . To book please email lydia@wordpoetry.co.uk
Performers should arrive at 7.15 to sign up
Word! is brought to you by a committee of volunteers and visuals are by film-maker, Keith Allott.
Thursday 4 Poetry Brunch with Birmingham Poet Laureate 2011/2012 Jan Watts,Festival Bookshop, Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ,11am-1pm
Meet the poets who have been shortlisted to take over as Birmingham’s Poet Laureate 2012/2013. With coffee and croissants!
Admission is free, just drop in.
Thurs 4th Double Takes, Ludlow Library,2.30pm free,
A programme of readings in celebration of National Poetry Day
Gareth Owen and Liz Lefroy
Gareth Owen was born in Ainsdale, Lancashire and left school at 16 to serve in the Merchant Navy. For four years he taught in a London Secondary Modern School, before becoming a lecturer in English and Drama at Bordesley College of Education, Birmingham.
He began writing his poems for children while a teacher and his first published collection, ‘Salford Road’ won high praise from fellow poet Patric Dickinson:
‘…original,beautiful, serious, funny, real and imaginative. Nothing quite like it has been done before.’
His second, ‘Song of the City’ won the Signal award.
Over the years he has published four further volumes of poetry, the last a collection of football poems: ‘Can We Have Our Ball Back Please?’ (Macmillan in 2006).
His work has been published in over a 100 anthologies.
In addition to the poetry, he has published four novels, as well as books for younger children.
An accomplished verse reader, he has won both the Welsh Academy Spoken Poetry Award and the National Speak a Poem Award. For two years he presented the BBC’s long-running Poetry Please!
Four of his plays have been produced by the BBC, in one of which, ‘The Game’, he played the lead.
In 1993 he was prize winner of the Leeds Playhouse/W.H.Smith Play-Writing Competition. The play became the novel: ‘Rosie No Name and the Forest of Forgetting’
He lives in Ludlow, Shropshire where he writes and performs the occasional satirical Country song under the stage name of Virg Clenthills.
Liz Lefroy won the inaugural Roy Fisher prize in 2011 and has published two pamphlets – ‘Pretending the Weather’ and ‘The Gathering’, both by Long Face Press. Her work has appeared in Mslexia, Magma, The Frogmore Papers, Shoestring, and on The Writers’ Hub and Psychogeographic Review. She lives in Shrewsbury and runs the monthly Shrewsbury Coffeehouse poetry event.
Thurs 4th Birmingham Poet Laureate launch with Elvis McGonigal and Deborah Alma, aka, The Emergency Poet ,Yumm Café, Zellig (The Custard Factory), Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA:6 – 8pm
Free, please book to avoid disappointment
Birmingham Book Festival, Birmingham Poet Laureate 2012/13 & National Poetry Day
Special Guest: Elvis McGonagall – One Man & his doggerel!
Join us as we launch the fourteenth Birmingham Book Festival, celebrate National Poetry Day and announce the new Birmingham Poet Laureate 2012/13.
Writing West Midlands’ Programmes Director, Sara Beadle, will say a few words to introduce the Festival and some of the wonderful events to come over the next ten days. Festival staff and volunteers will also be on hand to tell you more and to answer any questions.
The annual Birmingham Poet Laureate programme is run by Birmingham Libraries. Each year a new Laureate is appointed to encourage local people to get involved in poetry. This year’s contenders have been through a rigorous selection process and we wait with anticipation the announcement of the winning poet. To lighten the tension, the out-going Birmingham Poet Laureate, Jan Watts, will be hand to perform alongside the new Laureate, handing over the honorary title with some choice wit and wisdom.
And to round off our evening’s celebration who better than Elvis McGonagall, stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker! Elvis, we are told, is the sole resident of The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere near Dundee, where he scribbles verse whilst drinking malt whisky and listening to Johnny Cash. He is also a former World Slam Champion, compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and is one of the poets occasionally in residence on BBC Radio 4’s “Saturday Live”. Oh, and he is very, very funny!
The Emergency Poet – The World’s First & Only Mobile Poetic First Aid Service
‘Between the Fountains and the Green Man’, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA
1 – 6pm. Free, drop in!
As a service to the City of Birmingham, we present the Emergency Poet – a vintage 1960s ambulance in which ‘Dr’ Deborah Alma can minister to the poetic needs of all and sundry. No appointment necessary, simply drop by if you’d like the ‘Dr’ to offer an up-lifting couplet or a life-enhancing stanza or two. Free at the point of demand and unaffected by NHS reforms, let our highly trained medic use the latest diagnostic techniques to prescribe just the write (ha, ha!) poem. Why feel worse? Take Verse!
