December. We’re racing toward the fag end of 2024, so we kicked off the final month of the year with a burst of poetic activity. Well, why wouldn’t you?
The day started with two workshops at Wolves Art Gallery, in conjunction with their incredible ‘Painted Dreams’ exhibition. This recreates the original and groundbreaking 1907 exhibition of paintings and pastel drawings by artist Evelyn de Morgan – which was the first ever UK solo exhibition by a female artist – and it’s absolutely magnificent. If you haven’t already been to see it, you’ve got until early March, but don’t hang about, because you’ll want to visit more than once.
Our workshops invited participants to each create a piece of ekphrastic poetry in response to Evelyn de Morgan’s work, and we’re delighted to say that the poems they drafted clearly showed how much of an impact her paintings had on them. Our hope is that the finished poems will be available for visitors to the exhibition to read – hopefully by the time Wolves Lit Fest rolls around at the end of January. More news on that when we have it.
A quick dash home in the last of the daylight, a bite to eat, and it was time for our last Yes We Cant of the year. Reader, what a belter it was! Our open mic poets excelled themselves; ‘Alf Ender Sarah L Dixon entertained with poems in praise of 90s indie music; and our headliner Kim Moore presented us with the gift of new and astounding poems from her forthcoming book. Yes We Cant is always a highlight of our month, but this one was exceptional. We couldn’t have asked to finish the year on a better note.
Now, we’ll be putting our feet up for a well-earned (and much-needed) rest. Our huge thanks and appreciation to everyone who’s supported and enjoyed our work over the course of 2024. We’ll be back again in 2025. If you need a poetry fix in the meantime, the Wolves Lit Fest poetry competition is open to entries until the end of the year (details on our website), and if you’re looking for a unique present for friends and family, then tickets for the 2025 Wolves Lit Fest poetry slam (trumpet-blowing alert: this is undoubtedly one of the best poetry slams around, so ignore it at your peril) are now on sale. You can get yours here.
From here on, we’ll be living the festive dream with lebkuchen, mistletoe, and mulled wine. What could possibly go wrong?
With Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists (PPP) I put on a lot of events, work with a lot of poets and therefore am always on the lookout for people that will be a good fit for the things that we do. We also suggest acts to organisations and festivals we work with (usually the ones we can’t afford to put on ourselves, but would like to see perform where we live ☺). So a good festival, with lots going on in one place, is always attractive. And my goodness, Morecambe is a good festival. It’s the second year that PPP have been in attendance.
I got there on the Thursday evening for the opening event, a low-key event in a brewery tap house. It was a chance to catch up with familiar faces and listen to Sarah L Dixon read from her new collection, based on a music fan’s experience of growing up in an indie music scene. We’re delighted that Sarah will be joining us as ’Alf Ender for our Christmas online Yes, We Cant. We haven’t announced our headliner for that evening as yet…but we’re very excited about who it is…suffice to say it’ll be a belter.
Friday daytime I attended a symposium on spoken word. It’s always useful to find out how people from other parts of the country are dealing with similar things to you. It seems the post-pandemic scene is not as it was in the before times, in part it’s due to lack of money, getting free accessible venues etc. There was agreement that lack of money to book headliners was impoverishing the scene and that though open mics are wonderful and necessary, so are events where people get to see established or emerging artists and are opened up to a wider understanding of what spoken word can be. The increasing costs of rail travel – and the unreliability of said travel – is prohibitive to getting headliners in when nights only have a small budget. How do we address that? Answers on a postcard, please.
Next up was Rowan McCabe, who performed his Door-to-Door Poet show. It was exceptional. I loved it from start to finish. It was upbeat and funny, moving too. Rowan is a fantastic performer and a very likeable character. It’s definitely a show/performer that PPP would like to book somewhere down the line.
In the evening, I watched Mike Harding in The Winter Gardens. This was a good event, very enjoyable, in an incredible venue which is in the process of being restored. The Friday night shenanigans carried on with Henry Normal and then Attila the Stockbroker in the Kings Arms, where the party went on until 2am.
Like most festivals, it’s hard to do everything you want to. There aren’t clashes as such, just wall to wall poetry, so I recommend scheduling breaks, and picking and choosing what you’re going to see – even if you’re a complete poetry party animal.
