Bristol Hours Space Event Saturday 15th October Quiet Compere Tour event 8

Caleb Parkin – co-host

Caleb Parkin, Bristol City Poet 2020 – 22, has poems in The Guardian, The Rialto, The Poetry Review and was guest poet on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please. He won second prize in the National Poetry Competition 2016, Winchester Poetry Prize 2017 and other shortlists. He tutors for Poetry Society, Poetry School, Cheltenham Festivals, First Story, Arvon and holds an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes (CWTP). Publications: Wasted Rainbow (tall-lighthouse, February 2021), This Fruiting Body (Nine Arches Press, October 2021). In October 2022, he’ll publish ‘The Coin’ (Broken Sleep Books) and his collected City Poet work, ‘All the cancelled parties’.

Showcase poet photos and bios

Ben Banyard lives in Portishead, near Bristol, with his wife, two children and an over-excited border terrier. Hi-Viz, published by Yaffle Press in November 2021, is his third collection following We Are All Lucky (Indigo Dreams, 2018) and Communing (Indigo Dreams, 2016). Ben blogs at https://benbanyard.wordpress.com and edits Black Nore Review.

Dr Edson Burton is a writer, historian, programme-curator and performer based in Bristol. His academic specialisms include: Bristol and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Black History in the USA, Cultural continuities between Africa & the New World. He has been a consultant and coordinator for a range of HLF and Arts Council history projects in Bristol including most recently a study of Bristol’s Old Market ward Vice & Virtue (2014).

Edson has maintained a parallel career as a poet (Seasoned 2008) and writer for theatre and radio. His Radio dramas, the Armour of Immanuel (2007), the Chosen One (2009), have been Radio Four’s pick of the week. A long-standing associate of Bristol’s Watershed Cinema Edson has curated the highly regarded Afrofuturist season (2014) which formed part of the BFI’S Fear and Wonder Sc-Fi season.

Since then, he has become an active member of South West West Midlands Hub programming initiative Come the Revolution.

This residency marks completely new departure for Edson – being both massively exciting and full of possibilities. It is a chance to transform an unusual idea, through collaboration into an immersive experience. 

Rachael Clyne from Glastonbury, was a professional actor, turned psychotherapist and is now retired. Her work is widely published in journals and anthologies. Her prizewinning collection, Singing at the Bone Tree (Indigo Dreams), concerns our broken relationship with nature. Her pamphlet, Girl Golem (www.4word.org), draws on her Ukrainian Jewish heritage. She has expanded this into a new collection to be published by Seren in 2023– You Will Never Be Anyone Else. It explores the themes of identity through childhood, relationships, sexual orientation and ageing. 

Pey Oh is a Bath-based poet from Malaysia. Her debut pamphlet, Pictograph, was published by Flarestack Poetry in 2018. Her recent work can be found in harana poetry, Butcher’s Dog, Long Poem Magazine, Abridge, Iamb, Babel Tower Noticeboard and The Scores – A journal of Poetry and prose. A legitimate snack, Bagua, was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2021 and will be included in the Legitimate Snack Anthology 2022. She is Sky Arts Royal Society of Literature Poetry winner 2021.

Elizabeth Parker grew up in a garden center in The Forest Of Dean. Her poetry has been published in various poetry journals, including Magma and Poetry Salzburg. She was a prizewinner in the 2016 Troubadour Prize. Following her 2016 pamphlet, Antinopolis, published by Eyewear, Elizabeth’s first full collection, In Her Shambles, was published by Seren in April 2018. She is a founding member of Bristol poetry quartet The Spoke and co-host of monthly Bristol poetry event Under The Red Guitar. 

Helen Sheppard is a Bristol based writer and worked as a midwife. Her poetry explores themes of birth, health, loss, and those whose voices are often unheard. She started to write in her forties during a ‘kick start your reading’ class. 

She has performed at various events including Milk Poetry, RTB, Torriano Meeting House, Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Harvard Medical School. 

Helen’s work has been Published widely, including These are the Hands, Under the Radar. Her debut poetry collection ‘Fontanelle’ published 2021 Burning Eye Books. 

Helen interviews extraordinary poets for her podcast Health Beat Poets, their ‘take’ on Poetry & Health.

Event link and details (going live 2330 16th September)

Workshop 3.30-5pm (maximum 10 attendees)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiet-compere-prompts-workshop-bristol-hours-space-stop-8-tickets-421206970387

Showcase tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiet-compere-live-tour-2022-bristol-hours-stop-8-poetry-showcase-tickets-421205064687

Marsden Mechanics – Quiet Compere 2022 Stop 7

September 16th 7pm doors. Event 730-10pm

Co-host Rose Condo

Rose Condo is an award-winning Canadian poet and educator based in the UK. A multiple slam champion, she has performed throughout the UK and internationally.