Fri 5th Malvern Slam at the Cube, Malvern, Attila the Stockbroker headlines with a host of Malverns finest and beyond competing for the coveted title of Malvern Slam Champion currently held by the fragrant Amy Rainbow.
Friday 5th Somon Armitage, walking Home,Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG, 7.30pm,
£10 / £6
In summer 2010 poet and writer Simon Armitage decided to walk the Pennine Way. The challenging 256-mile route is usually approached from south to north, from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm, the other side of the Scottish border. He resolved to tackle it the other way round: through beautiful and bleak terrain, across lonely fells and into the howling wind, he would be walking home, towards the Yorkshire village where he was born.
Travelling as a ‘modern troubadour’ without a penny in his pocket, he stopped along the way to give poetry readings in village halls, churches, pubs and living rooms. His audiences varied from the passionate to the indifferent, and his readings were accompanied by the clacking of pool balls, the drumming of rain and the bleating of sheep.
Walking Home is the story of that journey, about facing emotional and physical challenges, and sometimes overcoming them. It’s nature writing, but with people at its heart. Contemplative, moving and droll, it is a unique narrative from one of our most beloved writers. Join him at the Birmingham Book Festival to explore this extraordinary journey.
Simon Armitage was born in 1963 and lives in West Yorkshire. He has published ten volumes of poetry including Selected Poems, 2001 (Faber & Faber). His most recent collections are Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid and Seeing Stars. He has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes and a Lannan Award. His most recent book, Seeing Stars, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and was a Poetry Book Society Choice.
He writes for radio, television and film, and is the author of four stage plays, including Mister Heracles, a version of the Euripides play The Madness of Heracles. His recent dramatisation of The Odyssey, commissioned by the BBC, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004 and is available through BBC Worldwide. He received an Ivor Novello Award for his song-lyrics in the Channel 4 film Feltham Sings, which also won a BAFTA.
<Sat 6th Being Human,The Custard Factory Theatre, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA 8pm,£10 / £6
Charting the drama of our lives, Being Human presents thoughtful and passionate poems that will touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit; poems about being human, about love and loss, fear and longing, hurt and wonder. Being Human is a dramatic performance of poetry drawn from the anthology Being Human (Ed. Neil Astley), published by Bloodaxe Books. Directed by Steve Byrne of Interplay with design and music from Talking Birds, it is performed by Barrett Robertson, Benedict Hastings and Elinor Middleton. After sellout performances in the Midlands in June, Being Human is now on a national tour and this is one of your last chances to see a show that audiences have described as ‘…an amazing theatrical experience’ and ‘absolutely stunning’. We think it is this year’s best poetry experience!
Copies of the anthology, Being Human, will be on sale during this event and at the Festival Pop-up Bookshop.
@BeingHumanPoet
Sun 7th Oct Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Daniel Sluman
Sun 7th Tell Me on a Sunday, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 7pm. CatWetaherill and Jane Campion Hoye
Mon 8th Pub Poetry Nottingham The Canal house, 48-52 Canal Street, Nottingham, NG1 7EH,8pm, 2nd monday : Free in, Open micContact Nick on pubpoetry@nottscomedyfestival.co.uk
Mon 8th pure and good and right, Sozzled Sausage, Leamington Spa, CV32 4NX,This month’s special guest poet is the wonderful… Eleanor Brown
Passionate, articulate and graced with a profound simplicity, Eleanor Brown’s words and music embrace life’s joys, sorrows and beauty, weaving folk tales and broken hearts into a broad tapestry that includes barn raising, train journeys and anarchistic farmers. Eleanor’s poems and songs call out to the need in each of us to connect with nature, ourselves and one another.
Tuesday 9th Writers Without Borders, Library Theatre, Paradise Circus, Birmingham, 7.30pm, Free in. Poetry perf.
Tuesday 9 Caitlin Moran, CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, (Off Broad Street) Birmingham, B1 2LF,£10 / £6. 7pm
Caitlin Moran grew up in Wolverhampton. Her feminist handbook for modern times, How To Be A Woman, won the Galaxy Book of the Year Award 2011 and set the record straight on a number of important issues. Her new collection of writing, Moranthology, sets Caitlin free to talk about just about everything else. It proves that she is no slouch when it comes to wrestling with cultural, social and political issues, including ‘The Big Society’, Big Hair, The Welfare State, caravans, Doctor Who, binge-drinking, Downton Abbey, pandas, library closures and poverty (so, something for everyone, then…).
