Nicki Heinen curates her monthly night of intriguing readings followed by some of the newest jazz around. A night to savour
Melissa Lee-Houghton
Melissa Lee-Houghton’s three poetry collections are published by Penned in the Margins, and her most recent, Sunshine is shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. A poem from Sunshine was shortlisted for the Forward Prizes. She is a Next Generation Poet, fiction writer, essayist and playwright.
Fran Lock
Fran Lock is a dog whisperer, cardigan wearer, and author of two poetry collections, ‘Flatrock’ (Little Episodes, 2011) and ‘The Mystic and the Pig Thief’ (Salt, 2014). Her work as appeared in various places, most recently POETRY and Poetry Review. She is the winner of the 2014 Ambit Poetry Competition, and the Out-Spoken Poetry Prize 2015. Her poem ‘Last Exit to Luton’ came third in the 2014 National Poetry Competition.
Jon Sayers
Jon Sayers trained as an actor and singer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has published poems and translations in journals in the UK and USA, including Magma, The Rialto, Kaffeeklatsch, Literary Review and The Squaw Valley Review. He is Chair of Magma Poetry, Deputy Chair of The Poetry Society trustees and is currently serving as Poet in Residence at Sunday Assembly, London. He’s currently engaged in a challenging project to translate the works of Jacques Prevert into English verse. He has read (and sung) his poems in venues around London and the UK.
Ian Cartland
Ian was born in Derbyshire and lives in Cambridge, where he works as a typist. He helps to organize a long-running series of poetry readings there, an activity he describes as unbelievably blissful. His work has been in various magazines and anthologies such as Poetry London, Poems in Which, Best British Poetry and (in lit crit form) Prac Crit. He is procrastinating daily towards a first book.
Sylvia Schmidt with White Flower
Formed as a response to the erratic and all-consuming city of London, White Flower offers its audiences an opportunity to step away from urban life, pay attention to intimate sound, and be drawn into dream-like sonorities. Through creating a focus on stillness & silence, but exploring uncomfortability and contradiction, the group hope to provide space for contemplation, trance and catharsis.