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If you want to find more about What's happening in poetry and the spoken word in and around the Midlands you can now listen to Behind The Arras on Radio Wildfire with views on individual events, what we think are the month's highlights, and discover who our Poet to watch is for the month. |
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What's On - November FESTIVALS There is no let up to the action in the penultimate month of
2013. Highlights include the Leicester Literary Festival, the Cork Poets
performing in Coventry, Lichfield and Birmingham and Andrew McMillan
doing a Sunday morning show in Shrewsbury. Festivals Leicester Literary Festival November 13th – 16th
http://www2.le.ac.uk/uol/institution/literary-leicester/
Day by Day Sun 10th, Poets for Peace, Ort
Cafe, Balsall Heath 7.30pm, Calling all poetry lovers and lovers of
peace. Mon 11th Speech Bubble Cognito,
Students' Union, Loughborough University 7pm Second Mondays monthlyin
term time, check for details:
http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/ Mon 11th Pub Poetry Nottingham The
Canal house, 48-52 Canal Street, Nottingham, NG1 7EH, 8pm, 2nd monday :
Free in, Open mic Contact Nick on
pubpoetry@nottscomedyfestival.co.uk Mon 11th Open Mic, the Bowery,
Devonshire St Sheffield, 7.30pm with William Blake Mon 11thPUREandGOODandRIGHT White
Horse Clarendon av, Leamington Spa PUREandGOODandRIGHT is an Open Mic poetry event
taking place every second Monday of month (except December) At THE WHITE HORSE 4-6 Clarendon Avenue, Leamington
Spa, CV32 5PZ Next event: Monday, 11 November 7.30 p.m start This month our special guest is… Augustus spent twenty-five years working in
computers, DEFINITELY AN EVENING NOT TO BE MISSED! You can book an Open mic slot on the night! Admission £3 (£2 Student/OAP) From time to time we are located upstairs, so please
let us know if you require disabled access before the event. Tues 12th Scribal gathering The
Crown, Market Square, Stony Stratford MK11 1BE Scribal Gathering is back
on the second Tuesday of the month to bring you a whole evening of open
mic music and spoken word excellence, welcoming all performers of any
style, genre or ability to take the stage, stand in the spotlight, get
behind the mic and share their creativity before a receptive
audience.That's the plan anyway, but the best laid plans of musicians
and poets go oft astray. So, to ensure that matters spiral wildly back
into control, we have invited Allographic, Cambridge's
foremost poetry performance, promotion and publishing proponents, to
take over for the evening and bring a new spin from the city of
perspiring dreams. Allographic's founder, poetess, promotrix and
publisseuse Fay Roberts, will be special guest hostess
for the evening, so expect the run of events to be pretty shiny.There is
also a special performance from Bootleg Acoustic Zoo,
who will be taking the warm up slot and keeping you entertained from
8.00 to 8.30 as you drift casually in and take ages figuring out where
to sit before going to the bar. Join us! Tues 12th City Voices Second
Tuesday 19:30 City Bar King Street, Wolverhampton WV 1ST booked poets
simon.fletcher@wolverhampton.gov.uk Tues 12th Mouth & Music 6, Boars
Head Gallery, Kidderminster 8pm, £3 in:What a great line-up of featured
artists we have for you this month! MOUTH ~ ~ ~ and MUSIC ~ ~ ~ As usual, anyone can sign up on the night for an
open mic spot (spoken word 5 mins, music a bit longer …) Admission £3 (free to performers) MC Heather Wastie
www.mouthandmusic.co.uk Wed 13th 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 01332 206 734,
http://www.derbyquad.co.uk Wed 13th Unity in The Community,
Centre for Oness, Gt Western st, Wednesbury 7.30pm Share uplifting poetry and songs on the theme of
unity and light. Lets break barriers and fly high as a kite. It will be
sizzling with local and international contributions from Brazil to Black
country. FREE event to delight FREE samosas to bite. Thurs 14th Worcester Speakeasy, The
Old Rectifying House, North Parade, Worcester WR1 3 NN with Fergus
Mcgonigal, open mic Thursday 14 7.45pm :
Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
Tickets: £5.50 Booking: 024 7652 4524 024 7652
4524 024 7652 4524 024 7652 4524 /
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk Info:
wordsmithsand.coPresented in partnership with Warwick Arts
Centre, Nine Arches Press and Apples and Snakes WORDSMITHS & CO.
