TICKETS lyrafest.com - THURSDAY 31 MARCH - SUNDAY 10 APRIL 2022
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THURSDAY 31ST MARCH
- SUNDAY 10TH APRIL
2022
TICKETS lyrafest.com
@LyraFest @LyraFest
VENUES ABOUT
THE FESTIVAL
12
We are thrilled to be back for our fourth successive Lyra - Bristol Poetry Festival, a
hybrid programme of both live and digital experiences. Our 2022 theme is Breaking
Boundaries: New Worlds, which celebrates interdisciplinary poetry across art forms
and cultures, translated and multilingual poetry, and poetry as a bridge between
groups and communities. 2022 also marks 100 years since the publication of T.S.
10 BOND ST Eliot’s The Waste Land, and we’ll have both a lecture and a workshop responding
to the poem and exploring its relevance in the present day. Lyra’s 2022 Festival
11 Poet is writer, poet, performer and historian Edson Burton. Edson will engage in
Q
UE
EN community outreach work, a public performance and workshop, hosting events,
UN
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RD 8 7 and other activities centred on the festival theme.
ION
3 9 ST
S
PAR EST
T
KR
OW W This year’s programme features some Last year, we were delighted to host a
CASTLE
of the biggest names in UK and fully digital festival during a national
AY
PARK
6 international poetry today, including lockdown, and we learned so much
LE W
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1
RK
BRANDON
HILL Roger McGough, Linton Kwesi Johnson, about new ways of connecting poetry
TEMP
ST
BALDWIN ST
Zena Edwards, Anthony Joseph, Inua in Bristol to the rest of the country and
Ellams, TJ Dema, Raymond Antrobus, the world. We understand how online
COLLEGE the most recent T.S. Eliot Prize winner, experiences create new means of
2 GREEN
Joelle Taylor, and many more. We are access by removing barriers to
PRINCE
RD also thrilled to host international participation, and we will now continue
ANCHOR
guests, including US poets Terrance to offer digital readings, workshops,
ST
4 THE GROV
E Hayes and Buddy Wakefield and and pre-recorded videos as part of our
5 Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi, as well festival each year. As always, 100% of
WAPPING RD
as performances for young people by the venues are wheelchair accessible,
two of the nation’s favourite poets, and specific access information can be
Michael Rosen and Daljit Nagra. found on our website, where you’ll also
The programme includes readings, find a form for specific access needs.
1 St. George’s BristoL 5 SS Great Britain 9 Wills Memorial Building performances, workshops, family For our live events, we’ll be back at
Great George St Gas Ferry Rd Queens Rd activities, a walking tour, a lecture, a some of Bristol’s most stunning venues,
Bristol BS1 5RR Bristol BS1 6TY Bristol BS8 1RJ film screening, spoken word cabaret, including St. George’s Bristol, SS Great
panel discussions, and poetry advice Britain and Bristol Old Vic.
2 Bristol Central Library 6 BRISTOL BEACON 10 THE BEARPIT sessions provided by Literature Works. Lyra Festival is co-directed by Dr Lucy
College Green Trenchard St St James' Roundabout In the week leading up to the festival, English and Danny Pandolfi. A special
Bristol BS1 5TL Bristol BS1 5AR Bristol BS1 3LY we have two pre-party events. The first thanks to all our key partners, who
is a Weston vs. Bristol poetry slam in enrich the festival in so many ways,
3 Bristol Museum & ART Gallery 7 Old Market Assembly/ 11 1532 Bristol Weston-super-Mare’s Love’s Cafe, including Bristol University’s Poetry
Queens Rd Wardrobe Theatre Elton Rd bridging a connection between two Institute, Bath Spa University, Apples
Bristol BS8 1RL 25 West St Bristol BS8 1SJ
poetry communities, and the second is and Snakes, Poetry By Heart, Culture
Bristol BS2 0DF a fabulous music and poetry show with Weston, Bristol Ideas, Rebecca Swift
4 Arnolfini 12 HAMILTON HOUSE Tongue Fu. There is also a wide Foundation, Destination Bristol and
16 Narrow Quay 8 Waterstones 80 Stokes Croft
Bristol BS1 4QA Bristol BS1 3QY selection of poetry happenings across many more. We hope you enjoy April’s
The Galleries Bristol in April listed in our ‘Other programme of poetry at Lyra Festival,
Bristol BS1 3XD
Events’ section. and we look forward to seeing
Accessibility, inclusion and everybody, both online and in person.
representation are at the heart of Lyra
Festival, and this year’s programme
includes many free and low-cost
This festival has been supported with funding
from Arts Council England for a fourth
successive year. We are incredibly grateful
events, BSL interpreted and captioned
events, multilingual readings and a
TICKETS lyrafest.com
for this ongoing support of Bristol poetry. number of participatory activities. @LyraFest @LyraFest
3
TICKETS lyrafest.com
@LyraFest @LyraFest
THURSDAY 31ST MARCH ‘22
THURSDAY 31ST MARCH - SUNDAY 10TH APRIL 2022
CORE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Visit www.lyrafest.com for all tickets.
Tickets for all activities must be booked in advance, including online and free events.
Festival Passes are also available from £25-75.
FRIDAY 25th MARCH ‘22
WESTON VS. BRISTOL
POETRY SLAM
The long-awaited poetic battle between
Weston-super-Mare and Bristol.
LOVES CAFÉ
WESTON-SUPER-MARE
Time: 19:30 - 21:30 (19:00 doors)
Price: £5 TONGUE FU: HOT POETS
The seaside town and bustling city go MUSIC-ACCOMPANIED POETRY
head-to-head in an epic slam contest for
the first time ever. Two teams of three Featuring performances from Zena Edwards, Yomi Sode, Matt Harvey, Chris Redmond and
poets will perform their poems and battle Liv Torc.
it out in this fun, energetic and powerful ST. GEORGE’S BRISTOL
evening of delicious wordsmithery,
hosted by team captains Sophie Time: 19:30 - 22:00 (19:00 doors) Price: £10/£8
Shepherd and Josie Alford. Not only that, A brand-new show from Tongue Fu: Hot Poets partners brilliant spoken word artists with
but vegan venue Loves will also be scientists, NGOs and change-makers in the fight against climate change, to make brand-
serving a tasty curry and, of course, the new work, telling hopeful stories. Fusing spoken word, genre-hopping improvised music,
bar will be open. film, science and bags of hopeful FACTS, Hot Poets aims to help change the ‘doom
narrative’ around climate change and shine light on the amazing work being done around
Don't miss out on this South West Showdown! the world.
Presented in partnership with Culture Weston Presented by Raise the Bar.
This event will be BSL interpreted. This event will be BSL interpreted.
4 5
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FRIDAY 1ST APRIL ‘22 SATURDAY 2ND APRIL ‘22
APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE:
MONTH: THE WASTE LAND
DIZRAELI
LECTURE
WRITING WORKSHOP
BRISTOL CENTRAL LIBRARY
Time: 17:30 - 18:30 Price: Free BRISTOL MUSEUM & ART
To mark this year’s 100th anniversary of GALLERY SCHOOLS ROOM
The Waste Land, Jim McCue will consider
Time: 11:00 - 13:00
why we are still reading T. S. Eliot’s
poem, how our understanding of it has Price: £5
changed, and what was meant by
‘editing’ it as part of a 2,000-page This workshop will approach how to
scholarly edition of the poetry. write yourself well in a world of
confusion. An exploration of
Presented in partnership creative practice, mental hygiene,
with Bristol Poetry Institute necessary mess and whatever else
and Bristol Ideas. pops up, led by award-winning
This event lyricist and musician Dizraeli.
will be BSL
PHOTO: GRANVILLE DAVIES interpreted.