And if this level of top-rank wisdom wasn’t enough, we are delighted to welcome back to the Festival polymath, Birmingham resident and all round good bloke Stuart Maconie, a Patron of Writing West Midlands but more importantly author of brilliant books about our life and times, including Hope and Glory: A People’s History of Modern Britain and Pies & Prejudice.
Together, Caitlin and Stuart will talk about important stuff and manage to be high-minded and frivolous in equal measure. How to be a Woman and Moranthology by Caitlin Moran and Hope and Glory, Adventures on the High Teas, Pies & Prejudice and Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie will all be on sale at this event and at the Festival Pop-up Bookshop throughout the Birmingham Book Festival.
Supported by the new Library of Birmingham.
Tuesday 9th ‘City Voices’, City Bar, King Street, Wolverhampton. WV1 1ST 7.45pm Free admission.
Tuesday 9th ‘Mouth and Music’, the Boars Head Gallery, 39 Worcester Street, Kidderminster, DY10 1EW. 8.00pm Tickets £3.00
Tues 9th Spire Writes, Havana Whites,12 Corporation St, Chesterfield. 7.30pm, Open Mic, Helen Mort officiates, Martin Figura and Helen Ivory headline. Come along to Havana Whites bar, more or less opposite Pomegranate Theatre, in Chesterfield, for a night where Spoken Word and page poetry rub shoulders in a very friendly manner. t http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/268421253224932
all set up by the wondrous poet Helen Mort, famously of the greyhounds (or are they whippets, Helen?) by her side.
Tues 9th Jeff Phelps and Emma Purshouse are taking part in the 10th anniversary celebrations for ‘City Voices’ in Wolverhampton. 7.45pm Free
Tues 9th Wordsmiths & Co, Warwick Arts Centre,7.45 The UK’s first live poetry talk show, featuring poets you know from the pages of books and from festival stages. A rare opportunity to witness them sharing stories, poems and opinions as they engage in no-holds-barred conversation right before your widened eyes.
Francesca Beard, Zoe Brigley with support from Phil Brown, Stephen Morrison-Burke and hosted by the wonderful Jo Bell.
Tues 9th Scribal Gathering The Crown Stony Stratford:7.30pm,The Autumn Equinox is behind us and the long dark nights are drawing in. Scribal Gathering is staying in with it’s feet under a blanket and both bars on, as the wintry elements howl around the rickety windows and the chimney pots rattle.
So come together in the spirit of gathering, as we huddle around a nice blazing night of musical performance with a steaming hot bowl of poetry soup. We have special guest performances from headline acts Kezzabelle and Pat the Hat, along with the usual open-minded open mic, welcoming performers of any style, genre or penchant for obscure weirdness to share their creativity, show off their talent, shine before a crowd and preserve the summer berries of music and poetry in a tangy and tantalising open mic jam to see us through the winter months.
Tues 9th Tales at the Edge, White Lion Inn, Bridgnorth, Shropshire,Tales at the Edge is one of the country’s oldest and most established storytelling clubs, meeting in Bridgenorth on the 2nd Tuesday of every month (except August) at 8 pm.
Wed 10 th The Quad Derby QUAD, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, DE1 3AS Second Wednesday 19.30 Free in, A monthly night of performed poetry for everyone, new performers always welcome or just come and listen, More details from QUAD or contact Les on T: 01332 206 734, http://www.derbyquad.co.uk
Wed 10 Funny Women (Emma & Win only) at Streetly Library, Walsall, 10.30am. Free.
Weds 10 The Kingdom of the Heart , Guildhall Theatre, Market Place Derby.7.30pm is an evening of storytelling and music based on two rarely heard Czech wondertales. Storyteller Katy Cawkwell, returning to performance storytelling after a few years bringing up her young family, has partnered with a wonderful cellist, Sarah Llewellyn-Jones, to tell a story of keeping hold of the meaning in life, amidst the everyday. Three age-old characters – a hard-working fisherman, a restless young king and the youngest son of twelve, find doorways into a shining golden kingdom where the cares of this world fall away. What happens when they reach through into this other world, what strange sights and challenges await them and will they ever be happy if they go back to their previous lives?
Tickets for Flying Donkeys regulars are specially discounted to the usual price £7 full price, £5 concessions.
However, this offer is only available if you book online BEFORE the day of the show.