The UK's only 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. GASP as words are made to perform daring feats of
sound and meaning! Shudder as you discover how your favourite poems came
to be! Cheer wildly at the apparent humanity of their creators! This is live poetry. This is not for the faint of
heart. This is Wordsmiths & Co. Featuring: Al
Hutchins, Helen Calcutt, Tony Walsh
and hosted by Jo Bell. Thur 14th Voices, Custard Factory,
Digbeth, Birmingham, 7.30pm
Voices of the Holocaust bring ‘Fragile Fire' (the story of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) and
Shonaleigh telling her Grandmother's fairytale from Auschwitz ‘The
Fool of the Warsaw Ghetto' to Birmingham for the first time. This is a
stunning evening of powerful theatre and beautiful storytelling about
hope and survival, resistance and the triumph of the human spirit during
one of the most difficult periods in human history. Voices and Shonaleigh will not disappoint. They will
set your mind ablaze and your heart soaring. An evening not to be
missed. Buy tickets online now;
http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/voicesoftheholocaust Fri 15th Spoken Worlds Third Friday
19:30 The Old Cottage Tavern, Byrkley St, eet, Burton-upon-Trent DE14
2JJ with Gary Carr Open mic
gajwriter@btinternet.com Sunday 17th Shrewsbury Coffee House
Special, 5 Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, 11am with Andrew McMillan. Relax with a Sunday morning coffee whilst Andrew
reads to you in his mellow tones. Perfect Autumn stuff. Monday 18 SHINDIG: OPEN MIC POETRY
EVENING, Western PH, leicester, 7.30pm, free in, FREE AND OPEN TO ALL!
Crystal Clear Creators &
Nine Arches Press present Shindig! Open-Mic Poetry Evening in
Leicester. Featured writers include
Angela France,
Roy Marshall,
Nigel McLoughlin & Charles Bennett. All are welcome and the event is
free. Sign up for open-mic slots on the door. Tues 19th Confab cabaret v at
Recon, Church st, Malvern, 8pm, donation on entry, Come marvel at the
slamtastic Dan Duke and be knocked out by the marvellous Matt Windle.
Poetry with punch. We have operatic diva Monserrat Carbonara for a rare
UK performance, and Catherine Crosswelll with some magical musical
musings. Other Vocal Locals include Maria Chippendale who will be
launching her new book, plus Myfanwy with her Fox Pops and of course
your hula hooping hostess, Amy Rainbow. Silliest raffle tickets and
Prepare to Share slots available! Entry by donation. Wow. Wed 20th Purple Penumbra Opne Mic,
Barlow theatre, Oldbury 7.30pm Come and join in probably the last Purple Penumbra
of 2013, hosted once again by the Black Country poet and all-round good
egg, Eileen Ward-Birch.
Thurs 21st Ouse Muse, Harpurs,
46-48 Tavistock St Bedford, MK40 2RD.Third Thursday, 7.30pm start Open
mic. Ian McEwan organises Thurs 21st Hit the Ode, Victoria
PH, Birnmingham, 7, 30 £5 in 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 used to be in bands, you know; poems
which stay stuck between your teeth for ages; poems which display a
beautiful, three-dimensional illusion if you stare at them long enough.
Good poems. Come and get them! Featuring From Nottingham:… Andrew ‘MulletProof'
Graves is a Nottingham based performance poet, writer and mod, and he's
been hailed as a cross between “John Cooper Clarke and Roger McGough”.
