Word Life and Festival of Debate Present: Vote for

Open Mic Event

Contact: wordlife@nowthenmagazine.com

South Yorkshire has a long history of radical writing. From Ebeenezer Elliott the Corn Law Rhymer who led the fight for the repeal of the Corn Laws which were causing hardship and poverty among the poor to Edward Carpenter - a poet, early LGBT campaigner and founder of the Sheffield Socialist Society. This is an event dedicated to those refuse to sit on the fence. Featuring a feature set from one of Sheffield’s most accomplished poets, Matt Black who will be performing his ‘Vote For Someone’ campaign, Matt McAteer, Sarah Thomasin and an open call to the people of South Yorkshire to sign up for the politics themed open mic.

**MATT BLACK**

Matt is one of the most accomplished poets in South Yorkshire. He's had several collections published for both adults and children, received commissions and awards from across the country and been one of the largest advocates for poetry through his role as a writer and as the previous director of Signposts/Writing Yorkshire.

**SARAH THOMASIN**

As well as saying poems out loud at every opportunity, Sarah has had poems published in Now Then magazine, and in two English Pen collections, the Pankhearst anthology Slim Volume: No Love Lost, The Sheffield Anthology (poems from the city imagined) and Poems For the Queer Revolution. Sarah is the Sheffield organiser of the Anti Slam: a poetry slam where the lowest scoring poet takes the prize.

**MATT MCATEER**

Matt McAteer started performing poetry at Sheffield’s legendary Words Aloud night in 2007 and since then has taken shows to the Edinburgh Free Fringe, Buxton Fringe and Greater Manchester Fringe Festivals and performed at venues from London to Leeds. TS Eliot Prize nominee Helen Mort reckons his poetry is “a punch of fresh air – grounded in social history, written with flair and wit, performed with conviction. There’s nobody else tackling the subjects he writes about so convincingly.”

Entry: £3/4 recommended donations

Time: 7:30pm