JOY AGAINST THE
LYRA POETRY SLAM
MACHINE: T. S. IDIOT
QUALIFYING ROUNDS
WRITING WORKSHOP
ONLINE - ZOOM Writing from a place of queer joy,
Time: 19:00 - 20:00 Price: Free resilience and otherness.
Join us for this Zoom screening of the BRISTOL MUSEUM & ART
2022 Lyra Slam qualifying rounds, as
poets compete for a place in the
GALLERY SCHOOLS ROOM
Grand Slam Finals, headlined by Joelle Time: 13:30 - 15:00
Taylor and Buddy Wakefield.
The screening of the poems will be Price: £5
judged live by our three judges, with Join artist, poet and community activist
one wildcard finalist voted for by the T.S. IDIOT to share your thoughts on
Zoom audience. using queer joy as a form of resistance
To enter the poetry slam, you must and what that means to us, our writing,
fill out the online entry form by March and centuries of outsiders (from Virginia
15th 2022. Woolf to Ocean Vuong). Learn to write
from a place of joy and resilience, rooted
Zoom’s auto-transcription technology in our collective queerness and the
will be available for this event. experience of anyone who has felt
othered or outside the mainstream.
All welcome.
6 7
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SATURDAY 2ND APRIL ‘22
21st CENTURY SONNETS:
TERRANCE HAYES +
GUESTS
POETRY READING AND
DISCUSSION
Featuring Terrance Hayes, Jacqueline
Saphra and Luke Kennard.
ONLINE - ZOOM
Time: 15:30 - 17:00 Price: £5
The sonnet is one of the most famous and
beloved forms of poetry worldwide and
continues to find new ways to adapt and
respond to modern day themes and issues.
This event will bring together three poets
and sonnet collections: Terrance Hayes
(American Sonnets for My Past and Future
Assassin), Luke Kennard (Notes on the PHOTO: TYRONE LEWIS
WORKING-CLASS
Sonnets) and Jacqueline Saphra (One
WRITERS: NEW
Hundred Lockdown Sonnets). POETRY AND COMMISSIONS
Each poet will read from their work,
followed by a discussion and Q&A TRANSLATION:
exploring their relationship to the sonnet BOHDAN PIASECKI POETRY READING
form as a tool for 21st century poetic ONLINE - ZOOM
expression. WRITING WORKSHOP
Time: 20:00 - 21:00
Zoom’s auto-transcription technology will ONLINE - ZOOM Price: £5
be available for this event.
Time: 17:30 - 19:30 This year, Lyra have teamed up with Bristol
Price: £5 Ideas and the Working-Class Writers
Festival to commission 12 poets from
This workshop will look at the working-class backgrounds to write new
creative act of rendering an work. This hour-long showcase will feature
existing text in a new language Casey Bailey, Helen Sheppard, Malizah,
and the multiplicity of possible 1990's Chris, Wendy Pratt, Bertel Martin,
texts it produces. We will Tierney Elliot, Louisa Adjoa Parker and
consider ways to identify the Laurie Bolger. We will hear poems from
core of a poem, how it can be these writers and what the experience has
moved into another language - meant to them. The poems will be printed
and how that can inform our own onto postcards and be given out free at
writing. Lyra Festival 2022 live events.
Open to anyone, regardless of Presented in partnership with
linguistic ability. Bristol Ideas and Working-Class
Writers Festival.
Zoom’s auto-transcription
technology will be available for Zoom’s auto-transcription
this event. technology will be
available, and the event
8 9
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SUNDAY 3RD APRIL ‘22
TIME TRAVELLING WITH
THE SONNET:
JACQUELINE SAPHRA
WRITING WORKSHOP
ONLINE - ZOOM
Time: 13:30 - 15:30 Price: £5
We’ll begin our journey by exploring
the landscape, naming the qualities and
constraints of the English language
sonnet as it was introduced hundreds
of years ago. Then we'll time-travel
along the expressway of years until we
BREAKING BOUNDARIES: arrive in the wild, subversive sonnet
NEW WORLDS territory of the twentieth and twenty-
first centuries. We’ll read and practise
this form’s divine properties as a unique
FILM SCREENING template for combining thought and
MUSIC AND POETRY: BRUNEL’S SS GREAT BRITAIN
feeling in one little black square of text.
TONGUE FU All levels welcome.
Time: 14:30 - 15:30 Price: Free Zoom’s auto-transcription technology
WRITING & PERFORMANCE A screening of poetry films on the will be available for this workshop.
WORKSHOP theme of ‘Breaking Boundaries: New
Worlds’, connecting audiences across
cultures, art forms, languages and POETRY AND ACCESSIBILITY
1532 BRISTOL
other boundaries. This curation has PANEL DISCUSSION
Time: 11:00 - 13:00 been selected by Helen Dewbery of
Poetry Film Live and Sarah Tremlett of With Nikki Harris (BSL Interpreter), DL
Price: £7.50/£5 Williams (poet/performer) and Ben
Liberated Words. Helen Dewbery's
A workshop for writers interested in curation crosses bridges and borders, Glover (creative captioner).
performing with musicians. We will real and imagined. Sarah Tremlett’s
explore tone, pace, performance curation is Frame to Frames: Your Eyes ONLINE - ZOOM
styles, collaboration, shared language Follow, the first screening of an annual Time: 16:00 - 17:00 Price: Free
and improvisation. Come along to ekphrastic poetry film prize. The live Is poetry accessible? When we think of
take part in playful and provocative screening will be followed by a this question, we often think of the type
performance activities. Please bring a discussion and Q&A. of language used in poetry and who it is
piece of writing that is finished and being written for. During the pandemic,
that you know well. Come with an Presented in partnership with
Liberated Words and Poetry Film Live. audiences and participants were able to
open mind and a willingness to take a access poetry in new ways through
risk or two. This is for poets with increased and improved digital content,
some experience of performance. This film screening will be captioned.
BSL interpreted readings and creatively
Led by Chris Redmond captioned events. We will discuss the
and Riaan Vosloo. process of creatively translating the written word, the importance of accuracy, how
this progresses the art form, and how events and organisations can
become more accessible through creative translation.
This event will be BSL interpreted and live captioned.
10 11
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SUNDAY 3RD APRIL ‘22 MONDAY 4TH APRIL ‘22
THE MUM POET CLUB
WORKSHOP AND
WOMEN POETS LINTON KWESI JOHNSON READINGS
A writing workshop for mums,
NETWORK AND ANTHONY JOSEPH including live readings, where
POETRY AND MUSIC babies are welcome, too.
POETRY READING
An epic event with two legendary poets of BRISTOL BEACON
ONLINE - ZOOM the modern age, on the anniversary of the
St. Paul’s Uprising. Time: 10:30 - 11:30 Price: Free MILK POETRY: FEATURING
Time: 17:30 - 18:30 Price: Free
BRISTOL OLD VIC
The Mum Poet Club was born in ANTOSH WOJCIK
The Rebecca Swift Foundation, home of lockdown as a way to connect, support
the biennial #WomenPoetsPrize and the COURTYARD and encourage poetry-writing parents. POETRY SLAM
#WomenPoetsNetwork, hosts an online This workshop is open to any mums
Time: 19:30 - 22:00 (19:00 doors)
reading from their three 2020 prize with a child under one. No writing THE WARDROBE THEATRE
winners, Alisha Dietzman, Natalie Linh Price: £5 experience is needed, everyone is
Bolderston and Warda Yassin. The welcome (including babies), and it is Time: 19:30 - 21:30
An evening of poetry and music to mark
readings and discussions will be the 42nd anniversary of the St. Paul’s free to join. Price: £8
followed by a brand new music/poem Uprising, headlined by Linton Kwesi
collaboration from each poet, composed ‘This organisation is amazing for any Milk Poetry selects the finest, freshest
Johnson and Anthony Joseph women who fancy giving poetry a go as poets from the UK and beyond to
by Bristol based music duo, Charlie + (performing with his live band).