To book click this link: http://www.derbylive.co.uk/Public_Event.aspx?ID=1520
Thursday 11th Poetry Night, Shrewsbury Coffee House Cafe, Castle gates, Shrewsbury, 7.30 pm, free in with Ted Eames standing in for Liz Lefroy
Thursday 11th Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke William Aston Hall ,Wrexham 7.30pm
Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Britain’s Poet Laureate in 2009. She has won many prizes, including the Whitbread Poetry Award, the Forward Poetry Prize, the TS Eliot Prize and the Costa Poetry Award. Her collections include Mean Time, The World’s Wife, Rapture and The Bees and she is editor of Jubilee Lines, 60 Poets for 60 Years: a specially commissioned anthology marking the Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee.
Gillian Clarke has been the National Poet of Wales since 2008. In 2010 she was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Her Collected Poems was published in 1997 and collections published since have included Five Fields and A Recipe for Water. Ice is due out in October 2012. At the Source, A Writer’s Year, gives a lyrical insight into Gillian’s life as a writer set in the rich landscape of Ceredigion.
Thursday 11 Meet the New birmingham Poet laureate,Mstr Morrison at the Festival Bookshop, Birmingham Central Library Foyer, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ5 – 6pm
Thurs 11th Shipping Forecast The Rude Shipyard, 89 Abbeydale Road, S7 1FE Sheffield,7.45pm An open mic night of poetry, prose, music, performance, raffles and fun.
This is a very informal cosy monthly night of joy in the snug environs of the marvellous Rude Shipyard in Sheffield (UK). The night provides a platform for established and first-time performers to play to a warm and appreciative audience.
Always a surprise, always a treat, grab yourselves a cuppa, some tasty homemade cake and join the fun.moi miss piggy or stan skinny host.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/169584853087066/
Fri 12th Wednesbury Art Gallery and Museum, open mic poetry, 7.30pm, free admission
Fri 12thAfrica Rising The Drum, Aston, Birmingham:8pm,£4, Festival pass £20, The Drum & UK Arts International presents,Afrovibes – Africa Rising Poetry Jam ,with Sonia Radebe & Zena Edwards Poets, emcees and dancers!
Pay homage to contemporary Africa and the themes of Black History Month in this one-off Township Café poetry event.
Featuring Zena Edwards and Sonia Radebe with host Sic’Nis.
To take part contact j.morley@the-drum.org.uk
http://www.the-drum.org.uk/event/africa-rising-poetry-jam
Sat 13th Notes From the Underground, Hollybush PH, Newtown lane, Cradley Heath, 8pm Start, Free in, Poetry and music Open Mic with Jack Edwards and William Shatspeare
Saturday 13th , Oxjam Takeover day Café Blend, Unit 4, Orion Building, 90 Navigation Street Birmingham B5 4AA 5.30pm a spoken word and acoustic event featuring Naomi Paul,Full details of the day’s Oxfam fundraising events across lots of city venues are here:@oxjambrum on twitter,
Saturday 13th Smart Poets, Urban Coffee Shop, 30 Church St, Birmingham B3 2NP, 2pm, informal read around, Shaun Rolls officiates
Sat 13th Oct 8th UK All Stars Poetry Slam at the Cheltenham Literature Festival . Twenty poets will contest the Qualifier at 3.30pm, with half a dozen places up for grabs in the Final at 8.30pm. Book early, as both events are likely to sell out quickly.
spielunlimited@gmail.com
Sun 14th Taking the Mic, Poems stories tall tales and more, Townsend Hall, 52 Sheep St, Shipston on Stour, CV 36 4AE,1-3pm: free in, open mic, arrive early to book a slot, MC Dave Reeves from Radio Wildfire
Mon 15th Gorilla Poetry,Dada Trippet Lane Sheffield S1 4EL,8pm,Slam Winner Stan Skinny is our headliner. A comic force of entertainment from Spots to Eye Pads you will be taken on a journey were your funny bones will jiggle.Flex your prolix and were all suffer obesity verbosity.An evening of top poetry and be prepared to be captivated.