Rose has written and toured three solo shows:  The Geography of Me (Spoken Word Award, 2021 Buxton Fringe), The Empathy Experiment (Best Spoken Word Show, 2019 Greater Manchester Fringe), and How to Starve an Artist (Runner Up Best Spoken Word Show, 2017 Saboteur Awards).  

She runs workshops for people of all ages, exploring wellbeing through creative writing.  Rose’s debut collection, After The Storm was published by Flapjack Press.

Writer / Performer / Poet

www.rosecondo.net

Showcase poets

Jack Faricy is a poet and English teacher who is studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield. He is working on a series of poems exploring the M62 and the landscapes it connects/divides. His first collection, ‘Traces’, is published by Calder Valley Poetry.

Felix Owusu-Kwarteng

Technician of science and kinetic arts.

Teller of tall tales, word of mouth disciple.

Hapless creator of oratory confusion.

Traveller of inconspicuous highways and occasional wearer of dubious trouser.

Has been seen here and there and is preyed upon by the parasitic influence of space rock and roots reggae.

Confused by the likes of Zappa and influenced by short term absurdity of life.

Sent out on a renewable 5-year mission to seek out words and breathe life into them.

This is the past, future and present biographical fate of one poet called Felix.  

Please accept my humble apologies…

Tahira Rehman is a Performance-Poet and an Outreach support worker in Leeds. She has headlined at festivals and events such as Spoken Weird, Punk in Drublic, Cellar Stories at the Lawrence Batley theatre and she has supported a touring show at the Gosforth Civic Theatre.

Her poetry has been published in the US by Our Verse Magazine, Soul-Lit and locally by Make Our Rights Reality Charity. She is also the author of Mirages to Reality and ‘Inspirational Quotes From The Journey Of Reality.’ She also hosts the Tahira Rehman Poet Show which an be accessed on www.tahirarehman.com/podcast

“Tahira Rehman is a vibrant and vital addition to the scene. Her poetry has that unique combination of being timeless and fiercely contemporary. ” – Matt Abbott

“A uniquely styled performance that was atmospheric and powerfully thought provoking!” – Blur The Lines | Leeds Playhouse. 

Tim Taylor has published two poetry collections, Sea without a Shore and LifeTimes, both with Maytree Press, and two novels. His poems have won, or been shortlisted in, a number of competitions and appeared in magazines such as Acumen, Orbis and Pennine Platform and various anthologies. Tim lives in Meltham, teaches Ethics part-time at Leeds University and enjoys playing guitar and walking up hills (not usually at the same time).

Anna Tuck is a poet, writer and DJ. She is inspired by many things including nature, womxn and music. Her work often includes the themes of beauty, community and the strength of the human spirit.

Joe Williams is a writer and performing poet from Leeds. His latest book is ‘The Taking Part’, a short collection of poems on the theme of sport and games, published by Maytree Press. His other work includes the pamphlet ‘This is Virus’, a sequence of erasure poems made from Boris Johnson’s letter to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the verse novella ‘An Otley Run’, which was shortlisted in the Best Novella category at the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Despite all of that, he is probably most widely read thanks to his contributions to Viz.
www.joewilliams.co.uk

Workshop at Mario’s 2-4pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiet-compere-prompts-workshop-tickets-382426858027

Tickets for Showcase event and open mic (Limited 2 min open mic spots. Please book).

7pm doors. 730-10pm event.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiet-compere-marsden-mechanics-live-and-online-tour-2022-stop-7-tickets-382427299347

For both the workshop and the showcase there are limited free and half price tickets available for those who could not afford to attend otherwise.

Bradford City Library Quiet Compere 11th June

The venue often feels like an extra performer. Bradford City Library (hosted by the excellent Dionne V. Hood) was no exception to this. They provide a cosy space between the shelves and a bust of Humbert Wolfe, a locally famous poet.

We had a good turn out for both the workshop and showcase event despite Arriva bus strikes. Two people from the workshop had never written poetry before and one attendee read the poem they wrote in the afternoon in the open mic section of the evening.

On the open mic Maz dedicated each of her four short poems to women in the audience who had been part of her writing journey which started in the last year or so. Yazmin read us a piece about quiet words and ended with ‘silence’. Steve shared a moving poem about how ‘the guys in here say I was born sad… I was born happy.’ Kellie gifted us a haiku.

Steve O’Connor

Steve was an excellent co-host and even invited me along to his workshop in the morning at the town hall and introduced me to the massive hot chocolates and Manchester tart at Café. Steve dedicated his poem Carrot Girl to Eileen Lumb and his mum. I enjoyed the defiant celebration of ‘We are people. We are here and we abound.’

And genius rhyme-play from Party to it:  

‘Eyes squint, upturned collar,

Desires and designs on you

As your mates dance on the sofa

Because your folks are in Corfu’

from collection, Extrano (from Flapjack Press who have a Spring sale on until 30th June).

