WORD CLUB 4

Open Mic Event

Contact: mark@markconnors.co.uk

Hi! Our 4th Word Club night will take place on Friday 24th April 2015, from 7.30 pm, at The Chemic Tavern, Leeds. Our headliner this month is our old friend and former WORDS ON TAP host, the critically acclaimed, Matthew Hedley Stoppard! We also have two special guest slots from Ian Harker and Terry Simpson. as well as a host of ultra-talented open micers!



Matthew Hedley Stoppard was born in Derbyshire in 1985. After a brief career as a journalist, he now works at Headingley Library, and lives in Leeds with his wife and two sons. Recordings of Matthew’s poetry include Insect Eucharist and Other Poems (2012) and the spoken-word album Runt Country (2014), both available from Adult Teeth Recordings. On the page, his poetry has appeared in Magma, Iota, Cake, The Morning Star, A Complicated Way of Being Ignored (Grist, 2012) and Holding Your Hand Through Hard Times (Osset Originals, 2014). His debut collection of poetry, A Family Behind Glass, was published by Valley Press on the 15th May 2013, and was included in The Guardian's Readers' Books of the Year.

Ian Harker's poetry has appeared in Agenda, The North, Other Poetry and Stand; and he was shortlisted for the Bridport and Troubadour prizes in 2014. He has a poem forthcoming on a bus in Guernsey, having been shortlisted for the Guernsey International prize, judged by Andrew Motion.

Terry Simpson wrote two plays about the mental health industry which were filmed for use as course materials by the Open University, including a dark musical comedy ‘An Untimely Death on Paaschendaele Ward’. His collection of songs and poems “Off Beat” was described by Poetry Express as a “good selection from a very talented writer and performer, who has drawn on a wide range of literary and musical influences”. He was runner up Poet Laureate at the 2006 Camberwell Bonkersfest, a ‘festival of mad culture’, for which he was awarded a plastic banana holder by John Hegley.

We have plenty of open mics slots available, so please come along and beguile us with your work. Time will be restricted to 3 minutes per person. Please time your work and stick to your 3 minutes so everyone can have an equal slot. Please see me (Mark Connors) on arrival to put your name down. We will do our best to fit everyone in but it won’t do your chances any harm if you arrive a bit earlier.

Friday 24th April 2014 from 7.30 pm

And remember, the first rule of WORD CLUB is:WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT WORD CLUB….SO SPREAD THE WORD!
The Chemic Tavern, 9 Johnston Street, Woodhouse, Leeds. LS6 2NG.

Entry: Optional

Time: 7:30pm