Jake, hosts of Open Collab. a way to express all the ups and lows of produce the most nourishing and eclectic
Hosted by Lyra’s 2022 Festival motherhood - it is so welcoming’ spoken word bonanza you could ever
Zoom’s auto transcript Poet, Edson Burton. Hollie McNish. hope for. The event will feature Antosh
technology will be Wojick, plus support and
available. Presented in partnership with Presented in partnership with the Milk Poetry Slam!
Bristol Old Vic and Speaking The Mum Poem Press. Presented in partnership
Presented in partnership Volumes.
with Rebecca Swift with Milk Poetry.
12 13
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TUESDAY 5TH APRIL ‘22 THURSDAY 7TH APRIL ‘22
POETRY AND DISOBEDIENCE BRISTOL TONIC
PANEL DISCUSSION OPEN MIC
Join author of The Perseverance and All The The official open mic evening of
Names Given, Raymond Antrobus, in Lyra Festival 2022, hosted by Bristol’s
conversation with Tjawangwa Dema, as they regular monthly open mic Tonic.
discuss poetry and disobedience.
M SHED
ONLINE - ZOOM PHOTO: ADAM DOCKER Time: 19:00 - 21:00 Price: £5
Time: 18:30 - 19:30 Price: Free Whether you’re a poet looking to share your
PHOTO: Masahiro Sugano
In this conversation, we consider Antrobus’s words with a live audience, or you’d like to
work broadly and some of the ways in which sit back and enjoy some of the city’s
poetic disobedience can be performed through freshest local talent, this will be an evening
language, form and content. If poetry is a for all to enjoy. The event will also include a
careful and intentional practice, what does it feature set from poet Stanley Iyanu. Open
mean to disrupt the familiar, to centre mic spots are limited, and to sign up you
Blackness, or to decentre the hearing world? must book an Open Mic Ticket at checkout.
We look forward to this sensorial, tender and Presented in partnership with Bristol Tonic
investigative poet’s reading of his multi-award
winning poetry.
This event will be BSL interpreted and live captioned.
FRIDAY 8TH APRIL ‘22
WEDNESDAY 6TH APRIL ‘22 ROGER MCGOUGH:
SAFETY IN NUMBERS
INUA ELLAMS + GUESTS
POETRY READING + Q&A
POETRY READING A reading from President of the Poetry
Join Penned in the Margins poets Inua Ellams, Society, Roger McGough, with support from
John McCullough and Abi Palmer for this Lyra’s 2022 Festival Poet, Edson Burton.
evening of poetry at Waterstones.
ST. GEORGE’S BRISTOL
WATERSTONES GALLERIES Time: 19:30 - 21:30 Price: £17.50
Time: 19:00 - 20:15 Price: £7/£5 Safety in Numbers is a new collection from
Lyra are delighted to host live readings from the nation’s favourite poet. What will we
three poets recently published by Penned in have learned from stillness and silence?
the Margins, one of the UK’s leading From sharing, not taking? Waiting, not
independent publishers. The event will include PHOTO: Andy Lo Po PHOTO: Faith Aylward pushing? Whispering, not shouting?
back-to-back readings of exciting Dawdling, not rushing? Traversing rocky
contemporary poetry, featuring Inua Ellams terrain with the assurance of a poetry Rover
(The Actual, 2020), John McCullough on Mars, McGough brings down to earth the
(Reckless Paper Birds, 2019) and Abi Palmer strangeness of a time on hold. Staycations,
(Sanatorium, 2020). The readings will be adultery in lockdown, ghosts and gamblers,
followed by a book signing. as well as playful advice to up and coming
poets. (Don’t do it!)
Presented in partnership with
Penned in the Margins. ‘The godfather of modern British poetry’ Metro. ‘The patron saint of poetry’ Carol Ann Duffy.
This event will be BSL interpreted. PHOTO: Stephen Wells Roger’s performance will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.
14 15
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SATURDAY 9TH APRIL ‘22
APPLES AND SNAKES: THE WASTE LAND:
RETREAT JOELLE TAYLOR
WORKSHOPS AND WRITING WORKSHOP
ACTIVITIES ONLINE - ZOOM
Time: 12:30 - 14:00 Price: £7.50
HAMILTON HOUSE On the 100th anniversary of T. S. Eliot’s The
Time: 10:00 - 16:00 Waste Land, join the recent T. S. Eliot Prize
Price: Free winner Joelle Taylor for an exclusive
workshop responding to the themes of this
A one-day event for poets at all stages to classic poem, including textual analysis and
refresh, reboot and connect. The retreat writing exercises. Participants will consider
offers creative workshops, discussions, the relevance of the poem in today’s world
mentoring and practical advice to re- and how we, too, can find ways to write
energise your practice, soothe your soul about chaos, desolation and apocalyptic
and leave you with a new spring in your themes whilst still retaining a sense of hope
step. You can book a place in advance for and wonder.
free and see a full list of activities on
Lyra’s website. Sessions led by This workshop will be a Zoom webinar.
Deanna Rodger, Rebecca Attendees will be able to follow along with
Tantony, Bohdan Piasecki and the writing exercises and discussions,
Dom Coyote. interacting with the facilitator via the chat
box.
Zoom’s auto-transcription technology will
be available for this event.
POETRY AND FILM:
HELEN DEWBERY BREAKING BOUNDARIES:
WORKSHOP EDSON BURTON
WRITING WORKSHOP
ONLINE - ZOOM Join Lyra’s Festival Poet Edson Burton for a
Time: 10:00 - 12:00 Price: £5 writing workshop exploring the 2022 theme
of ‘Breaking Boundaries: New Worlds.’
Poetry films merge words and images to
create a new piece of art. In this ARNOLFINI LIGHT STUDIO
workshop, Helen Dewbery will cover Time: 14:30 - 16:30 Price: £5
some of the different styles and genres
How does language help us connect to our
of poetry film, basic techniques for
intended audience and expand our
creating them, explore which poems are
communication to more people? Do we -
most suitable for poetry film, and
poets, wannabe poets - suppress and
discuss how to identify the right
select our language on the basis of what
platform to create your own. The course
we think is, or is not, suitable for poetry?
is designed particularly for those with
Using examples from Linton Kwesi
limited knowledge of making films, and
Johnson, Jean Binta Breeze, Robert Burns
will give plenty of information and tips
and Langston Hughes, this workshop is an
to get you started.
opportunity to experiment with using
Zoom’s auto-transcription technology ‘personal language’, slang, regional dialect
will be available for this event. and mother tongue to create new
connections and break boundaries.
