Morecambe Poetry Festival 2023 write-up

Matt Panesh, poet, mastermind, whirlwind and festival visionary

The Winter Gardens – Venue – grand, shabby, imbued in history

Johnny’s Bar – Venue – where we build new histories and the audience are warm and lift up every performer

Friday launch and evening

Back in Johnny’s for the evening

Clare Ferguson Walker was a joy to photograph, a new friend

Apologies, right near the beginning of this blog, to those I missed over the weekend because I needed air or snacks, or was carried into conversation xxx

So, I didn’t catch absolutely everyone I wanted to with the festival running from midday until 2am each day. I am sorry I missed some friends performing, but so happy I got to see them and catch up. It was difficult to choose between supporting people I had seen before and seeing people new to me. The quality was so consistently high. But, I also wanted to chat and catch up with friends and make new ones, get books signed and drink in the September air and feel the rain on my skin.

I had some moments where I had to be outside in daylight and air for a while. I walked on the beach a little and I did venture into the arcade for a short time.

Saturday start with Dommy B and John Hegley – both were their usual joyful, energetic, engaging selves

Firstly, we sorely missed Barry Fentiman Hall who had to cancel the day before the event. I am hoping we both make it there next year.

Trystan Lewis

However, the brilliant Trystan Lewis, who I meet at the first Morecambe Poetry Festival in 2022 and I knew he was good then and he has been getting about and reading in many places over the last 12 months.

He has great rhythm and internal rhyme:
‘I’ve been through the data of the traces left behind’ ‘not been honest with/in their sonnets of romance’
and I found this line beguiling:
‘If you can gaze upon the frightening face of this Medusa, full-square in the eyes and still not be turned to stone’

And ‘Don’t tell Dad!’ is a well-crafted poem of gradual progress and subtle evolution of a relationship between Dad and child. Moving and relatable. The flip to ‘Don’t tell the kids!’ is flooring. ‘Don’t tell the kids that we looked at the screen and we pointed at the shadows and they told us what they mean.’

Nina Lewis

Nina is a friend from Swindon Poetry Festival volunteering days and is based in the Midlands, so it was great to have chance to catch up and hear some new poetry from Nina and some from her V Press book, ‘Fragile’ and share late night toast, chatting and sharing poems in the Air B and B kitchen until the early hours.

Kate Millington

I met Kate when she came to perform at the Huddersfield slam in 2022. Her poetry is an important, honest and moving account of childlessness and Kate shared poems from her book, ‘Imprint’ (Fawn Press).

‘I orbit what I lack’ was a compelling refrain and I felt the fact it kept repeating echoed the way the lack arises in life, but then is forgotten, to arise again later.

Other people seem to judge or guess at the lack of a child and make assumptions about choices and know the way life ‘should’ be lived.

I love the fact Kate leaves us with the warmth of ‘green footprints in the snow.’ 

Ben Willems

Ben is an old Manchester poetry friend and I invited him because I am never quite what he will bring to the event, but I do know it will be brilliant, surprising and entertaining. I was not disappointed.

Ben’s set was playful and rhythmic and lines that grabbed me the most were these:

‘All masks are animal
bat cave silhouettes.

All howls are answerable
just let
it rise’

and his play was no more evident than in the poem ‘Newton for Hyde’.

Is started with: ‘Hyde’s for bitter…
and ended with these lines
‘…for newt of eye
eye is for apple
apple for Newton
Newton for Hyde
Newton for Hyde
Newton for Hyde
Newton for Hyde’.

My set

I shared poems of beer and connection, 90s indie gigs and the sea. The audience was so warm and respectful, yet loud in their appreciation with whoops and applause. I reckon the biggest and best audience I have ever performed to.

Thanks to Louise Hart for these photos and to Matt for the loveliest intro and for inviting us to be part of the festival.

A little Born Lippy

I caught a little Born Lippy before getting out to walk the shore and breathe the sea air for a bit.