Saturday started at noon with an open mic. Another chance to see new faces, folk who are just starting out, and I’m always on the lookout for someone who’ll be the perfect fit for something we’re planning. Open mic finished, next up was Robin Ince. He was absolutely great. Which is a relief, as PPP have booked Robin for Wolves Lit Fest Fringe Room in 2025 (February 1st – put the date in your diary!)
One of our roles at Morecambe was to bring Midlands poets to the festival. We were delighted to give a platform to Kenton Samuels, Gracie Bee, and Priyanka Joshi. Three very different poets with very different styles, who were all brilliant. The audience was very receptive, there was a bit of dancing (courtesy of Gracey!), and there were whoops and cheers at the end of the hour. All three poets are featured in Offa’s Press ‘New Voices’ anthology, and the books sold out.
After that excitement I had a bit of a wander around – there are some lovely views and fantastic sculptures along the seafront – and got some food. It’s great to walk out of a venue and have Morecambe Bay to marvel at. Then it was back into the poetry fray once more…
I watched Donna Ashworth, currently the best-selling poet in the UK. Her brand of popular poetry took off on social media over lockdown. She was warm, consummately professional, held the audience in the Winter Gardens, and – judging by the queue of people buying books – Donna will have been very popular with her publishers since she appeared on the scene.
Next it was the turn of Alistair McGowan. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a massively entertaining mix of impressions, anecdotes, and bloody good poetry. There was a sort of contemporary Betjeman quality to the work. He’d be on my wish list to book…although I imagine we’d need to whisper into the ears of festival directors to make that one happen. But you know…nothing ventured and all that.
Then I watched Raymond Antrobus over at the King’s Arms before heading back to the B&B. I’d never seen him before but had heard a lot about him. The room was rapt.
Sunday. Another open mic start to the day, which I enjoyed. But I was really there for Helen Ivory and Martin Figura. Martin is one of my favourite poets. I’ve seen him perform three times now, twice in person and once online (for Yes, We Cant). He was even better than I remembered. On fire, he was.
Helen read from her new book ‘Constructing a Witch’ published by Bloodaxe. The poems are beautifully crafted. They’re the kind of poems that you need to hear more than once. I bought one of the pre-launch copies, and I’ve been reading it ever since. It’s very, very good. Layers. Lots to think about. A very unique style.
I watched a few more poets during the afternoon, with a range of varied styles. It’s the great thing about a festival. There’s something for everyone. Kate Fox’s show was really interesting…so much to take in. I really, really want to see it again. Notes were made in the PPP notebook.
I’d also been looking forward to seeing Big Charlie Poet, who’d got a new book out. He was struggling with a cold. Not that you’d have known. He did a lovely, warm reading. PPP like Charlie’s work, so much so we’ve booked him…he’s on at this evening’s Yes, We Cant (checks watch…in approximately 20 minutes at time of writing!). Told you we’re always on the lookout.
By the time Pam Ayres was on at the Winter Gardens I was flagging, but she is utterly brilliant and soon I was feeling energised again. A natural, gracious, entertaining raconteur. I don’t know how she does it, but you feel like a friend is nattering to you over a table rather than that you’re sitting thirty rows back in a theatre. She just draws you in. Funny and fun. And again, watching the queue for books and selfies (which she was wonderfully game for), she’s probably pleasing her publishers as well as her fans.
I sloped off knackered after that. But the poetry party continued, and this year’s festival wound up with the Manky Mates’ tribute to the rare talent that was Jackie Hagan (RIP), who had performed so wonderfully at the festival last year supporting Roger McGough.
I had a few games of pool before going to bed. I hadn’t played since before the pandemic and the sight of a pool table was too much of a draw not to. Poetry and pool, two of my favourite things. And Morecambe did not disappoint.
Tomorrow, we’re at BlackBerry Fair in Whitchurch. This is one of our favourite events of the year – we spend all day sitting on a sofa at the side of the high street, writing bespoke poems for folk who’ve come along to enjoy and take part in the festival. Over the years, we’ve written dozens: for grandparents and grandchildren, pet dogs and pirates. We can’t say how much we love this – although that love has been tested in years when the weather’s been a bit grim. We get to chat with so many fascinating people, and we never know what we’re going to be asked to write about next. It may not be every poet’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely ours! If you’re there, pop by and say hallo.