Trevor Alexander

I enjoyed the rhymes ‘nervous/epidermis’ and alibied/inside. Trevor also read a positive and hopeful poem about health, ‘give me ten more years and I’ll think I’ve got a bargain.’

Nabeela Ahmed

There was such compassion in the poem Some Men, especially the lines ‘they remove slugs so you can be comfortable… Some Dad’s…create new stories each night, they teach you how to grieve the loss of failure and how to ensure victory.’

The phrase ‘don’t cramp her into a tiny jar of your expectations.’ ‘let her sing in the spring and dance in the rain.’ Such gentle and seemingly simple freedoms.

Nabeela performed a poem in Urdu with no translation and instructed us if we didn’t know the language we could enjoy the music of the sounds. This surprised me and made me think. Loved the fact Nabeela did not feel any obligation to share a translation.

Nick Toczek

I love the sad rhythm in the line ‘midges mass and mingle. We stay single.’ ‘Choke on your own hat/ charge you VAT’ made me smile. And the ‘ripples on love’s lake’ in your vibrating hotel rooms poem.

Sharena Lee Satti

Sharena shared a strong set of poems and particularly emotive lines were ‘Every planted seed is picked before it can blossom.’ and Sharena talked of sometimes being ‘just seen as a tick box in other people’s lives.’

Kathleen Strafford

Music seems to be one of the themes of Kathleen’s set. A rock n roll poem talking of ‘signing autographs on soft-skinned groupies’ and ‘how to stack a never-ending arsenal of 45s’. This reminded me of the time I found out I could load up more than one 45 and the Dansette would play them after each other. There as such tenderness in Kathleen’s poem about teaching her parents to twist ‘if twisting was their only foreplay I would have never been conceived.’ And in Things clouds get up to, ‘conjuring kidnapped mists into foggy lovers.’ A varied and strong set.

David Driver

Photographing David was a challenge because of how active he is. ‘a human goldfish, insanity season and the madness in bloom.’ I loved the 80s references in I want to be bionic – muppets, Dusty Bin ‘The Ceefax of all knowledge’. I remember following soaps and jokes in Ceefax. And from Barstool know it man ‘He’s welded up the Titanic. Been a Formula 1 mechanic. Tamed a Bengal tiger and didn’t panic.’ This guy is referred to as having ‘done everything and been everywhere’ whilst in reality he’s never left the pub.

Next up…

The next Quiet Compere gig is Wolves on Friday 1st July…

Quiet Compere 2022 – Morecambe – Stop 3

Return to the bay

I went back to Morecambe, a place I fell hard for last year. One of the places I felt I could escape from the lockdown hangover and find pockets of normal, where I met such a supportive and friendly bunch of creatives. I return when I can. On arrival, I went for some drinks with my co-host, Matt Panesh and on my way home I found myself almost passing Popworld. I asked how much the entrance charge was and it was free so instead of seeing that as a reason not to go in, I decided to venture inside as I could leave when I was ready.

I made friends with a group who were out celebrating the birthday of their 23-year-old son and was dancing with son, sisters and their Dad. A good two-hour dance with a couple of Smirnoff Ice bottles. I was still up for a sea-swim by 10am and joined Matt in the cold bay. The hangover was banished!

Workshop at The Nib Crib

I ran a workshop at The Nib Crib with many of the creatives I had met on my previous visits and a couple of people new to the venue who were attending both workshop and reading at the open mic. The variety and quality of the pieces produced was impressive and some new poetry connections were made.  

West End Playhouse

We started with an excellent open mic section from LaGrif, Clodagh Delahunty-Forrest, Voirrey Wild, Jim Lupton, Louise Hart and Rebecca Mélusine Samuels.

Matt stormed the open mic hosting and treated us to a couple of his own poems from his book Tribe: Collective Monkey Poets.

Showcase poets: I loved the fact the event was so varied in style. I think, if I put a bid in for 2023 I will make the variety a part of it. 10-minute platform slots for storytellers, comedians, prose writers, short excerpts form one person shows, verse novellas, flash fiction, pretty much anything you can do with words in ten minutes. Zoe and JJ Journeyman’s sets in particular, had these bid-writing cogs seriously firing.

J J Journeyman

I enjoyed JJ’s props (a hi-vis poetry vest and eye pad – sigh! and a suitcase he took on his trip dowsing for poetry). I liked the playful rhyme of wiser and Trip Advisor. JJ stepped in at quite short notice when one of our other performers could not perform and he wrote the piece especially for The Quiet Compere Tour. At the end of JJ’s set Martin Palmer had one task to throw a Paddington bear into the suitcase…

I was amused by the fact Martin had to take to the stage immediately after failing to throw Paddington into a suitcase. I was impressed he remembered the name of The Quiet Compere mascot, Alex, the non-binary komodo dragon and greeted them as he took to the stage showing he has an affinity with some of the cuddly animal kingdom even if he was not able to throw them accurately. 