Midlands Takeover

Steve Pottinger and Emma Purshouse are good friends who became even closer friends over lockdown as they hosted workshops and events online. I made many new friends through these online connections. I am ever so grateful some of their events continue to be online and hybrid as well as them having returned to real life hosting too. I realise how much hard work online events are – I find them more difficult than live events to host, personally. I met Richard Temple in the audience on the Friday night and enjoyed his set.

Scouse Takeover

Another treat for the evening with good Manchester friends, Jackie Hagan and Gerry Potter who both owned the stage of the Winter Gardens. I was delighted to see and hear Jackie as Jackie has not been performing for a few years. Then, Roger McGough took to the stage. I loved his coat and is poetry was all I expected and more. All the poets in this takeover were humorous, relatable and unflinching in places.

Roger and Henry chat (Q & A) and the most amusing part of the festival for me – when I was talking with Manchester poets outside I return to my table to find Roger and Henry are in my seat!

Welsh Takeover

After queuing for books to be signed by Roger and Henry and Gerry (I already have all Jackie’s books) I managed to catch some of the Welsh takeover.

Sunday – the final day

Rose Condo – How to feed an artist poetry and a roast dinner for all

After an interesting and useful symposium on how to make poetry walk in the UK Rose nurtured the artist in all of us. We got to blow bubbles, drink water and think about it’s origin and think about giving more and what that means.

Barney Hallman – German takeover

Barney was a new entity to me and I was mesmerised by this bundle of bright joy who was performing a poem about an uncertain snail for us. Also, loved the fact that when I had one of my request songs played he knew every word to The Sultan’s of Ping ‘Where’s me Jumper?’ and we danced and sang enthusiastically in our separate corners of the almost empty Johnny’s as one of the last moments of the festival.

The 4 Johns – Hull Takeover

Several Hull friends I hadn’t seen for a while were some of the 4 Johns. These four performers were a very different style to each other pulled together by the fact they were all sitting in a cafe doing puzzles or reading the paper and drinking tea.

Joy France and Skully

I thought first of all this would be Joy and a puppet or robot, turns out Skully is a person and they are battle-rapping emotional material on stage and it ended with a hug. Brilliant!

Manc Takeover

Sadly, Tony Curry could not make it over. However, it was so good to see and hear Chris Jam for the first time since lockdown and Rowland Crowland for the first time in a year.

Word Walkers launch of zine and absent friends poem


Big White Shed hosted the launch of the festival zine that was made from poems written on the Saturday morning and printed over the weekend.

Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay

Our final event at the Winter Gardens and consistently good poetry shared by an ex poet-laureate and Makar.

The final evening

Sorry I didn’t get photos of everyone – was flagging a little by this point in the weekend. It was great to see friends, Rich, Oz and Gordon Zola up on stage doing their thing again and new friend, Beth.

Matt Panesh – Final poet

And, what better to way to finish the festival than with some poems from Matt Panesh, himself? The audience was still as warm and loud as ever until the final applause.

A little dancing & some last photos with wings and Walter’s coat

How much love was there? A love poem to Morecambe Poetry Festival 2023

There was love in the form of water

in small paper cups.

If you took every tea-pot, wine glass, champagne flute,

every tankard and every barrel of Fosters, Smiths, Neck Oil,

every bubble tub on every table

you would still not be able to contain it.

You can’t buy this or bottle it.

This love is bounding out

like a puppy eager to greet you.

It hugs long and true

like a bear.

It is like a sunset at high-tide

taken through The Picture-Frame.

It is a view that cannot be improved

or imagined without immersion.

Like swimming in the Irish Sea

and shivering at the thrill of icy brine.

This love is like having your request played by the D.J.

even though it is The Sultans of Ping.

It is a German-Irish poet

sitting beneath painted wings

and singing out every word.

And we take this love home with us.

In the anthology,

in our notebooks

and we resonate with hugs.

As we were held by friends, by words, by accents.

We were held by song, grins and humour.

And we were held by this space created for us

to meet, to read, to dance,

to belong

and to love.

Soundcloud link here to the poem:

Listen to How much love was there? – Morecambe.m4a by Sarah L Dixon on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/8aJLyhttps://soundcloud.com/user-956777371-966720437/how-much-love-was-there?