On Sunday afternoon we’re back in the West Midlands, at Caldmore Community Gardens in Walsall, running an open mic to celebrate nature (and National Poetry Day). Gracey Bee is our MC, it’s free to attend, it’ll be fun and friendly, and there may well be samosas. If you’ve a poem you want to read, or just want to come along and listen, you’ll be very welcome.
And once that’s finished, we hotfoot it over to Zoom for October’s Yes We Cant. Our headliner this month is Jonathan Humble, the man behind Dirigible Balloon, and our ‘Alf Ender is Ash Bainbridge. All the open mic spots have been filled already, but there’s still time to join our audience. Get in touch if you fancy curling up on your sofa with some great poetry to round off your weekend.
Many years ago, when the world was still young [2018: ed] we found ourselves looking for an easily accessible listing of West Midlands poetry events, with all the necessary details for folk who might be interested in going along to them, and found… nothing. So we decided to do something about it, and – being cheeky wee scraps – we created our very own Mappa Mundi, listing all the events and venues we could. We still believe that in doing so, we corrected the appalling oversight in the original Hereford map, which – for all its qualities – is next to useless for poets.
Then Covid happened, live poetry took something of a back seat, and the need for our Mappa Mundi fell away. We put it in the back of a dusty cyber-drawer, and forgot about it. Almost. Finding ourselves with a little time on our hands this summer, we unrolled it, laid it out on a table, and set about updating it. It turns out that some of the poetry nights from our 2018 map are still flourishing. Others have disappeared. And there are a fair few new kids on the block, too, as the regional poetry scene evolves and changes, ebbs and flows.
You’ll find all of them here https://pandemonialists.co.uk/mappa-mundi/ There’s the wonderful image designed by artist Catherine Pascall Moore, which tips its hat at the Hereford Mappa, while all the poetry and spoken word events are on a slightly more modern and tech-friendly Google map. We’ve included nights which lie just outside the West Mids county too, because why not? Who wouldn’t fancy a trip to Worcester, or Ironbridge, or Hinckley to listen to poetry once in a while? And if you run a regular event we don’t know of, get in touch and we’ll add it to the listing.
The poets list on the map? We know that’s not up to date. And we’ll get round to revamping that at some point. But for now, use this list of events to get out there, listen to poetry, share your own, meet people, and keep this regional, grassroots arts scene thriving.
It was an incredible Ironbridge Slam 2024 yesterday. A lovely venue and an almost impossible job for the judges. Top notch poetry and performance all afternoon until we finally crowned our winner Brenda Read-Brown. With David Braziel in 2nd place and Ryan Kenny in 3rd. Thanks to everyone who joined us, to the venue for being such wonderful hosts and the techs who made everything go seamlessly.
See you next year.
And if you enjoyed the music played before the event and during the interval…
As a new year races into our vision like an excitable puppy it’s time for PPP to start preparing for Wolverhampton Lit Fest. Since its inception we’ve run events as part of the festival and this year is no exception.
It all starts for us on Saturday 3rd February 2024 when we curate the Fringe Room taking placein the Arena Theatre. All five performances are pay-as-you-feel and it starts off with a trio you might have heard of. Yes, we kick off the event with our Pass the Poetry Parcel show.
Then, rather than rest and go to the pub we instead bring you another four shows from Tina Sederholm, Dan Webber, Rose Condo and duo Willis the Poet and Ben Moore. We also have the Poetry Competition Winners Showcase event at 4.30pm in the same building. If you get there early you technically don’t need to leave the building for six hours so bring your slippers.
After a quick break we then run (well, amble gracefully) over the road to the Art Gallery for the Stars of the Slam event. Jemima Hughes, Matt Jones, Kieren King, Chloe Jacquet and Colin Wells have all earned their place in poetry folklore by winning slams somewhere on this isle and we’re putting them in a single place, at a single time for your enjoyment. All for a fiver. It’s like inflation never happened.
Then the poetry Gods allow us to sleep for a few hours before returning to the Art Gallery on Sunday for the Writers’ Hub. From 11am to 6pm a bevy of local writers’ groups have some time to share their work. All the events are free. Jonathan Davidson from Writing West Midlands will also have a stall at the event for you to find out more about the work WWM do in the region. It’s yet another day you might want to bring your slippers.