Tues 16th Mee Club, Kitchen Garden Cafe , Kings Heath,7.30pm: £7 in, a variety and cabaret night for singles. Cat Weatherill hosts, Charlie Jordan headlines
Wed 17th , Storytelling Cafe Kitchen Garden Cafe,York Rd, Kings Heath, 7.30pm (Doors 6.30pm)
Wed 17th Templar Poetry, Lamb & Flag, The Tything, Worcester, 8pm; Open mic, third Wednesday, Alex officiates contact:Alex McMillen, Alex McMillen,Templar Poetry, PO BOX 7082, Bakewell, Derbyshire, DE45 9AF,Tel: 01629 582500, Mobile: 07918166975
info@templarpoetry.co.uk
Wed 17th Launch of anthology We’re All in This Together at Oswestry Library, Oswestry, Shropshire. 7-8pm. Free
Wed 17th Speak Up, Hare And Hounds, Kings Heath , 7.30pm,One of Birmingham’s best loved spoken word night returns with beanbags, cakes, fairy lights, rhymes, and stories, featuring Toby De Angeli and Nichol Keene (open mic slots available).
Wed 17th Simon Armitage, Keele University, 7.30pm:
SIMON ARMITAGE: ‘Walking Home’ – – A cancer charity reading as part of Keele University’s 50th Anniversary Charter Year.
Please join Simon for a special evening of film footage and readings from his new bestselling memoir ‘Walking Home’, which describes his attempt to walk the Pennine Way as a modern troubadour. Travelling penniless, Simon relied on bartering poetry for his B&B and bacon butties while walking the 256 miles from north to south towards the Yorkshire village where he was born. Every night he gave free readings in village halls, churches, pubs and living rooms before passing round a walking sock and asking people to give him what they thought he was worth. As he discovered, this wasn’t always cash! Simon will also read from his acclaimed translation of the medieval poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, which is associated with Lud’s Church in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Simon will be available to sign books afterwards.
All proceeds to a hospital-based charity for women with breast cancer.
Venue: Westminster Theatre, Keele University, ST5 5BG
Tickets: £5 (£2.50): ring 01782 734169 or buy on campus at the Chancellor’s Building reception (cash please), Mon – Fri, 09.00-17.00
Thur 18th Funny Women at Long Lane Library, Halesowen, 7pm. Free
Thurs 18th Goblin Poetry and Folk Club, Giggling Goblin Cafe, Ashby de la Zouch; 7.30pm start. Brian Langtry hosts.
Fri 19th Spoken Worlds 19:30 The Old Cottage Tavern , Byrkley St,eet, Burton-upon-Trent DE14 2JJ Open mic gajwriter@btinternet.com
Fri 19st Word Up – SixEightCafe ,Temple Row Birmingham. 6.30pm fre in,Fourth Friday,Word Up’ is a spoken word night with a difference. Created and run by Mark Watson and Rosina Caldwell. It is a monthly event held at the highly renowned ‘Six Eight Kafe’ (www.sixeightkafe.co.uk) in Birmingham, who kindly provides a fitting venue for the night.
Fri 19 Launch of anthology We’re All in This Together at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 7-8pm. Free
Sun 21st WLF Malvern Walk and Poetry, 11am -2pm,Meet at the British Camp Car Park £5.
The inaugural WLF Walk will take place Sunday 21 October 2012. Meet at The British Camp car park at 11am for a walk to savour.
Join us for a mapped walk, good company, stories and poetry on the Malvern Hills – discover something of the heritage we so often take for granted – walk archaic tracks – see Clutter’s Cave – Hangman’s Hill – Swinyard Hill – The Ridgeway – find out about local history and enjoy stunning views over Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Tickets from http://www.worcslitfest.com – click on WLF Walk in the right hand column – or tickets available from Parole Parlate or WLF team members. Call us on 0845 490 0157 for information.
No charge for children. Adults £5 each. All proceeds support the Worcestershire Literary Festival.
Please purchase your tickets in advance, this will help us with the number of people returning to the Malvern Hills Hotel for readings, drinks, food, after the walk.
Sun 21st Sunday Xpress Fourth Sunday Doors 1500, Start 16:30 Adam & Eve Bradford Street, Birmingham B12 0JD Open mic
jameskennedycentral@yahoo.co.uk
Sun 21st Rhyme and Tells at the Six Bells in Bishops Castle, Shropshire,Meets every 4th Sunday of the month (except for public holidays) at 8 pm – 10.30 pm. It is free admission and an open session for poetry, prose and storytelling.
For further details please contact Mike on 01588 680685.
Sunday 21st ,Bewdley Book Week ,Black Country Poetry Dinner with Brewers’ Troupe,A tremendous evening of entertaining and insightful poetry. Two talented, funny and thoughtful Black Country poets, Heather Wastie and Brendan Hawthorne, will entertain over a dinner of great local fare.