16 17
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SATURDAY 9TH APRIL ‘22 SUNDAY 10TH APRIL ‘22
RADICAL TRANSLATION: DIANA BELLESSI: THE ISAMBARDS
WITH GIRASOL PRESS TO LOVE A WOMAN/ IN TOWN
POETRY READING AMAR A UNA MUJER WALKING TOUR
WILLS MEMORIAL POETRY READING A poetry walk in downtown Bristol
BUILDING G25 Join Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi and
led by the IsamBards: Pameli POETRY ALOUD:
Benham, Dominic Fisher, Deborah
translator Leo Boix to celebrate the Harvey and David C Johnson. WITH DALJIT NAGRA &
Time: 17:00 - 18:15 publication of To Love A Woman.
YOUNG POETS
Price: Free MEETING POINT:
WILLS MEMORIAL BUILDING POETRY READING
Radical Translation features poets and THE BEARPIT
translators published by, or connected G25
with, Bristol-based small publisher ST JAMES BARTON ST. GEORGE’S BRISTOL
Time: 18:45 - 20:00
Girasol Press. The afternoon will feature ROUNDABOUT Time: 14:00 - 16:00
the poet Alex Cocker’s experimental Price: Free
translations of Michelangelo’s sonnets, Time: 11:00 - 12:00
Diana Bellessi is a groundbreaking writer, Price: Free
which tease out questions of androgyny, Price: £5
queer desire and the ‘trans’ in who has been credited as the godmother A free, fun and inspiring afternoon for
translation, fresh new work from Latinx of LGBTQI+ poetry in Latin America. Over The IsamBards will share their children, young people and families, with
poet and translator Juana Adcock and the decades she has championed feminist original poetry inspired by the places top poets and musicians. Young poets
writer and translator Jessica Sequeira, and queer issues and themes, and has and people that will be visited on from schools in Bristol and the
and video contributions in Ch’ol and exerted a strong influence on prominent this promenade, from the Bearpit to surrounding areas will read and perform
Tsotsil from three Mexican poets poets and writers, from the 1980s through Colston’s empty plinth, via hidden some of your favourite poems, old and
included in Jukub: Poems from Chiapas to the present day. Bellessi and Boix will corners, old and new. Come hear of new. The event will feature special
for the Reverse Conquest. be reading from To Love A Woman in the giants, preachers, saints and sinners. performances from Daljit Nagra and clare
original Spanish with English translations Previous IsamBard Poetry Walks potter, and a poetry and music
and discussing her life and work. With a have included Arnos Vale Cemetery, collaboration by Bob Walton and JOW.
Presented in support reading from Polish multilingual Brunel’s Bristol, Bristol Botanic
Garden and the Clifton Suspension Children and young people,
partnership with poet Bohdan Piasecki.
Bridge. This In Town walk will take aged 7-18, can sign up to
Girasol Press,
perform by contacting
Indisciplinary just over an hour. (No steps, some
Presented in partnership with the Poetry info@poetrybyheart.org.uk.
Poetics and inclines)
Translation Centre.
Bristol Poetry Presented in partnership
Institute. with Poetry By Heart and
Bristol Poetry Institute.
18 19TICKETS lyrafest.com
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SUNDAY 10TH APRIL ‘22 THURSDAY 21ST APRIL ‘22
LYRA GRAND SLAM FINALS:
WITH JOELLE TAYLOR & BUDDY WAKEFIELD
POETRY SLAM
Come along to see Bristol’s finest wordsmiths battle it out to be crowned the 2022
Lyra Bristol Slam Winner.
ST. GEORGE’S BRISTOL
Time: 19:30 - 22:00 (19:00 doors)
Price: £10/£7
An audience favourite at Bristol Poetry Festival, and a landmark event in Bristol’s
cultural calendar, the Lyra Slam Final is back! Headlined by two world-class poets: 3x
World Poetry Slam Champion Buddy Wakefield, and 2021 T. S. Eliot Prize Winner
Joelle Taylor. Raucous, energetic, passionate and audience-centred, this event always
promises to bring poetry to life in an engaging and unexpected way that will make MICHAEL ROSEN LIT SYNCH
you laugh, smile, or cry, perhaps all at the same time! With a support set from the 2021
grand slam winner Holly Moberley. PERFORMANCE + Q&A POETRY CABARET
The grand slam finals will be judged by Buddy Wakefield, Joelle Taylor and Lyra's An evening of poetry cabaret hosted
2022 Festival Poet Edson Burton.
BRUNEL’S SS GREAT
by Tom Marshman and Caleb Parkin,
BRITAIN as drag artists and poets take the
Time: 14:30 - 15:30 stage to queer the canon through
recorded poetry and performance.
Price: £5/£4
We are delighted to present a OLD MARKET ASSEMBLY
special performance from Michael Time: 20:00 - 21:00
Rosen, one of Britain’s favourite
writers and performers for children Price: £5
and adults. The former Children’s LGBTQ+ performers select recorded
Laureate will read and discuss a poems from archives to lip-sync to,
selection of his best-loved poems adding their own spin to the text and
and stories, with his unique sense voice. Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ gets the
of humour and witty observations, camping up it surely needs, while
followed by a short Q&A and book Shakespeare’s codpiece goes rogue.
signing. The event will take place at Expect the teasing out of queer
Brunel's SS Great Britain’s Viridor subtexts: those poems you were made
Theatre, with the stunning to learn in school, but out on the town
backdrop of the dockyard and ship. with a bit of slap on. The event will be
Suitable for Upper KS1 and KS2 hosted by Tom Marshman and Bristol
children. City Poet Caleb Parkin, followed by a
DJ set and tunes til late.
Presented in partnership with There’ll also be an OPEN MIC: bring
Brunel’s SS Great Britain. your own recording and outfits to get
your lit-sync on!
20 21OTHER EVENTS IN (& AROUND) BRISTOL
FRIDAY 1ST APRIL 2022 THURSDAY 14TH APRIL THURSDAY 21ST APRIL 2022
As well as the Lyra Festival VOICES ON THE EDGE TURKISH AND KURDISH POETRY PRESENCE OPEN MIC
core programme, there are Time: 18:30 Time: 19:00 Time: 18:30
plenty of other poetry Price: £5 (Includes a glass of wine and £2 Price: Suggested donation £4. Price: Free
activities happening in off books from the authors) Unwaged: Free. AESOP’S St Marks Road, BS5 6JD
and around Bristol. BOOKHAUS BOOKSHOP PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF STOKES CROFT An evening of unplugged music and poetry.
Unit 4 Rope Walk, Bristol BS1 6ZJ 14 Hillgrove Street, Bristol BS2 8JT All abilities welcome. Sign up to perform on
A night of poetry and music exploring the night.
A night of Turkish and Kurdish poetry in
voices often unheard. Performances from
WEDNESDAYS IN 2022: translation, performed by Bristol poets.
Leilah King, Helen Sheppard and guests.
