A event held at Arnolfini on Friday 17th April. The event starts at 19:30.
✅ All Lyra Fest venues are wheelchair accessible. Access Information Pack available at www.lyrafest.com.
Date: Friday 17th April 2026
Venue: Arnolfini
Time: 19:30 - 21:30
Tickets: £10 (£12 solidarity, £8 concessions)
Join hosts Aish Humphreys and Sam J. Grudgings for an exciting bill of local and national talent to kick off Lyra Fest 2026. A raucous and dynamic evening of queer poets and drag artists, headlined by the sensational Travis Alabanza!
⭐ Travis Alabanza ⭐
Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. For stage, Travis wrote and performed in their debut show BURGERZ which won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, sold out at Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre and toured internationally. It was also voted one of The Guardian Readers Top Shows of The Year. The text is published by Oberon Books. In January 2026, the show will be remounted in Australia at the Sydney and Melbourne theatre festivals.
Their play Overflow, which premiered at and streamed from The Bush, was met with critical acclaim including numerous four-star reviews and was shortlisted for the George Devine Award. Their latest theatre commission, Sound of the Underground, premiered as part of the Royal Court's new season in 2023 to critical acclaim. For screen, Travis is developing an original TV project with See Saw. They were part of this year's BFI Dark Room Lab and have an original feature film with Lobo Films. Their BFI funded short film is in post-production with Lena Dunham serving as Executive Producer.
Travis' debut book None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary was published in 2022 by Canongate and in the US by Feminist Press in 2023. It won the Jhalak Literary Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and was listed in TIME Magazine's 100 books of 2023. Travis’ work has also appeared on BBC Front Row, The Verb and in 2019 they hosted their first radio documentary ‘Going to The Gay Bar’ for BBC Radio Four. Their work has also earned them a place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list 2021, the Dazed100 list and in 2023 as an Evening Standard's future stars of stage and screen.
Part of Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival 2026
#LyraFest
Filters:
Live Event ✓
Entry requirements: 18+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Date: Friday 17th April 2026
Venue: Arnolfini
Time: 19:30 - 21:30
Tickets: £10 (£12 solidarity, £8 concessions)
Join hosts Aish Humphreys and Sam J. Grudgings for an exciting bill of local and national talent to kick off Lyra Fest 2026. A raucous and dynamic evening of queer poets and drag artists, headlined by the sensational Travis Alabanza!
⭐ Travis Alabanza ⭐
Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. For stage, Travis wrote and performed in their debut show BURGERZ which won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, sold out at Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre and toured internationally. It was also voted one of The Guardian Readers Top Shows of The Year. The text is published by Oberon Books. In January 2026, the show will be remounted in Australia at the Sydney and Melbourne theatre festivals.
Their play Overflow, which premiered at and streamed from The Bush, was met with critical acclaim including numerous four-star reviews and was shortlisted for the George Devine Award. Their latest theatre commission, Sound of the Underground, premiered as part of the Royal Court's new season in 2023 to critical acclaim. For screen, Travis is developing an original TV project with See Saw. They were part of this year's BFI Dark Room Lab and have an original feature film with Lobo Films. Their BFI funded short film is in post-production with Lena Dunham serving as Executive Producer.
Travis' debut book None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary was published in 2022 by Canongate and in the US by Feminist Press in 2023. It won the Jhalak Literary Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and was listed in TIME Magazine's 100 books of 2023. Travis’ work has also appeared on BBC Front Row, The Verb and in 2019 they hosted their first radio documentary ‘Going to The Gay Bar’ for BBC Radio Four. Their work has also earned them a place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list 2021, the Dazed100 list and in 2023 as an Evening Standard's future stars of stage and screen.
Part of Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival 2026
#LyraFest
Filters:
Live Event ✓
Entry requirements: 18+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
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