Martin Palmer

I love the music in Martin’s line ‘damp pet millipede on a doily’ a surprising contrast between doilies and insects and ‘the disused lidos of our dreams’.  Martin read poems about the sea air bringing ‘notions of childhood.’

I definitely feel more childlike when hanging around in Morecambe, scouring shores for sea-glass, taking brisk swims and swapping hats, which somehow became a thing during my two visits last year.  I did leave my hat behind at the B & B but the host sent it to me and said not to worry about the postage, so I sent some of my poetry books for his guest library. Bit of bartering.

Hat swapping – a new Morecambe tradition

Zoe Lambert

Zoe used props well – the coat, Awake! magazines and a Count Duckula diary. To me, as a teenager of the 90s there is a lot of charm in the references that date this piece (Duckula and Tammy Girl, to name two).  Zoe told us ‘at thirteen I know how to say no to boys’ but that resolve and confidence changes with age, which is telling and true.

Sarah Corbett

Sarah treated us to a poem stuffed with singing comparisons that was like a lullaby, ‘he was pulse to her beat’, ‘she was sky to his fall,’ and ‘a flower grown for a word dropped in soil’. There was a lot of detailed landscape in Sarah’s pieces and she told us of ‘closed in valleys, like gossip.’  

Peter Kalu

Such concise observation was apparent in Peter’s ‘this is how we say hello/this is how we say goodbye’ piece. The line ‘the sun rose on nothing new’ has stayed with me.  And the Ukranian refugees poem that tells us ‘you cannot erase a bird’s memory of flight’ was beautiful and fitting.

It amused me that after Peter’s money-throwing (he asked us to throw notes at him) and the universe gifted me a tenner on the prom the next day, blowing along with no-one chasing it, so I took it as tour income from the universe.  

Big Charlie Poet:

Big Charlie talks eloquently about depression and anxiety. ‘I don’t want to admit I am struggling at a time I should be happy.’ And ‘light will come if we just let it.’

And, from The Touch of you:

‘I know the touch of you

And how it makes me feel like I’m worth saving.’

And there was an after party, a hangover, a Sunday morning sea-swim and a long train ride home. Next up Bradford City Library on 11th June.

Oh! And I will be back in Morecambe for The Morecambe Poetry Festival in September.

Link to tickets here: Morecambe Poetry Festival 2022 Tickets | Morecambe Winter Gardens Morecambe | Fri 16th September 2022 Lineup (skiddle.com)

The Quiet Compere Tour – Morecambe Details – Saturday 14th May 2022

Workshop at The Nib Crib 330-5pm £10 + booking fee (one free ticket left) Please book as limited capacity.

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/quiet-compere-prompts-workshop-morecambe-nib-crib-tickets-309312701617

Showcase and open mic at West End Playhouse 7pm doors 930ish event end £5 (+ £1 booking fee)

Booking advised for open mic and audience. Limited capacity.

THE QUIET COMPARE TOUR Tickets | West End Playhouse Morecambe | Sat 14th May 2022 Lineup (skiddle.com)

The Quiet Compere

Sarah L Dixon, The Quiet Compere of Huddersfield, is taking her unique show on a nine-date tour. Six live and three online events. This series will feature 73 performers and there will be short open mic sections at each event and workshops ahead of each showcase event.

The tour brings together a diverse selection of poets of all ages, cultures styles and experience, designed to entice an audience that may never have experienced spoken word events before. Sarah has been running spoken word events under her guise as The Quiet Compere for eleven years.

Quiet Compere events are unique. There are no lengthy introductions to poets, no-one is designated as ‘top-of-the-bill’ – all performers considered equal in Sarah’s eyes. Each line-up boasts a varied and diverse mix of poets, ranging from established local poets, some new to the scene who are ready to stun audiences with their talent, plus a generous sprinkling of nationally well-known poets and performers.

Matt Panesh

Matt Panesh was a multi award winning performance poet until 2015 when he “gave it a rest”.  His material flitted between political social comment and crudity, and was polemic to the verge of confrontational, his shows had walkouts, sell-outs and in one memorable incident, a bottle-bin was hurled thankfully missing performer and audience. That show won two awards.

He’s written and performed several acclaimed one-man theatre shows including Welcome to Afghanistan, Love Hurts Actually, Greyhound and 300 to 1 which was selected for the Thespis Festival in Kiel, Germany and was performed on the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice in 2018.

In 2016 he moved to the West End of Morecambe where, with Nick Awde, he founded the Morecambe Fringe Festival and re-established the UK office of the International Theatre Institute.

Director of the Fringe he has seen it grow 625% since 2017.

He also opened up the Storefront venue The West End Playhouse, runs a “Make your Fringe show” Course, and produced and wrote the music for the local radio show The Alternative Space Programme putting Morecambe Spoken Word artists next to national and international voices.

