A veteran poet who moved out of London to Lewes is launching a new open-mic poetry night in the Sussex town, with Attila the Stockbroker as the first guest poet. Janine Booth – also known as The Big J – says Spoaken Word Lewes will take place on the first Sunday of the month, starting in September, from 7-10pm at the Royal Oak pub, close to Lewes rail station.

Janine Booth first became known as a ranting poet in the 1980s. Last year she published CoronaVerses, one of the earliest anthologies – if not the first – of pandemic poetry.