A Poem & A Pint

Open Mic Event

Contact: see www.apoemandapint.org

Notes: For those who don’t know the venue, take the Coniston road at Greenodd and fork off right at Penny Bridge Hall for Oxen Park and Rusland – from there the route will be signed wherever you need to turn off - see also map on www.apoemandapint.co.uk.) No Bar: please bring your own refreshments.
__________________________________________

MC: Ross Baxter. FLOOR SLOTS available for five local poets to read (apply at the door)

This is the last in the current season of A Poem & A Pint, with a fascinating mix of cultures featuring guest poet Kei Miller, and Jazz/folk duo The Demix, all in the idyllic woodland surroundings of the Rusland Valley.

Kei Miller was born in Jamaica in 1978. He read English at the University of the West Indies and completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. As well as writers like Lorna Goodison and Emily Dickinson, he was also largely influenced by the voices he used to hear around him – “Pentecostal preachers and old women who knew how to tell the most amazing stories.” His first poetry collection, Kingdom of Empty Bellies, was published in March 2006 by Heaventree Press; his second, There Is an Anger That Moves, was published by Carcanet in October 2007. He is also the editor of Carcanet's New Caribbean Poetry: An Anthology. He has travelled widely across the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, the UK and Europe, including a spell as an International Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa, and currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. His new collection, A Light Song of Light, due out from Carcanet in July, deals with the recent economic recession and family tragedy, and asks ‘how in the midst of all this darkness can you write a poem that is a song of light?’

Music will be provided by Rod and Sarah Demick , who together make up The Demix. Well-known to Rusland and Satterthwaite audiences, both Rod and Sarah have distinguished musical pedigrees. A professional musician since the age of 17, Rod has worked with Bees Make Honey, Meal Ticket, Yellow Dog, and Ian Gomm. He toured the world for 11 years with David Essex at the same time as recording and touring with The Strawbs. Rod has also worked with Dr John, Guitar Shorty, Ron Kavana, and Taj Mahal. For the last ten years he has been song-writing and playing bass with Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes. Sarah was born of Ojibwa parents in Toronto, Canada, and began singing at folk clubs in London in 1972. A professional social worker, she has kept on singing and has worked with the late great Davy Graham, as well as such luminaries as Frankie Armstrong, Peggy Seeger, and Bob Davenport.

As usual there will be more poetry from local poets in the floor slots, and your host for the evening will be local poet and beekeeper, Ross Baxter.

This promises to be a very special event to round off what has been a season already acclaimed as one of our best. So why not come and spend a summer evening with stunning poetry, great music, and good company amid the glories of rural Rusland.

Future Poem and a Pint Guest Poets will include: 11th September – PAT BORTHWICK

Price: £4.00 / £3.00

Time: 7:30pm