RD
23TH MARCH CLOSED Poems from the 1960s movements to
Tickets from the bookshop here:
27ND APRIL CLOSED contemporary queer poets. Wide range of
22 JUNE OPEN GET VOICES ON THE EDGE TICKETS voices, from the 1960s 'Second New' SATURDAY 23RD APRIL 2022
WORKSHOPS WITH BRISTOL STANZA movement, Sufi Bekta i poets, post-1980s OPEN COLLAB LIVE
SATURDAY 2ND APRIL 2022 gay and lesbian poets, and from imprisoned Time: 18:30 Price: Pay-what-you-can
AND BRISTOL REFUGEE ARTISTS
COLLECTIVE POETRY & MUSIC EVENING + OPEN MIC Kurdish poet Ilhan Sami Çomak. Followed
by a DJ set of hip hop and Turkish THE CHICKEN SHED AT THE HEN AND
Time: 12:00 - 2:30pm Time: 20:00 - 22:00 (19:00 doors) Price: £5 CHICKEN 210 North Street, BS3 1JF
Psychedelic music by Hidden Element. A
Price: £5 REDCATCH COMMUNITY GARDEN bar is being run at this event. Profits to be Join multi-instrumentalist live-looping duo
VICTORIA METHODIST CHURCH Broadwalk Redcatch Park, Knowle BS4 2RD split between PRSC and a Trans Women's Charlie + Jake for an immersive afternoon of
A refreshing range of locally harvested Collective in Istanbul. poetry and music. Open Collab will be
1A Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 1NU
poetry from some award-winning as well as GET TURKISH/KURDISH TICKETS creating musical universes around poetry
Two closed workshops on 23rd March and emerging poets, held at a unique setting of sent in from across Bristol, and from all over
27th April have been arranged, as part of a an airy canopy within a community garden, the world, and featuring special guest
collaboration of Bristol Stanza, Bristol seasoned with some music and an open mic Kathryn O'Driscoll, current UK Slam
Refugee Artists’ Collective (BRAC) and for dessert. Featuring some members of the Champion. On stage will be movement
UWE, to include participation of artists Bristol Stanza group and more. This alfresco THURSDAY 14TH APRIL artist and dancer Simon Abel. Open Collab
from BRAC, UWE foundation students and poetry event is not to be missed. Please FABLES will be using every instrument and sound
Bristol Stanza members. The first sign up for the open mic on the door. Time: 18:30 under the sun to transport you into the
workshop will focus on ekphrastic and art worlds of the poems. Want to get involved
poetry and the second will develop poetry GET REDCATCH POETRY & MUSIC TICKETS Price: Free
and have your words set to music? Find out
written in response to the artworks. AESOP’S more and submit your poetry performance
This will culminate in a third open TUESDAY 12TH APRIL St Marks Road, Bristol BS5 6JD here:
workshop on June 22nd, using ekphrastic ODEHEART WORKSHOP: ANYONE CAN POET
Poetry, spoken word and storytelling open COLLAB INFO/SUBMISSIONS
poetry as part of an extended programme Time: 19:00 Price: £15 mic in Easton, hosted by Pagan Paul.
of collaboration between Lyra Festival and Inclusive and friendly, beginners welcome. GET OPEN COLLAB TICKETS
BRISTOL FRINGE
the Bristol Refugee Festival. For booking Sign up from 18:30.
details for June’s workshop, see below: 32 Princess Victoria Street, Bristol BS8 4BZ LIVESTREAM OPEN COLLAB EVENT
Join Hayley Frances in this inspiring
GET BRAC TICKETS workshop. Pen a poem, make it pretty and
frame it! Come and play on the page. Poetry
is for everyone and anyone can poet. WEDNESDAY 20TH APRIL SUNDAY 24TH APRIL 2022
Tickets £15 via the website: UNDER THE RED GUITAR GECKO AND GAVIN
GET POET WITHIN TICKETS Time: 19:00 Price: £4 Time: 14:00 - 17:00 Price: £10
WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH 2022
EL RINCON CUBE CINEMA Dove St South, BS2 8JD
KIOTA PRE RAMADAN SPECIAL WEDNESDAY 13TH APRIL
298 North Street, Bristol BS3 IJU
Time: 19:30 POEMS FROM THE APHASIA GROUP Gecko and Gavin Osborne. Singer-
Price: Free Poetry and Open Mic. Hosted by Bob storyteller Gecko tours the UK in support of
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Walton, with guest poet Tom Sastry. Tom his second album Climbing Frame.
THE WARDROBE THEATRE Price: Free (book in advance) will be reading from his upcoming second Pronounced ‘Album of the year’ in the
25 West Street, Bristol BS2 0DF ONLINE - ZOOM collection, You Have No Country to Return Morning Star newspaper, Gecko’s playful
KIOTA: A Collective For POC Creatives in Aphasia is a communication disability, To (Nine Arches). Tickets £4 in advance songs cover the big things in life, with wit
Bristol, showcasing People of Colour common after stroke. We will be sharing via El Rincon website, together with full and warmth. Gavin Osborn has spent fifteen
(POC) or BAME creatives from various poems about borders, including the borders details of the events and how to book a years entertaining audiences across the UK,
artistic disciplines in a fantastic afternoon between thoughts and communication. place in the open mic. Tom Sastry was the Europe and Australia with his deft lyricism,
of performance, followed by networking Admission free, but please book via first Lyra Festival poet in 2019 and is one of evocative, heartwarming storytelling and
opportunities. Eventbrite. This will go live on 13th March. Bristol’s most loved poets. quick wit.
GET KIOTA TICKETS GET APHASIA TICKETS GET UNDER THE RED GUITAR TICKETS GET GECKO AND GAVIN TICKETS
22 23TICKETS lyrafest.com
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ARTISTS & SPEAKERS
ABI PALMER is an artist, writer ANTOSH WOJCIK is a poet, CALEB PARKIN, Bristol City CHRIS REDMOND is a poet,
and filmmaker exploring the drummer and cross- Poet 2020 - 22, has published musician, producer and
relationship between linguistic disciplinary artist. He produces widely and shortlisted in founder/artistic director of
and physical communication. music as /weirdtoday and is a various competitions. He tutors Tongue Fu. The show has
Sanatorium (Penned in the member of the collective for Poetry Society, Poetry toured from London’s
Margins, 2020) is a fragmented FWRDMTN. His performance School, Cheltenham Festivals, Roundhouse to Romania to Rio to
memoir that jumps between a luxury thermal piece, How To Keep Time: A Drum Solo for First Story, Arvon and holds an MSc in Creative Cape Town, collaborating with a range of
pool and a blue inflatable bathtub. Personal Dementia, was produced by Penned in the Writing for Therapeutic Purposes. Debut artists, including Kae Tempest, Irvine Welsh
essays and articles have been published by Margins, touring the UK and internationally in pamphlet, Wasted Rainbow (tall-lighthouse). and Akala. As an educator, Chris leads
The Guardian, Vice and Wellcome Collection 2019, with support from Arts Council England. Debut collection This Fruiting Body (Nine workshops in writing, performing and
Stories. In 2020 she was awarded an Artangel His poetry has been nominated for The Arches Press, October 2021). In 2022, he’ll musicianship for organisations such as the
Thinking Time award in order to address the Pushcart Prize and published by Bad Betty publish a new pamphlet with British Council, BBC, BAC, First
pandemic. She was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Press, Anthropocene and Colliding Lines. His Broken Sleep and his collected Story, the Roundhouse and St
Award For Artists in 2021. work explores memory, time and glitches. City Poet work. Mary’s University, London.
