The Poetry Inquisition

Open Mic Event

Contact: thirteenpages@gmail.com

“Poetry has really rather connived at its own irrelevance.”

Earlier this year, after taking part in the judging of the Forward Prize, Jeremy Paxman made some controversial comments about the state of poetry. Half jokingly, he suggested an “inquisition, in which poets would be called to account for their poetry and appear before a panel of ordinary people to explain why they chose to write about the particular subject they wrote about, and why they chose the particular form and language, idiom, the rest of it.”

So that’s what we’re doing.

The Poetry Inquisition is a night of poetry held to account. Every poet who reads – both open mic guests and the two featured poets – will face probing questions from the audience, and a good-natured but merciless Newsnight-style grilling by a panel of interrogators. The panel will change week to week but, as specified by Paxman, will always contain at least one “ordinary” person.

Come join us at Small White Elephant in Peckham Rye on Wednesday 10 December from 7.30pm! Arrive early to sign up for open mic.

Entry: Non-compulsory donation

Time: 7:30pm