Showcase Performers

Sarah Corbett is a prize-winning writer of poetry and fiction. She has published five collections of poetry, including the verse-novel, And She Was (Pavilion Poetry/Liverpool University Press, 2015), and most recently, A Perfect Mirror (Pavilion Poetry, 2018). She received an Eric Gregory Award for her first collection The Red Wardrobe (Seren, 1998) and her work has been shortlisted for the Forward and T.S. Eliot poetry prizes. Sarah is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and lives in Hebden Bridge. A new collection of poetry is forthcoming from Pavilion in 2023.

Charlie Hart is a poet who has performed across the North, and at the Edinburgh Fringe, under the guise of Big Charlie Poet for over 10 years. His work is honest, from the heart, and tries to explore topics men aren’t encouraged to talk about. He is currently working on his debut pamphlet.

Joni j Journeyman is a local to the Lancaster and Morecambe area and has recently quit his job in the NHS, following a short illness, to lead a less stressful life. So why on Earth would he agree to do a spoken word slot, with very little material? Surely this is not stress-free occupation!? Jon does agree with this fact but as a lover of tbeing involved in the vibrant open mic scene and performing arts he wanted to dive straight in to create something. Jon is a fan of the creative process and in particular the rhythm of words, ideas, or just nonsense, evident in his song, I’ve got a horse called Jake.

Pete Kalu’s poetry can be found online on YouTube, at Lancaster University’s writers gallery, in the Bloodaxe Out of Bounds anthology, scattered across other anthologies, as lyrics to various songs (also on YouTUbe) , in his own poetry collection, Mongrel Moon, within his forthcoming short story, “Want me want me want me”(Lancashire Libraries)  and at the back of his sc-ifi novel, Black Star Rising. His novel One Drop is published by Andersen Press in July 2022.

Zoe Lambert is a Mancunian expat slumming it in Lancaster, whose short stories have been published here and there, including Short Fiction in Theory and Practice, various anthologies by Comma Press, Confingo and other places. Comma Press published her connected short story collection, The War Tour. She is currently working on a book about losing her religion in Paris, which she is infuriatingly refusing to call either a novel or a memoir. 

Martin Palmer is primarily a poet and is based in Morecambe. His long poem Till Roll was published by If A Leaf Falls Press in 2018, and he has been published in two Literary Lancashire Award Anthologies. He has performed at a number of events across the Northwest of England and is now enjoying being part of Morecambe’s creative community at The Nib Crib, a hub for writers and creatives that he helped to set up along with local, like-minded friends.

Quiet Compere Tour 2022 – Stop 2 – 23rd April Chatham Library Hub, ME4 4TX

Workshop 1030am-midday. Showcase and open mic 1.30-4pm FREE EVENTS

Book here: 01634 337799 or visit any Medway Library

Please note spaces for the workshop and open mic are limited and we could do with having an idea of the audience capacity so please book as audience too.

Co-Host

Barry Fentiman-Hall is a Medway based poet and mythwalker who is an indeterminate fraction of Wordsmithery. He is also the editor of Confluence Magazine. His works include City Without A Head (2013), The Unbearable Sheerness Of Being (2016), England, My Dandelion Heart (2018) and Sketches (2020) which are all available from www.wordsmithery.info/books He has an affinity with hares, cats and moomins.

Showcase Performers

Setareh Ebrahimi is an Iranian-British poet. She has been published numerous times in journals and magazines, including Proletarian PoetryThe Menteur and Ink Sweat & Tears.

Setareh released her first pamphlet of poetry, In My Arms, from Bad Betty Press and her full-length collection, Galloping Horses, from Wordsmithery. She regularly performs her poetry in Kent and London, has hosted her own poetry evenings and leads writing workshops. Setareh is currently an editor at Whisky & Beards Press and a reviewer at Confluence magazine.

Katy Evans-Bush is the author of two poetry collections from Salt, and a pamphlet, Broken Cities (Smith|Doorstop, 2017). Her former blog, Baroque in Hackney (‘The Guardian of poetry blogs’ — Roddy Lumsden), was shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize for political writing, and her essays, Forgive the Language, are published by Penned in the Margins. She is writing a book on the rise of hidden homelessness and the housing crisis (for CB Editions), and a new poetry collection. Her Substack page is A Room of Someone Else’s. She is a freelance poetry tutor and editor, and lives in Faversham.

Christopher Hopkins is Welsh writer living in the Canterbury area of Kent, England. His poems have been published in The Honest Ulsterman, The New European, Morning Star, 14 Magazine (Vanguard Readings), The Cortland Review, Indianapolis Review and Rust + Moth. He has three chapbooks with Clare Songbirds Publishing House, New York. 

Clair Meyrick is a mother, poet, performer and artist. She regularly performs poetry in and around Kent and London. She also has a regular slot on radio. Published in a couple of journals and online she is now looking forward to illustrating her first collection of poetry, combining her love of painting and words.  