It was brilliant to hang around with so many poetry friends and in particular Lucy Power and Michelle Noonan who were excellent company xxx

Next year – Morecambe Poetry Festival dates -21st September 2024 – get it in your diary!

Medway River Lit Quiet Compere Write up from 2nd June 2023

Belated blog due to access issues to my website – Events were 1st-4th June 2023

Workshop – games and play-themed went well.

Lots of random photos from the 3 days I spent at the festival below:


Quiet Compere Showcase – Rochester Library

A brilliant afternoon with 50% guests I had not before and I am hopeful all our poetry paths cross again soon. A few lines I enjoyed from each of the poems shared below. A big thanks to Richard Cooper for sharing Rosemary McLeish poems.

Richard Cooper:

I loved Richard’s freshly printed t-shirt. The poem that struck me most was the Janet and John one. The way it played with the structure and kept the simplicity but ramped up the darkness and rebellion. This seemed very Rosemary from what I know of her.

Mark Holihan:

Lines here that particularly leapt out at me were: ‘all the headstones looked drunk or broken like closing time.’ And from Just Walking:  ‘I am not actually going anywhere. I am just wearing out my shoes.’

Jon Terranova:

Wow! Description of pub as ‘an enclosure for the supposedly strong.’ I have also made a note that looks like ‘inebriated by beckoning time’ and Jon has not let me know if this as right or not so I will leave this as the quote 🙂

Sarah Tait:

I enjoyed the way Sarah’s set took us on a journey from Rochester to Ramsgate. I enjoyed the visual impact of ‘the flat of palm on cold’ touching the stone of the cathedral and ‘daylight putting itself away’.

Selection of photos of showcase performers and the open mic:

Thanks so much to Sam, Barry, Medway River Lit funders and all volunteers (plus a big thanks to Anne-Marie Jordan).

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)

Bradford City Library Event Quiet Compere poets for 11th June 2022

Steve O’Connor

Steve O’Connor is a Mancunian living in West Yorkshire, where he teaches creative writing at colleges and libraries and runs bespoke distance learning courses. He devised and co-hosted Free Up, which revolutionised the Manchester poetry scene, worked with Write Out Loud and transformed their Trafford-based poetry open mic night, and co-edited all three volumes of Best of Manchester Poets. Steve’s Poetry collection, extraňo, was published by Flapjack Press in 2019. He wants more people to write; it’s his mission in life.

Showcase Poets

Nabeela Ahmed

Nabeela Ahmed is a writer, multilingual poet, spoken word artist and storyteller. She writes and shares her work in English, Urdu and Pahari. Her poetry was the main feature of Keighley Arts and Film Festival in 2020. She teaches creative writing and poetry workshops. She has had poems published in England, America, Pakistan and India. She self published her book, Despite our Differences via Amazon in 2018 and is currently working on her novel.

Trevor Alexander

Trevor Alexander is a retired Chemical Engineer living in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Since retirement in 2013, he has taken up writing, mainly poetry. To date he has had a number of poems published in anthologies and magazines in the UK and USA, in addition to his own book published in 2017. Trevor has also read his work at several Literary Festivals and is a regular contributor at poetry/spoken word groups.

David Driver

David Driver is an English writer, author, published poet, storyteller and broadcaster born and bred in Yorkshire.

He has written a novel, short stories and poetry for children and adults. David has performed with The World Storytelling Café, https://worldstorytellingcafe.com/ been involved with Settle Stories. His work has been published both in the UK and the USA.

In September 2020 three of his poems were published in `Viral Verses, Art in Exceptional Times`, https://www.viral-verses.com/ 

The ELI 24 project brought a successful bid to Silsden in October 2020 as part of Bradford`s, Culture Is Our Plan.

Sharena Lee Satti

Sharena Lee Satti, a poet and independent artist from Bradford whose inspiring words have been inscribed on park benches in Bradford to uplift local residents on their local park walks. Nominated for the National Diversity Awards in 2022 and as one of the ’21 of 2021′ creatives most likely to impact Bradford’s cultural scene, Sharena is a familiar voice on local and national radio. Her poetry collection She was published by Verve poetry press in 2020. Her work focuses on social and environmental issues.