ALEX COCKER recently BEN GLOVER is a deaf video CANARIO DE LA CRUZ DALJIT NAGRA’s four poetry
completed a doctoral thesis on designer and creative studied Hispanic-American collections, all with Faber &
the representations of non- captioner. His recent work Languages and Literatures and Faber, have won the Forward
binary genders in modernist includes video designs for; Education for the Indigenous Prize for Best Individual Poem and
literature at the University of NOISE (BBC Dance Passions), Environment at the National Best First Book, the South Bank Show Decibel
Sheffield, and they show RED (Polka Theatre), Coventry Pedagogical University. He edited Iwejlel Award and the Cholmondeley Award, and
absolutely no signs of moving City of Culture, Liverpool Arab k’uk/Vuelo de quetzal, an anthology of Ch’ol been shortlisted for the Costa Prize and twice
anywhere else anytime soon. Say, Spirit Arts Festival and Burning Man poetry (2020). He is author of the collection for the TS Eliot Prize. Daljit is Professor of
(Girasol Press, 2021) is their first collection of Festival. He is currently a RSC Digital Fellow on Mayinaj (Coneculta, 2021) and his Creative Writing at Brunel University, Chair of
poetry, but more is underway. When they are a creative captioning project and has poetry also appears in Jukub: the Royal Society of Literature, Council of
not writing, they might frequently be found previously received the Mead Fellowship and Poems from Chiapas for the Society of Authors, a PBS New Generation
cooking, climbing, or pretending to an Epic Games MegaGrant. Reverse Conquest (Girasol Poet, the inaugural Poet-in-Residence for
be other people. Press, 2021). Radio 4 & 4 Extra, and he presents
BOHDAN PIASECKI is a poet, the weekly Poetry Extra.
ALISHA DIETZMAN received translator, and creative CASEY BAILEY is a writer,
her MFA in Poetry from the producer from Poland, based performer and educator, and the DAVID C JOHNSON is a witty
University of Wisconsin- in Birmingham, with an interest Birmingham Poet Laureate 2020- performance poet. He was
Madison, where she held a in multilingual writing. 2022. Casey’s play ‘GrimeBoy’ has been featured poet at the 2018
Martha Meier Renk Distinguished He founded the first poetry commissioned by the Birmingham Rep. Casey’s Austin International Poetry
Graduate Fellowship. She is a PhD slam in Poland in 2003, before poetry has featured in a number of anthologies Festival and The Great Northern
candidate in Divinity, focusing on Aesthetics moving to the UK to pursue a doctorate in and he was commissioned by the BBC to write Slam in 2019. He is a multi-poetry
and Ethics, at the University of St Andrews, translation studies. He is Visiting Lecturer in ‘The Ballad of The Peaky Blinders’ in 2019. slam champion. He has written radio plays for
supported by a grant from the US-UK Creative Writing at the University of Casey has performed his poetry nationally and the BBC and a number of poems for BBC
Fulbright Commission. Her poetry has Birmingham. Bohdan also works as Creative internationally and was named as one of Radio Bristol. He has seven volumes of poetry
appeared in, or is forthcoming from, Producer and sits on the board of the Poetry Birmingham’s ’30 under 30’ in 2018. published by Paralalia, including
Ploughshares, Pain, Hotel, and the Chicago Translation Centre. Dayspring (2021).
Review, among others. 1990s Chris is a queer,
BUDDY WAKEFIELD is a three- working-class writer from DEBORAH HARVEY’s poems
ANTHONY JOSEPH is an time world champion spoken Hereford, based in Bristol. have been published in
award-winning, Trinidad-born word artist, the inaugural Chris writes primarily for film, journals and anthologies,
poet, novelist, academic and author released by Write audio, and performance. His broadcast on Radio 4’s Poetry
musician. He is the author of Bloody Publishing, and the latest radio play was featured on Please, and awarded several
four poetry collections and most toured performance poet Radio 4's United Kingdoms series prizes. Her most recent poetry
three novels. His 2018 novel Kitch: in history. He has featured on the and was selected as Pick of the Week. Chris's collection, Learning Finity, was published in
A Fictional Biography of a Calypso BBC, HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, ABC Radio short film Factory Talk won best artist film at March 2022 by Indigo Dreams, who also
Icon was shortlisted for the Republic of National and has been signed to both Sage Aesthetic festival and was aired on Channel 4, published her previous four collections and her
Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Francis’s Strange Famous Records and Ani as part of Iris Prize's Best British Shorts. His historical novel, Dart. Deborah is a native
Literature’s Encore Award, and long listed for DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. work hopes to start conversations around Bristolian. She is co-director of The Leaping
the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. queer identity, masculinity, class and Word poetry consultancy, which provides
In 2019, he was awarded a Jerwood Compton accessibility. editorial advice and counselling support for
Poetry Fellowship. His most recent album, The writers.
Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For
Their Lives, was released in May 2021.
24 25TICKETS lyrafest.com
@LyraFest @LyraFest
DIANA BELLESSI is DR EDSON BURTON is a poet, HOLLY MOBERLEY is a poet & JIM MCCUE was co-editor with
considered to be the drama writer, curator and Creative Writing MA graduate Christopher Ricks of The
godmother of feminist / historian. In performance and living in Somerset, UK. She is Poems of T. S. Eliot (2015).
LGBTQI+ / Lesbian poetry in on the page, Edson combines Bristol's 2021 LYRA Slam He had previously worked for
Argentina. Born in 1946, she has storytelling with a deep love for Champion and has upcoming The Times, where he wrote the
become one of the foremost the power of words. His work work in Butcher's Dog. She ‘Bibliomane’ column. His study
voices in Latin America. Her work includes commissions for Situations and the identifies her work as feminist diary entries Edmund Burke and Our Present Discontents
demonstrates a deep commitment to Welsh National Opera. Edson has delivered from your weird cousin. Holly is currently co- appeared in 1997, and his imprint The
progressive politics, ecological conservation workshops in schools, prisons, churches and writing a theatre show on pop culture, Foundling Press has published writing by T. S.
and the social condition of the working class in community settings. He is the author of poetry resuscitation and the 'drowning girls' motif. Eliot, William Empson, Henry James and
Argentina and Latin America. Her poetry is collection Seasoned (2007). Edson is a Alexander Pope.
seen as groundbreaking for its depiction of member of Bristol’s History Commission, the
Lesbian desire and has exerted a strong film programming collective Come the INUA ELLAMS is a Nigerian-
influence on prominent poets and writers, from Revolution and queer people of colour born poet, playwright & JOELLE TAYLOR is the author
the 80s and 90s through to the collective, Kiki Bristol. performer, graphic artist & of 4 collections of poetry. Her
present day. designer and founder of: The newest collection C+NTO &
EDGAR DARINEL GARCÍA Midnight Run (an arts-filled, Othered Poems (June 2021)
DIZRAELI is a genre all of his writes in Tsotsil and is a night-time, urban walking won the T.S Eliot Prize and was
own. Poet, singer, MC, multi- member of Writers in experience.), The Rhythm and the subject of a Radio 4 arts
instrumentalist. His unswerving Indigenous Languages of Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which documentary, Butch. She is a co-curator and
devotion to pushing the Tabasco. His texts are included celebrates poetry & hip hop, and Poetry + Film host of Out-Spoken Live, resident at the
boundaries of lyricism and in Jukub: Poems from Chiapas for / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates poetry and Southbank Centre, and the current editor of
musical form has earned him a the Reverse Conquest (Girasol Press, film. Identity, displacement & destiny are Out-Spoken Press. She has just completed a
bona fide cult status among those who know, 2021), the first Anthology of Texts in the recurring themes in his work, where he tries to book tour of Australia including Sydney Opera
and the raw honesty and humour he brings to Indigenous Languages of Tabasco (State mix the old with the new: traditional African House (March 2022). C+NTO is being adapted
his writings on his own mental health, sexuality Institute of the Culture of Tabasco, 2015) and oral storytelling with contemporary poetics, for theatre.
and the liberation of the human spirit have the poetry collection Slopes (letras de pasto paint with pixel, texture with vector.
drawn together people of all shades verde, 2018).