And finally on Friday 9th February we have the now legendary Wolverhampton Lit Fest Poetry Slam. Again we’re at the Arena. Tickets are £12 and you can even watch on the livestream if you want to sit in your own home in your slippers. PPP Slams are always special events and the Wolves Lit Fest slam is the specialest of the special. Our hometown slam, in what is usually a packed theatre. Get your tickets sharpish because this can sell out.
With all that buzz, it’s no wonder the puppy is so excited. We hope to see you at one or more (or all!) of the events.
The results for this year’s Ironbridge Festival poetry competition are now out. Congratulations to our winner, Helen Kay, and all other winning and shortlisted poets. Our thanks to our judge, Pat Edwards, and to every single poet who entered. We wish you all the very best with your submissions to other competitions in future. You can read the full list of winners and shortlisted poets here: https://pandemonialists.co.uk/ironbridge-poetry-competition-2023/
If you’re in and around Ironbridge next Sunday (October 15th) we’re holding a prizewinners’ event at Coalbrookdale Community Centre, from 11.30am, where some of the winning poets will be reading their poems, Pat Edwards will say a few words about the judging process, and poets who submitted to the TF postcode part of the competition will also have the opportunity to read. Entry is free, and everyone is welcome to come along and listen. We hope to see you there!
Last night we took Yes We Cant back to Walsall, and held our first ever hybrid event at the wonderful Asgard Games in the town centre. It’s a perfect venue: large, airy, clean, comfortable, welcoming. And it has a bar. What’s not to like?
Our goal was to recreate the warmth, atmosphere, and enjoyment of Yes We Cant as it used to be at the Pretty Bricks, while also ensuring that we brought our Zoom audience with us – we’ve spent three years sharing our events with them, and they’ve taught us a lot about the importance of accessibility and how we need to facilitate it. We’d finally found a venue, now we just had to make it work.
We kept it simple. Booked a great headline poet, a compelling ‘Alf Ender, filled the open mic spots, and threw open the physical and virtual doors to anyone who wanted to come. And reader, they came. Dave MCed, Steve looked after the webcam, and Emma chatted with the Zoom attendees. S Reeson (thank you!) rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in, too. Everything ran like a dream. The open mic poets? Brilliant. Our ‘Alf Ender, Tina Cole? Fantastic. Headliner Ben Davis? Hilarious.
And the feedback? It couldn’t be better.
“You did a brilliant job tonight. I’ve been to 3 previous hybrids and they were unsuccessful due to poor sound and a feeling of isolation in the zoom room. Yours was perfect.”
“Dear PPP, the first hybrid YWC was a triumph. Great sound and video quality, felt like I had a front row seat. All the performers knocked it out the park. Thank you all again for making your event genuinely inclusive. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next one.”
We’re over the moon, Brian. Over the chuffing moon.
We are excited to announce the news that on Sunday October 1st we’ll be having our first ever hybrid Yes We Cant. Our flagship poetry night has been a purely online event since the pandemic, but we’re dipping our toes back into the real-world water, and heading back to Walsall to for an evening which will be both online and in the delightful physical space that is Asgard Games.
Whether you want to join us via Zoom or be with us at Asgard, we’d love you to come along and be part of this. Our headliner for the night will be the outrageously hilarious Ben Davis, while our ‘Alf Ender will be Tina Cole. There’ll be ten open mic places, there’s good ales, and the night remains – as ever – a pay-as-you-feel event.
With this being our first-ever attempt at running a hybrid event, we need to run through a bit of housekeeping so we all know what to expect….
1. At this event, Zoom attendees will purely be able to watch and listen to what’s happening, as well as interact with PPP via the chat function. We know this isn’t ideal, but we’re learning how to do this as we go along, and hope to build on what we can do over time. We’re also going to find out just how easy/difficult it is to work an event which is online and in a physical space, so if there are any hiccups, do please bear with us. 2. This means that on October 1st all ten open-mic spaces will be available to folk who are physically present at Asgard Games. Again, this is something we hope to be able to change as we learn what’s involved, and what tech we might need, but it’s baby steps for now. 3. We promise you great poetry, a range of voices, and a top night’s entertainment. Yes We Cant at Asgard will be just as good as ever. If you want a Zoom space, get in touch. If you’re coming along to the venue on the night, just turn up. And whichever you’re doing, please tell your friends. Thank you.