Katheen Strafford

Kathleen Strafford is a graduate of Trinity University holding an MA in creative writing. She has been widely published on webzines and anthologies. Her first collection of poetry Her Own Language was published by Dempsey and Windle in 2017. Kathleen’s second collection Wilderness of Skin was published by Yaffle in 2019. She is the chief editor of Runcible Spoon Webzine and publishing. Her new collection Girl in the Woods and pamphlet Life Under Glass will be published this year

Nick Toczek

Nick Toczek is a Bradford writer and performer who has published more than fifty books, released dozens of recordings and done other stuff. For example, he’s a best-selling children’s poet, a professional magician and puppeteer, a journalist and radio presenter, and a bald bloke who has won prizes for his sudoku skills and for being able to eat hotter curries than is normal.

‘The most exciting and visual performer we have this side of Benjamin Zephaniah.’ – New Musical Express.

‘Toczek is bitter, disturbing and political.  His language gets harder and more effective with each publication.” – The Guardian.

FREE EVENT – Showcase and open mic tickets available here:

The Quiet Compere Bradford City Library Showcase and open mic Tickets, Sat 11 Jun 2022 at 17:30 | Eventbrite

Free 90 minute workshop (230-4pm) tickets here (limited to 10 attendees):

Quiet Compere Bradford City Library Prompts Workshop Tickets, Sat 11 Jun 2022 at 14:30 | Eventbrite

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 at Poetry Swindon Festival :)

Ten Poets. Ten minutes each. With two Comperes – Sarah L Dixon (The Quiet Compere) and Hilda Sheehan (not sure how quiet she will be ;))

Check out the line-up here:

Angie Belcher:


Angie Belcher

Angie Belcher is an award winning stand-up poet (finalist best female UK newcomer 2015, Finalist best Spoken Word Show North East Theatre Review)Equally at home on the stand-up circuit as in a posh tent at a literature festival “Razor sharp tight observational routine with a high laughter content” B247, Angie presents naughty stanzas and awkward stories “A sharply Observed act, the audience laughed appreciatively and immoderately throughout” Bath Chronicle. An accomplished comedy performer Mythical Creature is her second Edinburgh show. (**** Fringe Review, Part stand-up, part poet part stylised story telling all hugely entertaining” John Fleming, “Highly recommended, go see her”, Phil Jupitus) She was also Team Captain for political comedy panel show Comedy Manifesto during its Edinburgh run (Unbelievably jealous of all those of you that can catch this show every day’ ***** (BroadwayBaby.com).

Website: https://angiebelcher.wordpress.com/

Stephen Daniels:

Stephen

Stephen Daniels is editor of Amaryllis poetry, his kids describe his poetry as “deep”, Hilda Sheehan once described it as “celebrating the darkness of what makes us human”, her alter ego Grishilda said it was like discovering “varicose veins”… you decide!

https://stephenkirkdaniels.com/

Carrie Etter:

Photo to be added.

Carrie’s most recent collection, Imagined Sons (Seren, 2014), was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry by The Poetry Society, and her new chapbook, Scar (Shearsman, 2016), explores the effects of climate change on her home state of Illinois. Besides literature of all kinds, she loves teaching, wine, travel, science fiction, cats, and summer.

http://carrieetter.blogspot.co.uk/

Anna-May Laugher:

Anna-May Laugher

Anna-May Laugher has worked as a cleaner, a cook and in mental health.

Her poems have been widely anthologised and has a pamphlet 2017

with Luminous Road. Her claim to fame is having a poem on the buttock of

a papier-mached inflatable sex doll, made by Hilda Sheehan!