and ages around his work. JOHN MCCULLOUGH lives in
HELEN DEWBERY has taught JACQUELINE SAPHRA’s All My Hove. His third book of poems,
DL WILLIAMS is a deaf queer poetry film extensively, in Mad Mothers was shortlisted Reckless Paper Birds (2019),
poet working with British Sign person and online. Her work for the 2017 T.S. Eliot prize and won the Hawthornden Prize
Language and English. has appeared internationally at was followed by Dad, and was shortlisted for the
Working with such different poetry and film festivals, where Remember You are Dead in Costa Poetry Award. His previous
languages has inspired a deep she has also presented talks and 2019, both from Nine Arches collections have been Books of the Year for
interest in translation and how her curations. For seven years, she Press. A Bargain with the Light: The Guardian and The Independent. He teaches
work can be made accessible to signing and delivered a programme of poetry film events Poems after Lee Miller (2017) and Veritas: creative writing at the University of Brighton
non-signing audiences. They have performed at Poetry Swindon Festival, including events in Poems after Artemisia (2020) are both and for organisations including the Arvon
around the UK including at the Scottish the community and an outdoor projection. She published by Hercules Editions. Her most Foundation. His new book, Panic Response, is
Storytelling Centre, Wales Millennium Centre, has worked on projects which have included recent collection is One Hundred Lockdown published by Penned in the Margins in 2022.
the Barbican and the Albert Hall, the poetry film collection Nothing in the Sonnets (Nine Arches Press 2021). She teaches
as well as in America and Brazil. Garden and has edited various photography for The Poetry School.
and poetry books. She founded the poetry film JOSIE ALFORD, youtuber
DOMINIC FISHER grew up in magazine Poetry Film Live. and poetry nerd, is neither
Bath and has lived in Bristol for JESSICA SEQUEIRA lives enigmatic, mysterious nor
40 years. He won the Bristol HELEN SHEPPARD is a Bristol- between Chile and the UK, drenched in shadow.
Poetry Prize in 2018, and was based writer and worked as a where she is based at the Her stage presence is
recruited to the IsamBards that midwife. Her poetry explores Centre of Latin American sequinned, Spice Girl-inspired,
same year. He published his first those whose voices are often Studies at the University of pop culture-referencing, infectious and
collection in 2019, and has another, A unheard. She started to write in Cambridge. She has translated welcoming. Once seen, never forgotten, her
Customised Selection of Fireworks, due from her forties. She has performed many books by Latin American authors and work ranges from the subtle nuance of dealing
Shoestring Press soon. He is a co-editor of at Milk Poetry, RTB, Torriano published the novel A Furious Oyster, the story with loss to meeting your partner whilst
Raceme magazine, and spends a lot of time on Meeting House and Harvard Medical School. collection Rhombus and Oval, the essay dressed up as Justin Bieber. Josie and the
his allotment in Horfield. Published widely, including in These are the collection Other Paradises: Poetic Approaches Bristol team are raring to take on Weston and
Hands and Under the Radar. Her debut to Thinking in a Technological Age and the show them how it's done.
collection Fontanelle was published in 2021 by hybrid work A Luminous History of the Palm.
Burning Eye Books. Helen interviews poets for
her podcast Health Beat Poets.
26 27TICKETS lyrafest.com
@LyraFest @LyraFest
JUANA ADCOCK is a Latinx LIV TORC is a poet, artist and MATT HARVEY. Writer, poet, NATALIE LINH BOLDERSTON
poet and translator working in ideas weaver who plunders the enemy of all that’s difficult and is a Vietnamese-Chinese-
English and Spanish. vast caverns and dormant upsetting, Matt’s way with British poet. In 2020, she
Her poems and translations volcanoes of the human and words has taken him from received an Eric Gregory
have appeared in a range of planetary condition. A Radio 4 Totnes to the Wimbledon Award and co-won the
publications and her first book, Slam winner, a former Bard of Tennis Championships, via Rebecca Swift Women Poets’
Manca, explores the anatomy of violence in Exeter, host of The Rainbow Fish Speakeasy Saturday Live, the Edinburgh Festival and the Prize. In 2021, she was shortlisted for the
Mexico. Her English-language debut poetry and of The Hip Yak Poetry Shack. Liv runs the Work section of The Guardian. He is host of Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She is an
collection, Split, published in 2019 by Blue poetry stage at WOMAD, the Hip Yak Poetry Radio 4’s Wondermentalist Cabaret and alumna of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective
Diode Press, was a Poetry Book Society Choice School and the lockdown haiku and creator of Empath Man. ‘Very funny…’ The and the London Library Emerging Writers
and was included in The Guardian’s photography project, Haiflu – as featured on Independent ‘…not only funny but tender and Programme. Her pamphlet, The Protection of
Best Poetry of 2019. the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme. true’ The Guardian Ghosts, is published with V. Press. She is now
working on her first full-length collection.
LAURIE BOLGER is a London LOUISA ADJOA PARKER is a MICHAEL ROSEN is one of NIKKI CHAMPAGNIE HARRIS
based writer & the founder of writer and poet of English- Britain’s best-loved writers and has been working as a BSL
The Creative Writing Breakfast Ghanaian heritage who lives in performance poets for children interpreter for 24 years, as well
Club. Her first book Box Rooms South West England. Her first and adults. He has published in as working as a registered
featured at Glastonbury Festival, the poetry collections were the region of 200 books for therapist. In 2005, she decided
Royal Albert Hall, TATE, Sky Arts & BBC published by Cinnamon Press, and children and adults, including The to leave mental health settings
platforms. Laurie's second collection, Call Me her third, How to wear a skin, was published by Sad Book with Quentin Blake (Walker Books) to work primarily within the arts.
Lady, is a collection of poems celebrating Indigo Dreams. Her debut short story and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt with Helen Nikki now specialises her BSL skills
resilience of women, autonomy, love & her collection, Stay with me, was published in 2020 Oxenbury (Walker Books). His YouTube mainly within media and performance and is
working class Irish heritage. by Colenso Books. Her poetry pamphlet, She channel, Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael one of the founding members of Interpreters
can still sing, was published by Flipped Eye in Rosen, has had over 55 million views. He is of Colour Network, IOCN. She also runs
June 2021, and she has a coastal memoir currently Professor of Children’s Literature at workshops around casting BSL interpreters
LEO BOIX is a bilingual Latino forthcoming with Little Toller Books. Goldsmiths, University of London, where he appropriately for public events and theatre
British poet, translator and co-devised and teaches an MA in spaces.
journalist. He has published Children’s Literature.
two collections in Spanish, Un LUKE KENNARD is a poet and PAMELI BENHAM is a
lugarpropio and Mar de noche. novelist who teaches at the MIRIAM ESPERANZA Londoner, born within the
Boix is a fellow of The Complete University of Birmingham. HERNÁNDEZ VÁZQUEZ is a sound of Bow Bells. She has
Works and co-director of ‘Invisible Presence’. His 6th collection of poetry, speaker of the Ch’ol language been happily settled in Bristol
His English poems have appeared widely and Notes on the Sonnets won the and graduate in Language and for 25 years, after working in
his debut collection of English poetry, Ballad of Forward Prize in 2021, and his Culture of the Intercultural the Middle East and the Thames
a Happy Immigrant, was published by Chatto 2nd novel The Answer to Everything University of the State of Tabasco. Valley. Pameli is an actor, director and teacher
and Windus in 2021. has just been released in paperback by 4th Her poetry appears in Jukub: Poems from who sings and writes. Her poems have been
Estate. Chiapas for the Reverse Conquest (Girasol printed in anthologies and chapbooks, and her
Press, 2021) and she has worked with the collection, Plentiful As Blackberries, has raised
LINTON KWESI JOHNSON is a National Institute of Indigenous Languages over £5,000 for WaterAid.
