A
event
held at The Station
on Tuesday 8th February. The event starts at 19:30.
We're back for 2022! Our first spoken word event of the year is a special book launch of UK Slam Champion Kathryn O'Driscoll's new collection 'Cliff Notes', + an open mic, and array of excellent featured poets.
The event will feature Kathryn O'Driscoll reading new works from Cliff Notes, plus special guests Fay Roberts, Cal Wensley, Raina Greifer, Tom Dewey, Sam Grudgings, and host Saili Katebe.
There will be an open mic in the first half with very limited spaces, so please head to the ticket link to book your open mic slot in advance.
KATHRYN O'DRISCOLL:
Kathryn O’Driscoll is a spoken word poet, writer and activist from Bath, England. She talks openly about disabilities, mental health, LGBTQIA+ issues and joys and gender politics in her wide range of poems.
She is the current UK Slam Champion and a World Slam Finalist. Aside from performing poetry across the South West, she has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, at multiple UK National competitions, on BBC Radio Bristol and was featured on the BAFTA-winning Sky Arts spoken word TV show Life and Rhymes.
CLIFF NOTES:
Kathryn O’Driscoll’s debut collection comes from the edge of being alive, being sane, and being heard. Exploring grief, sexual abuse, mental illness, isolation and recovery, Cliff Notes forms the story of many losses and what is left behind. Poetry from the precipice oscillating between beauty and brutality, Cliff Notes examines how our experiences shape our ideas about who we are. Intrusive thoughts, metaphor, and facts are woven together until reality is indistinguishable from a dysfunctional mind’s perception of it.
‘Kathryn O’Driscoll uses words to build bridges across the chasms we all dread to fall into. This collection is passage across a heart that beats so loudly we can feel the tremors in our own lives. Here is a poet that that invites you to make the crossing and discover new territory in your own world.’ – Shane Koyczan
FAY ROBERTS:
Fay Roberts is a performance poet, a musician, a storyteller, an events host, an accidental voice actor, Artistic Director for Spoken Word at PBH's Free Fringe, and an enormous geek. During weekdays, ze persuades people to make lists and say no to shiny things. For every role, there is a different hat, and a spreadsheet to match. Zir first full collection, Spectral, is due out with Burning Eye in Spring 2022.
SAM J GRUDGINGS:
Sam J Grudgings is a queer poet from Bristol shortlisted for the Outspoken Poetry Prize 2020. His work explores rehabilitation, addiction & loss via the lens of body horror & the 1920’s burlesque scene. Commonly found yelling poems at punk shows, his collection The Bible II is available from Verve Poetry Press
RAINA GREIFER:
Raina Greifer (she/they) is a Bristol-based writer and performance-maker. Her work often explores themes of sex, consent, and grief. They have performed at events like Milk Poetry and Raise the Bar, have been published by Juked Mag and The Offing, and are a 2021 BBC Words First Finalist.
TOM DEWEY:
Tom has achieved international media acclaim as a writer and performer. He has delivered a TEDx Talk on Mental Health, featured on BBC iPlayer, performed to a sold-out Roundhouse, closed the Bristol Old Vic’s 250th Birthday Weekend and been named by Rife Magazine as one of the most influential young people in Bristol. He is a member of Apples and Snakes’ 2021 Writing Room, a Community Reporter for Bristol24/7 and an Open Sessions Writer at Bristol Old Vic.
CAL WENSLEY:
Cal Wensley writes on the death of their father with all of the intensity of someone who doesn't want to admit that their father is dead. To some it might sound like they treat death as a joke and they're right. Cal tackles sensitive issues with a lack of sensitivity and a whole lot of humanity. Cal's poetry might make you cry but just remember that it's their dad that's dead so try not to be more upset than them.