A poem here: http://www.amaryllispoetry.co.uk/2013/07/a-poem-by-anna-may-laugher.html

Nick Lovell:

Nick

Nick Lovell is a part-time van driver, full-time romantic, eternal optimist, half-arsed anarchist and occasional poet!

http://heyevent.uk/event/ifvl5qobrywsqa/oooh-beehive-the-beginning/

Sam Loveless:

Sam

No-one is quite sure why Sam Loveless started to write or perform poetry. More certain is his re-appearance as a poet in Swindon shortly after the turn of the decade. Between now and then he has spent time listening to an increasing number of poets. To this end, he now indulges in radio presentations and compering. He has now amassed enough poetry of his own to perform a little more often.

https://mbvloveless.com/about-sam/

Cristina Newton

Cristina Navazo-Eguía Newton had two collections in Spanish before her first in English, Cry Wolf, received a Straid award and is published by Templar Poetry. 

https://cristinanewton.wordpress.com/

Maurice Spillane:

Maurice

Maurice Spillane is Swindon’s token Irish poet – how cosmopolitan is that? His latest collection “The Game Parade” celebrates country life along the Wiltshire Downs.

http://mauricespillane.ie/

Susan Utting:

SUtting

Susan Utting has worked as a barmaid, waitress, florist’s assistant, Yoga teacher and for more than 20 years as a poetry tutor. As well as poetry collections and national press publication, she once had a poem published on a beer mat!

http://www.susanutting.com/


Julia Webb

julia-webb

Julia Webb is a graduate of The University of East Anglia’s poetry MA. She has had work in various journals and anthologies including “The Forward Book of Poetry 2017. In 2011 she won The Poetry Society’s Stanza competition. She was recently Writer in residence at Norwich Market. She is a poetry editor for Lighthouse. Her first collection Bird Sisters was published in 2016 by Nine Arches Press.





Buy your tickets here: http://www.poetryswindon.org/festival#!/7-10-2016-THE-QUIET-COMPERE-with-Sarah-L-Dixon/p/69253857/category=20217256

Quiet quiet LOUD! with Ciaran Hodgers and Anne Caldwell – Sept 13th 2016

Ciarán Hodgers:

Ciaran

Ciarán is described as “Thoughtful and punchy” and “One of the most exciting faces to appear in the North West circuit in a long time”

Ciarán Hodgers is an award-winning poet, performer and creative mentor. Performed and published around the UK and Ireland he was part of the inaugural Team Manchester at the National UK Poetry Slam, finalist of the Poetry Rival Slam with Burning Eye books and three time finalist of Manchester’s own Word War slams.

Anne Caldwell:

13978120_10155063089034008_1230759842_o

Anne Caldwell grew up in the north-west of England and has been a keen reader all her life. Her poetry has been published in a range of anthologies – Poet’s Cheshire (Headland) and The Nerve (Virago) and three books by Cinnamon Press who also published her first full length collection. Her work has appeared in many British magazines including Writing Women, The North, Poetry Wales and Quattrocento. Anne finished an MA in writing poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2007 and performs all over the UK. She won an award to attend the Wired Writing Programme at The Banff Centre in Canada in 2008 and published a pamphlet with Happenstance. Until recently, she also ran a company called Sources that specialised in using text and visual art together with digital artist Jack Lockhart. More recently, Anne was a Lecturer in creative writing at The University of Bolton and also worked for NAWE, The National Association for Writers in Education. (www.nawe.co.uk) as their Deputy Director. She is currently undertaking a PhD. Her new book of poetry is called ‘Painting the Spiral Staircase’. (Cinnamon, Spring 2016). She currently works as Literature Programme Manager in the North of England for the British Council.

Support Poets: Steph Portersmith, and 5 TBC – 6 minute spots available through messaging me.

Support Poets pay half price on the door.

£3 on the door is split three ways between both the guests and myself as host/promoter and to cover printing costs.

Access to venue is by a double flight of stairs and no lift is available. Apologies to anyone with accessibility issues, but thought I should let you know in advance. I used to have an accesible venue, but moved from there due to them cancelling on the night (twice)

Robin Williams, apple sorrow and elephants in every corner (the blog of Quiet Compere at Worcs LitFest 2016)

Jasmine   Jess Adam

After a walk along Kleeve Walk beside the Severn and through the locks I found Ye Olde Talbot where I stayed last year and had a slow pint in the pub garden gazing at a small square of blue sky from the courtyard. As soon as I left to bask the rain pelted me until I took shelter outside an estate agents with a couple of dozen others.  