He has featured on Radio 6 Music's Cerys Matthews Show and BBC 4's
recent documentary Evidently John Cooper Clarke. He has been described
by Leftlion magazine as ‘the hardest working poet in the east Midlands'.
Poet and mentor Deborah Tyler-Bennett said that his performance poems
worked equally successfully on the page and the ear, their hard edge
quality belying their tenderness. From London: Katie Bonna is a performance poet,
playwright and actress. Her poetry play ‘Dirty Great Love Story',
co-written with Richard Marsh, won a ‘Fringe First Award' at the 2012
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she was also nominated for ‘Best
Actress' by The Stage. A little tea-leaf, unashamedly stealing from her
own life and other peoples, Katie writes hopeful, heart-full,
heart-flattening poetry. She creates word installations, as well as a
number of interactive community-based events with her poetry collective,
Dirty Hands, in public spaces in her local borough of Wandsworth. From Singapore: Stephanie Dogfoot, also known as
Stephanie Chan, is a poet and sometime law student from Singapore,
currently based in London. Born in 1987, she has been writing poetry
ever since her first gerbil died when she was 11, and has been
performing since 2008. She believes her BA in Biology and Environmental
Studies and current study of Law have greatly contributed to her pursuit
of poetry, because most poets like nature and are good at making other
people to believe what they want them to believe by manipulating words.
Earlier this year, her 'Foreigner Go Home (With Me)' show was named List
Magazine's Top 5 Spoken Word shows at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013.
There are a very few highly coveted open mic slots up for grabs. Email
bohdan@applesandsnakes.org
to claim yours – or just show up early on the night! Sunday 24th Sunday Xpress Fourth
Sunday Doors 1500, Start 16:30 Adam & Eve Bradford Street, Birmingham
B12 0JD Open mic Tues 26thWord Wizards New venue*
Buckingham Hotel, opp the Pavillion Gdns, Buxton last Tuesday Monthly
19.30. Open mic three minute slam format More info
Poetryslamuk@aol.com 01298
77362 01298 77362 Tues 26th Word Wizards * New venue*
Buckingham Hotel, opp the Pavillion Gdns, Buxton last Tuesday Monthly
19.30. Open mic three minute slam format. Rob Stevens. More info
Poetryslamuk@aol.com Tues 26th Poetry bites, kitchen
Garden Cafe, Kings Heath, 7.30pm £5 in, open mic plus Meredith Andrea
and Gregory Leadbetter Wed 27thThe Poetry Train* New
Venue* the Lych Gate Tavern, 44 Queens Square Wolverhamtpton, it's down
the walkway by Barclays bank the leads to the Civic Centre. 8pm,
upstairs in their function room….It's a great little pub last Wednesday
ts@tonystringfellow.com Wed 27th “42 Flashes″ 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 We're delighted to invite you to our second 42
Flashes event – remember the last one, last November? There were 50+
flash fictions read, it was a fab evening. Worcs LitFest Flash Fiction
Competition organiser and judge Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn has agreed to be
with us on the evening too, we'll look forward to Lindsay's set. So, get
your pens scribbling and prep a 300-word flash fiction then get onto
Andrew Owens via this page to book your performance slot, or get there
early as there will be some open mic s…lots too – 42 flashes only this
year! Confirmed performers include: Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn Alison May
Suz Winspear Andrew Owens Polly Robinson James Walpole Tana Durham
Michael R. Brush Andy Kirk Brian Comber Kevin Brooke Gothic, Horror,
Sci-fi & Fantasy event “42 Worcester” last Wednesday of the month at
Drummonds, Worcester 7pm for a 7:30pm start. MC Andrew Owens. Wed 27th Packhorse PoetsThe
Packhorse Inn, Crowdecote, near Longnor, Derbys on the fourth Wednesday
of each month |