My name is Nathaniel Oguns

An actor and a poet. I’ve lived in Kent for most of my adult life. I came to Kent from South East London. At first it was hard to adjust to this quiet area. The atmosphere and the pace of everything felt strange to me but now it’s become home. 

After doing a creative writing course I was inspired to start poetry nights in the heart of Rochester. For spoken word artists and poets. It’s called ‘Kent Dreams’. So follow your dreams and use your gifts to inspire others. That’s my motto. 

Nina Telegina

Nina Telegina is a poet, write and performing artist with over 10 years international experience. Nina is a multiple slam winner, including the Kent Championship Slam. Her debut poetry collection Llama on the Loose was published by Whisky & Beards in 2021 and her solo poetry show of the same name toured across Kent in 2018. She has featured in projects commissioned by The Marlowe Theatre and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Her work featured nationally on BBC Sounds as part of The Best of Upload 2020.

The Quiet Compere Stop 1 – Online – 19th March Workshop: 10-30-midday £10/5/FREE Showcase & open mic: 1.30pm start. 4pm finish.

Hosted on Zoom

Sarah L Dixon, The Quiet Compere

Book for workshop, showcase and open mic here: http://thequietcompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

Please note open mic and workshop places are limited.

Tony Curry

Tony Curry is a performance poet, host, and facilitator. For the last 5 years he has been the host of Word Central. He has had three collections published through Flapjack Press, The Noble Savage, Tall Tales for Tall Men Who Fall Well Short and We Kid Ourselves.

‘Tony’s words dance off the page and into your bloodstream, leaving you pulsing with anger, humanity and love.’ Charlotte Oliver, writer

‘He is the minstrel whose strumming voice consoles and illuminates us.’ Neil Bell, actor

‘This is our poetry, these are our poems. They smell of home and friendship.’ Tony Walsh, poet

Holly Bars

Bio: Holly is a mature student currently studying at the University of Leeds. Her poems have been published since January 2021 by Ink, Sweat & Tears, Fragmented Voices, Porridge, Anti-Heroin Chic, Runcible Spoon, Spilling Cocoa Over Martin Amis and more, as well as appearing in anthologies. Holly writes about trauma, grief, council housing, being a mum, and living with a systemic health condition. She is currently working on her debut collection, which will be focused on surviving childhood sexual abuse.

Chaucer Cameron

Chaucer is a poet and the author of In an Ideal world I’d Not Be Murdered (Against The

Grain 2021) She has been published in journals, magazines, including: Under the Radar,

Poetry Salzburg, The North and Tears in the Fence, and was shortlisted for Live Canon 2021

International Poetry Competition for Single Poem. Chaucer is creator of Wild Whispers an

international poetry film project, and regularly curates and presents poetry film at events and

festivals. She is co-editor of the online magazine Poetry Film Live.

Dalton Harrison

Dalton Harrison is the founder of StandFast Productions (a collective of ex-offenders who use art and performance to tell their stories). Their play High risk was made into a radio play for chapel FM writing on air. Dalton performs his work at poetry events which explore many themes. His book ‘The boy behind the wall’ has now been published and brings you more of these hard conversations. Dalton has written articles for Inside Time, Pink News and Sister X TGN magazine, and his poetry has been published in the award-winning anthology Bloody Amazing and TransVerse II: No Time For Silence.

Pete Jordan

Pete is an accidental poet who spent most of his life knowing he couldn’t write, before discovering in a night of crisis a decade ago that he had to. Published in a best of 2020 Anthology and Obsessed with Pipework, he is a bicyclist, dancer, programmer, and guitarist for a Morris Dance side, living in Hull with four cats and one human being.    Al Head Photo

Rebecca Lehmann

“Rebecca Lehmann started writing poetry in 2019. Her poems are inspired by her love of nature, but are pervaded with a sense of disconnection and awareness of our own domestication. From Faversham, in marshy North Kent, Rebecca writes frequently about her local landscape. She published her first pamphlet ‘She is the Wild’ in 2021 and has recently started performing her work.”

Katy Mahon

Shortly after the death of her father, poet Derek Mahon, in 2020, writing poetry became a strong element of Katy’s life. Her poems have appeared in Drawn to the Light Press, Ink Sweat & Tears, Northern Gravy, The Liminal Review, The Waxed Lemon and Dreich. Later this month her work will appear in the Irish Independent. Katy writes from her garden studio in York while her dog Sylvie chases the birds.

Jessica Mookherjee

Jessica Mookherjee is a widely published poet. She has been twice highly commended in the Forward Prize for best single poem and her work is included in notable anthologies such as ‘Staying Human’ (Bloodaxe). She is author of 2 full collections, her second Tigress (Nine Arches Press) was Shortlisted for best second collection in the Ledbury Munthe Prize. Her latest pamphlet is Playlists (Broken Sleep Books) and she has her next full collection “Notes from a Shipwreck” out with Nine Arches Press in Summer 2022. She is a co-editor of Against the Grain Press. 