 

Martin Driscoll and a committee were all at The Hive when I arrived after an afternoon of pootling around Worcester and welcomed me with wine and organisation, a happy combination and below are reviews of the guest poets and some lines I liked from support poets and open miccers. I have included links to their sites where I know them.

 

Guest Poets

Jess Davies

In Jess’s Good Will Hunting poem I enjoyed Jess raising her hand to own up to borrowed lines, much less intrusive than mentioning it all the way through or not at all. From Learning how to cry: ‘Identify the elephant in the room./Name it ‘wolf’.

I do a little dance at this line now!

Jess made me cry twice. Her quiet style makes the poetry shout so much more. The words work hard and don’t need shouting.

http://jessmaydavies.tumblr.com/

Jasmine Gardosi

Ah! ‘as jumbled as a Brummie’s accent.’ and the image of the poetry teacher hiding behind the picture books. ‘a whole row of Elmers’ adventures. The elephant in the room ‘explodes in multicolour.’ Love the ‘twist of fate and paper.’

http://www.jasminegardosi.com/

Adam Horovitz

‘Take the same landscape in as if it were breath.’ ‘A stone-rush of butter and red-bricked memory.’ Loved The Pelican,a  pub ‘divided by accent and arrival time.’ and ‘cider shouting through me in apple sorrow.’ Wow! Makes me want to try some cider for the first time in 15 years! http://adamhorovitz.co.uk/blog/

https://littlemetropolis.bandcamp.com/merch

 

Support Poets

Holly Magill

For Holly tongued fingertips ‘sausage stumble the keyboard.’ and ‘time sloths’. ‘Wet-lipped uncles at someone else wedding’ Yuk!

https://clearpoetry.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/holly-magill-three-poems-2/

Ken Evans

‘an arc of arms throwing punches of light’ was so surprising and visual.

http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/pages/?p=6912

Leon Priestnall

‘with love I am begging for you to hurt me.’

‘it’s similar to a kiss, like the ones we share’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysVRsytlFpo

Open mic

Polly Stretton

‘the scent of sweet apples gift-wrapped in old newspaper’.

https://journalread.com/

Nina Lewis

water described as ‘all claws, teeth and current.’

‘Our emotions carried on F sharps and B flats.’

https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/

Kathy Gee

‘The weight of hours in his loft’ grabbed me particularly.

http://vpresspoetry.blogspot.co.uk/p/book-of-bones.html

Leena Batchelor

“I’m the girl who stepped into the black, And found a welcome there”.

http://pixiemuse.wordpress.com

Neil Laurenson

I enjoyed Adelstrop and Exclamation Marks and the Leaving assembly one.

http://silhouettepress.co.uk/shop/exclamation-marx-by-neil-laurenson/

Anne Milton

 ‘I would steer by the stars, but the constellations have moved.’

This was Anne’s first ever performance at a poetry event and there is no link for her at present.

Kieran Davis

‘a seduction, a secrecy and suggestions of stealth.’

Lacuna launch is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1280938665267803/

https://blackpear.net/about/

Polly put me up and made me a fry up. It was lovely to meet Polly’s daughter and Mabel the dog too. They took me on a walk back from their house across Diglis Bridge and I was inspired by the love-locks and now have two poems of Love for Worcester (though I have only visited twice). Thank you Worcester. I will be back. xxx

More about Worcestershire Literature Festival here: https://worcslitfest.co.uk/



Worcs mascot

Quiet quiet LOUD! with Emma McGordon and John Calvert

Tuesday 12th July 2016 at The Lloyds, Chorlton, Manchester. £3 on the door.
12963609_598831073613843_6656165919197298093_n

Emma McGordon is published by Tall Light House and Black suede Boot Press. She is a Penned in the Margins Generation TXt poet and has performed internationally. She is also a former Northern Young Writer of the Year. She is currently working on her first spoken word theatre show with support from Arts Council England.

479914_10151265250050152_455661567_n

John Calvert more info soon