Hop Pole Inn, Cleobury Road, Bewdley, Worcs DY12 2QH,Tickets: £15 including meal
http://bewdleybookweek.org.uk
Tues 23rd Purole Penumbra,Langley theatre Oldbury:
Brilliant, superb, fantastic, incredible…. But that’s enough about me, let’s talk about the 4th edition of Purple Penumbra, that ray of joy in the Autumn calendar.
I am personally delighted that the previous Penumbras (Penumbrae?) have been so literarily successful and now entreat you and yours to treat yourselves to a lovely evening away from whatever the weatherman hurls at us, by being in the sumptuous confines of the Theatre bar at Oldbury Rep (The Barlow) in Langley. Do come and chill. And if you can write a passable limerick/sonnet or two, or give us a song or play us a tune, do that too, do.
But mostly come and be entertained by some of the best in performance poetry available in England today, or at least in Langley.
Wed 24thPackhorse Poets,The Packhorse Inn, Crowdecote, near Longnor,Derbys on the fourth Wednesday of each month, 7.30pm
Wed 24th “Girl’s Got Rhythm Launch, Drummonds, New St, Worcester, Girl’s Got Rhythm” is the debut collection of poetry by Polly Robinson.
Come join us for a wonderful evening of performances to celebrate Polly’s first book. The event will be hosted by Andrew Owens and will take place at Drummonds, Worcester on Wednesday October 24th 2012. Doors to open at 6:30pm.
Confirmed performers include:
Gary Longden
Suz Winspear
Catherine Crosswell
Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn
Hollyanne
Spoz
Maggie Doyle
Amy Rainbow
and
Polly Robinson
Thur 25 Dave Reeves appears at Bilston Voices as part of a Black Country themed night. Café Metro, Church Street, Bilston. 7.30pm start. £2 admission.
Thur 25th Hit the Ode, Victoria PH, Birmingham City Centre 7.30pm. Hit the Ode brings the most exciting poets from the region, the country and the world to the heart of Birmingham. Join us! We have poems. Poems which taste of burnt eggs and black coffee; poems hot like summer afternoons should be; poets quietly buzzing like the wires on a pylon. Good poems. Come and get them.
Featuring Jess Green, Tim Clare and Lillian Allen.
Tues 25th The Telling Space, Mythstories, *NEW VENUE* (relocated from Wem) Mythstories,The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse,5 Castle Gates, SY1 2AE,Wem, Shropshire,The club meets on the 4th Tuesday of every month unless otherwise stated. Please check the website under ‘opening hours and events’ http://www.mythstories.com or contact Dez or Ali on 01939 235500 for further information.
Meet at 7 pm for refreshments (bring food to share) or at 7.30 pm for stories. A chance to listen or an opportunity to tell. Admission is free.
Tues 30th Word Wizards Buckingham Hotel Buxton 19.30. Open mic three minute slam format More info Poetryslamuk@aol.com
Wed 31st “42″ Open Mic Night (Gothic, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy) Lunar Bar, New St Worcester, 7.30, Free in:last wed monthly E-mail: 42openmicnight@42genrearts.co.uk
————————————————–Coming soon—————————————————————–
Thurs 1st NovThe Shrewsbury Coffeehouse,5 Castle Gates, SY1 2AE Shrewsbury 7.30pm:Emma Purshouse, Jane Seabourne and Nick Pearson, all published by Offa’s Press, will be reading.
Sun 4th Nov Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Jo Bell
Mon 5th Slam Semi,Gorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)
Sat 17th Nov Book Launch, Will Buckingham, Simon Perril and Maria Taylor.The Crumblin’ Cookie,68 High Street, LE1 5YP Leicester,7.30pm: Come to the Crumblin’ Cookie for the book launch extravaganza of the year. An evening of poetry, fiction and fun, with novelists Jonathan Taylor and Will Buckingham, and poets Simon Perril and Maria Taylor. Between us, we will be launching four books: Maria’s poetry collection, “Melanchrini”, Will’s novel, “The Descent of the Lyre”, Jonathan’s novel, “Entertaining Strangers”, and Simon’s poetry pamphlet “Newton’s Splinter”.
Come for some or all of the evening: the event is free and the bar is open all evening.
Mon 19thGorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)
Sun 2nd Dec Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Kate North
Mon 3rd Slam Final, Gorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)
Fri 7th Dec The 1st Cirencester Christmas Slam at New Brewery Arts Circencester, where first round poems will be themed, ho ho ho.Details:spielunlimited@gmail.com
Garyswordz 