Adrian Salmon

Adrian Salmon lives in Bingley, West Yorkshire. Birmingham born, he was brought up in and around the Black Country and Worcestershire. His poems have appeared in several online and print journals, including Algebra of OwlsInk, Sweat and TearsProle; and WRITE where we are NOW. In 2021 he was commissioned by the Edvard Grieg Korene in Bergen, Norway, to write four poems to be set to music by their associated composers. Adrian’s first pamphlet, Moonlight through the Velux window, was published in June 2019 by Yaffle Press.

Daniel Sluman 

Daniel Sluman is a 35-year-old poet and disability rights activist. He co-edited the first major UK Disability poetry anthology Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back, and he has published three poetry collections with Nine Arches Press. His most recent collection, single window was released in September 2021, and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.

Julia Webb

Julia Webb is a Norwich based writer from a working class background. She runs online and real world poetry workshops, mentors writers and is a poetry editor for Lighthouse. In 2018 she won the Battered Moons poetry competition. She has two collections with Nine Arches Press, and her third collection The Telling comes out with Nine Arches in May 2022.

Quiet Compere 2022 Full online and live line-ups

Paypal address for any donations to the tour is thequietcomperemcr@gmail.com

Donations will be gratefully received. The tour is funded which means all performers, co-hosts and venue payment is confirmed. However, 80% of the income to pay myself for plotting, promoting, liaising with venues and performers, hosting, thanking poets properly and sharing photos (for live events) and blog write-ups comes from tickets, workshops and PAYF donations.

This is subject to change but I will endeavour to keep it up-to-date.

ONLINE GIG – 19TH MARCH

Time: 1pm – 4.30pm (2 short breaks)

VENUE: ONLINE ON ZOOM

Price: PAYF

Co-host: Tony Curry

Platform performers:

Holly Bars

Chaucer Cameron

Dalton Harrison

Pete Jordan

Rebecca Lehmann

Katy Mahon

Jess Mookherjee

Adrian Salmon

Daniel Sluman

Julia Webb

Open Mic spots x 12

Zoom Workshop: 1030-midday 

(limited to 10 attendees)    £10

(2 1/2 price & 2 free tickets available)

Book all tickets here from 6pm 1st Feb:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

CHATHAM LIBRARY HUB – 23RD APRIL

Chatham, ME4 3TX

Time: 1pm – 4pm (1 short break)

Price: FREE

Co-host: Barry Fentiman-Hall

Platform performers:

Setareh Ebrahimi

Katy-Evans Bush

Christopher Hopkins

Clair Meyrick

Nathaniel Oguns

Nina Telegina

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 1030-midday 

(limited to 10 attendees) FREE

Book tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

MORECAMBE WEST END PLAYHOUSE – 14TH MAY

22c Yorkshire St, LA3 1QE

Time: 6.30-9.30pm (1 short break)

Price: £5

Co-host: Matt Panesh

Platform performers:

Big Charlie Poet

Sarah Corbett

Peter Kalu

Zoe Lambert

Martin Palmer

Voirrey A. Wild

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 330-5pm Nib Crib,

5 West Street, LA3 1RB 

(limited to 6 attendees)  £10

(1 1/2 price & 1 free ticket available)

Book gig tickets here soon:

West End Playhouse Morecambe events. Buy official tickets here (skiddle.com)

Book workshop tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

BRADFORD CITY LIBRARY – 11TH JUNE

9 Aldermanbury Centenary Square, BD1 1SD

Time: 5.30– 8pm ( short breaks)

Price: FREE

Co-host: Steve O’Connor

Platform performers:

Trev Alexander

Nabeela Ahmed

David Driver

Jem Henderson

Sharenà Lee Satti

Nick Toczek

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 230-4pm

(limited to 10 attendees)    FREE

Book all tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

WOLVERHAMPTON ARENA THEATRE – 1ST JULY

Wulfruna Street, WV1 1SE

Time: 730-1030pm (short break)

Price: £10

Co-host: Poets, Prattlers & Pandemonialists

Platform performers:

Casey Bailey

Aliyah Denton

Alex Jakob-Whitworth

Priyanka Joshi

Gerald Kells

Mogs

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 430-6pm 

(limited to 10 attendees) £10

Book all tickets here:

https://wlv.ticketsolve.com/shows/873629963

ONLINE GIG – 17TH AUGUST

Time: 6pm – 9pm (2 short breaks)

Venue: Online on Zoom

Price: FREE

Co-host: Poets, Prattlers & Pandemonialists

Platform performers:

Siegfried Baber

Ruth Kelsey

Jonathan Kinsman

Gill Lambert

Sharon Larkin

Hannah Linden

Nicky Longthorne

Liz Mills

Finola Scott

Olivia Tuck

Open Mic spots x 12

Zoom Workshop: 1400-1530 

(limited to 10 attendees) £10

(2 1/2 price & 2 free tickets available)

Book all tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

MARSDEN MECHANICS – 16TH SEPTEMBER

Peel Street, HD7 6BW

Time: 7pm – 10pm (short break)

Price: £10

Co-host: Rose Condo

Platform performers:

Jack Faricy

Felix Owusu-Kwarteng

Tahira Rehman

Tim Taylor

Anna Tuck

Joe Williams

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 2-3.30pm

Mario’s, 9 Peel St, HD7 6BR

(limited to 10 attendees) £10

(2 1/2 price & 2 free tickets available)

Book all tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

BRISTOL HOURS SPACE – 15TH OCTOBER

10 Colston Yard, BS1 5BD

Time: 7-10pm (short break)

Price: £10

Co-host: Caleb Parkin

Platform performers:

Ben Banyard

Edson Burton

Rachael Clyne

Jinny Fisher

Pey Oh

Lizzie Parker

Open Mic spots x 12

Workshop: 330-5pm 

(limited to 10 attendees) £10

(2 1/2 price & 2 free tickets available)

Book all tickets here soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

ONLINE GIG -12TH NOVEMBER

Time: 7 – 10pm (2 short breaks)

VENUE: ONLINE ON ZOOM

Price: PAYF

Co-host: Poets, Prattlers & Pandemonialists

Platform performers:

George Bastow

Penny Blackburn

Mark Connors

1 TBC

Linda Goulden

Helen Ivory

Jack McLean

Elizabeth McGeown

Jennifer A. McGowan

Mark Pajak

Open Mic spots x 12

Zoom Workshop: 14.00-15.30 

(limited to 10 attendees) £10

(2 1/2 price & 2 free tickets available)

Book all tickets here from soon:

http://TheQuietCompere.eventbrite.co.uk/

2021 news so far (updated 9th January 2021)




Monday 11th Jan 2021     7.30-9.30pm  Guest –  Cafe Writers event Norwich (zoom)  

Cafe Writers January 2021 Tickets, Mon 11 Jan 2021 at 19:30 | Eventbrite

Sunday 7th February 2021   7.00-9.00pm ‘Alf Ender guest – Yes We Cant, Walsall  (zoom) 

Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists team. Please contact Emma Purshouse or Steve Pottinger for the link to this event. 
Marble Issue 8 launch – Zoom – 8th February 2021 (reader)

Speakeasy – Zoom Worcester – 11th February 2021 (6 min set)

Locked Down Launch – Zoom – 29 April 2021 (reader)

Poetry Wivenhoe – Digging into the past – 27th May 2021 (guest)

Broken Biscuits Dog Rescue pamphlet launch – 11th July 2021 (host/reader)

Wednesday Writers – Todmorden – Zoom – 18th August 2021 (5 min set) 
@ItstheTWC

Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival – 21st August 2021 (guest)
Place and Identity (readings) – Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival (twpoetryfestival.com)

The Sky is Cracked (Half Moon, 2017) /Adding wax patterns to Wednesday (Three Drops, 2018)

Also, both of my presses no longer exist. But I do have some of both books here and would be happy to send some out into the world – £6 each plus P & P or £10 for both plus P & P. 

Pennings workshops 1400-1530 (zoom prompt workshops- 2 zoom sessions with writing time break) alternate Sundays and Tuesdays at the moment. £5 per session or £10 if you want to subsidise a place for a poet who could not attend otherwise. 

Praise for Adding Wax Patterns to Wednesday

‘Here dance the figures of anger, frustration, resentment and desire, following the skewed steps of Surrealist spells and charms for coping. Bob Beagrie

These poems search for alchemy within the domestic, they dig through the ash to find stars.   
Angela Readman

One is never quite sure what is real and what is not. A perfectly lovely collection of Monty pythonesque poems. Wendy Pratt

Electric rain sparks off Wedgwood carpets as the everyday is made strange and startling. 

Steve Nash


#TheJanuaryChallenge #64Millionartists Feathers – make a bird. 

Thanks for visiting 

I will endeavour to update this page more regularly and share links to publications, photos, video and audio as these become available. 

Sarah x

Horse-Meet Writers’ Workshop

Third Wednesdays at The Horse and Jockey 12-2pm A laid-back creative-writing session for adults of all ages with fun prompts led by Sarah L Dixon, prize-winning poet, experienced workshop facilitator and Mum to 5-year old Frank. Space and time to play with words. Five pounds per session (first session £3). 9th March, 13th April, 8th June, 12th July, 14th September, 12th October,  9th November + 14th December. May – moved to Weds 25th to coincide with Chorlton Arts Festival. August – Summer Break.