legendary reggae poet and MALIZAH is a poet from Bristol (INALI) translating Ch’ol to Spanish.
social activist, born in Jamaica, who shares life experiences She is also a digital activist for RAYMOND ANTROBUS MBE
before moving to London. lived, and of those seen the lakty’añ language. FRSL was born in Hackney,
His work has always been around her, through London, to an English mother
political, vital and necessary, performance and poetry. THE MUM POET CLUB is a and Jamaican father. In 2019,
drawing attention to topics like systemic Through her work she gives collective of over 500 mums he became the first poet to be
racism, police abuse and National Front perspectives that shed light on and parents from across the awarded the Rathbone Folio
attacks, calling for government, institutions matters and empower. Malizah loves hip hop, globe. It was created by one Prize for best work of literature in any
and society to be held to account. His nature, community and seeing people shine. inspired mum, Katharine Perry, genre. Other accolades include the Ted
performances are gripping and true to a quote who started a peer support group for fellow Hughes Award, PBS Winter Choice, a Sunday
he gave in a 2008 interview: ‘Writing was a mum poets. It then evolved into online open Times Young Writer of the Year award,
political act and poetry was a cultural weapon.’ mic nights, press publications, live events, and Somerset Maugham Award and The Guardian
then workshops. This event will be run by Poetry Book Of The Year 2018, as well as
Emma Dakeyne and Emily Way, who help to shortlisting for the Griffin Prize and Forward
run the Mum Poet Club, with readings from Prize.
two of their established poets.
28 29TICKETS lyrafest.com
@LyraFest @LyraFest
RIAAN VOSLOO is co-founder STANLEY IYANU is a spoken TOM MARSHMAN has been YOMI SODE, writer and poet,
and bass player/music word poet and writer. He is a a practicing artist for over has been performing for the
producer of Tongue Fu. As a member of the 2020/21 2O years, and has produced past 10 years. He balances the
bass player and arranger, he Dynamo Poetry Mentoring over 60 projects across fine line between both Nigerian
has worked with Nostalgia 77, Scheme, run by Nine Arches many mediums, including and British cultures and can be,
Gregory Porter, Jamie Cullum and Press and Writing West Midlands, museum audio-tours, theatre at times, humorous, loving, self-
The Last Poets. As an educator, Riaan is and a semi-finalist in the BBC Words First and cabaret. reflective and uncomfortable. Highlights
Course Leader on the MA in Popular Music Spoken Word competition 2020. He has include opening for Saul Williams and The Last
Practice at BIMM Bristol, having taught at performed for Apples & Snakes @ Home Poets, with appearances at Yahoo! Wireless
Birmingham and Leeds Conservatoires. He (online showcase) and for the Cheltenham TOM STOCKLEY (T.S. Idiot) Festival, Latitude, Lovebox, Olympic Village,
teaches performance, composition, Literature Festival - expect some weird and is a multidisciplinary artist Sadler’s Wells Theatre, as well as working with
improvisation and cultural theory. wonderful poetry. working across the UK. Channel 4 and BBC Radio 1xtra.
Informed by a century of
ROGER MCGOUGH is the TERRANCE HAYES is the counter-culture and queer
author of over a hundred author of six poetry theory, their practice flirts with ZENA EDWARDS is a poet,
books of poetry for adults and collections: American Sonnets the humour, beauty and sadness of performer and climate activist
children. President of the for My Past And Future everyday life. Their practice includes digital who uses song, movement and
Poetry Society, he has been Assassin, a finalist for the design, photography, writing, short films global influences as a jump-off
honoured with a CBE for services National Book Award, National and live performance, often created for her words. Edwards fuses
to literature and the Freedom of the Book Critics Circle Award and TS collaboratively with other artists and in traditional African
City of Liverpool. After Lily The Pink, the Eliot Prize; How to Be Drawn; Lighthead, community settings. They are proudly queer, instrumentation (the Kalimba and
Aintree Iron, Scaffold, GRIMMS, The Mersey winner of the 2010 National Book Award for gender non-conforming, neurodivergent Kora) and new technology to create
Sound with Adrian Henri & Brian Patten and his poetry; Muscular Music, recipient of the Kate and a descendant of working-class Jewish soundtracks for her poems and stories,
Molière adaptations with English Touring Tufts Discovery Award; Hip Logic, winner of refugees. producing a body of work that reaches
Theatre, Roger presents the long-running the 2001 National Poetry Series, culturally and generationally diverse audiences
Poetry Please. The beat goes on. ‘The and Wind in a Box. on an international level.
godfather of modern British poetry’ - Metro. WARDA YASSIN is an award-
‘The patron saint of poetry’ - Carol Ann Duffy. TIERNEY ELLIOTT is a Bath- winning, British-born Somali
based spoken word poet and poet and secondary school
SARAH TREMLETT is a prize- short story writer. She has teacher, based in Sheffield.
winning poetry film-maker, performed at Shambala She was a winner of the
poet and theorist and a co- Festival, Unislam, Lyra Festival, 2018 New Poets Prize for her
director and editor of Roundhouse Slam and more. She has debut pamphlet Tea with
Liberated Words. A curator won awards for her poetry about mental Cardamom (Poetry Business,
and juror at festivals, she has health and grief, and was placed fourth at the published 2019). Her poetry has been
given numerous talks on the Roundhouse Slam, as well as becoming the published in places including The North,
subject and shown her work first ever audience winner. Tierney’s poetry Magma and Oxford Poetry, and anthologised
worldwide. Her publication The Poetics of explores social issues and injustices, but she in Verse Matters (Valley Press), Anthology X
Poetry Film (June 2021, Intellect Books UK, and also endeavours to explore the (Smith|Doorstop), Halfway Smile and Surfing
The University of Chicago Press USA), has exciting ‘everyday.’ the Twilight (Hive). In October 2020, she
been described as ‘A ground-breaking, took on the role of Sheffield Poet Laureate.
encyclopaedic work, an industry Bible, and TJAWANGWA DEMA is the
essential reading on the genre.’ author of Mandible, selected
for the New-Generation WENDY PRATT i is a writer
SOPHIE SHEPHERD is not only African Poets box set, and The from North Yorkshire. Her
a poet, but a Weston-super- Careless Seamstress, winner of latest collection When I
Mega-fan who isn't afraid to the Sillerman First Book Prize. A Think of My Body as a Horse
show it! Her past works have poet, educator and arts administrator, her won the 2020 Poetry
included poems about Weston's honours include a Botswana Top 40 under-40 Business Book and Pamphlet
brown sea, scooters and award, a Mail and Guardian editor’s choice Competition. In 2021 her
overwhelming instagram infographics that tell award and fellowships from the University of nonfiction WIP The Ghost Lake was long
you how to feel. Sophie usually runs a bi- Iowa, Northwestern University and the Danish listed for the Nan Shepherd Prize. Wendy is
monthly poetry slam in Weston called Rhyme International Visiting Artists programme. A the founder and editor of print magazine,
against the Tide and challenged Margate to a new collection, an/other pastoral, is due out Spelt. Spelt seeks to celebrate and validate
head-to-head slam last summer...which saw April 22, 2022. the rural experience, through creative
Weston reign victorious! Bristol better watch nonfiction and poetry.
out!
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