Nicki Heinen curates her monthly night. First half a few purveyors of words through poetry and creative prose: Joey Connolly, Cath Drake, David Crystal, Jack Houston; second half jazz with Alex Merritt and his band.
Joey Connolly
Joey Connolly grew up in Sheffield and studied in Manchester. He now lives in London, where he’s the manager of the Poetry Book Fair. His poetry and criticism have appeared in Poetry London, The Poetry Review, The Sunday Times and Best British Poetry 2014 (Salt), as well as on BBC Radio 4. He received an Eric Gregory award in 2012 and his first collection, Long Pass, is published by Carcanet. He is currently working as a Writing Fellow at the University of Manchester.
Cath Drake
Cath won the 2013 Mslexia/Seren poetry pamphlet prize and her pamphlet ‘Sleeping with Rivers’ was published in 2014 by Seren Books. It was the Poetry Book Society’s summer choice. Cath’s poetry was included in Best Austrailan Poetry 2014 (Black Inc books) and she was short-listed for the 2015 Manchester Poetry Prize. She is also a copywriter and non-fiction writer and her work includes award-winning journalism, writing for radio, oral history and life stories. https://cathdrake.com/
David Crystal
David Crystal was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland in 1963 and now lives and works in London. He has had two previous collections from Two Rivers Press.
His latest collection Wrong Horse Home is available from tall-lighthouse.
Jack Houston
Jack Houston lives in London with his wife and son, is on the Poetry School’s MA and plays drums with his band Bugeye. In his spare time, he works in Hackney’s Libraries where he holds free poetry workshops. The next of which will be for World Book day and World Poetry Day. His most recent work can be found in Magma and The Butcher’s Dog.
Music from Alex Merritt and his band