Date: Tuesday 21st April 2026

Venue: The Orchard Coffee & Co

Time: 19:30 - 21:30

Tickets: £10 / £8 / £6 (£5 concessions)

✅ All Lyra Fest venues are wheelchair accessible. Access Information Pack available at www.lyrafest.com.

Raise the Bar: Lyra Fest Open Mic

Raise the Bar returns with another dynamic night of live poetry at The Orchard Coffee & Co., with two brilliant feature acts, Bradley Taylor and Jeremy Toombs.

Our open mics are welcome to poets, rappers, storytellers, lyricists, songwriters, and wordsmiths of all styles and levels of experience, whether it's your first time or your 100th. If you'd like to sign up to perform, or just sit back with a beverage and listen to some of the city's finest wordsmiths, this is the evening for you. Advanced open mic sign-up via Raise the Bar, or add your name to the hat on the door. Co-hosted by Saili Katebe and Tom Sastry.

This event is dedicated to the late Andi Langford-Woods, pioneering figure of Bristol’s poetry, music and open mic scene.

OPEN MIC:

This will be an opportunity to try out new material in a safe, warm environment hosted by Raise the Bar's compere extraordinaire Saili Katebe.

There are 14 open mic spaces. These will become available at 10am on Sunday 22nd March via the following link: http://linktree.com/rtbspokenword

10 performers will be selected in advance from this form. The remaining 4 spots will be drawn on the night from a hat, which will include names from walk-ups and anyone who signed up here but wasn’t selected in advance.

A number of open mic spaces are reserved for writers from the global majority, marginalised genders and sexualities, non-male writers, and writers in outlying areas of Bristol or the South West.

Bradley Taylor:

Bradley Taylor is an award-winning poet born and based in Birmingham. In 2024 he won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, the night of which was the biggest poetry slam in history. In 2025 he released his debut collection ‘You Missed The Best Part’ before embarking on a nationwide tour. He is the host and curator of Piece of Work, Birmingham's premiere poetry night held at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

Bradley has appeared at the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Inspirational Youth Awards, on BBC News and on BBC Radio 6 Music as part of Craig Charle’s ‘Class of 2024’, in which Craig Charles described him as ‘A brand new voice and a fresh perspective on the art of poetry and performance’. His work has appeared in Gutter Magazine, Shooter, Strix and across Birmingham train stations. More recently, he was commissioned to write a poem for Steven Knight, creator of the Peaky Blinders. In 2025, his performance at the Roundhouse was nominated for the Sky Arts award for poetry.

He writes for, and about, people.

Raise the Bar:

Raise the Bar is South West England’s leading live poetry night, running dynamic events and artist development activities since 2014. Raise the Bar runs quarterly poetry events in major theatres in Bristol, as well as open mic events, writing retreats and courses.

Part of Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival 2026

#LyraFest

Filters:

Live Event ✓

Entry requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio — Read more — Read less