Elvis McGonagall and Susan Evans plus open mic

Open Mic Event

Contact: gregfreem62@gmail.com

Write Out Loud Woking proudly presents leading performance poets Elvis McGonagall and Susan Evans plus lots of open-mic poetry at the Lightbox literary festival in Woking

Stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary, comedian and broadcaster, Elvis McGonagall resides at The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere in the middle of nowhere where he scribbles verse whilst drinking Scotch, listening to Johnny Cash and throwing heavy objects at his portable telly. Two series of his sitcom Elvis McGonagall Takes A Look On The Bright Side have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 where he appears regularly as well as popping up occasionally on the television.

Elvis is the 2006 World Slam champion, the compere of the Blue Suede Sporran Club and performs at literary and music festivals, comedy clubs, pubs and dodgy dives up and down the country and abroad. He also performs with the kings of Caledonian skiffle Dead Plants as Elvis McGonagall & The Resurrectors, “an unholy marriage of radical stand-up poetry and shoutin’ punky hillbilly blues”.

Deftly witty and subversive but not afraid to be plain daft, Elvis has been spitting his scurrilous diatribes against the powers that be since 2003. And look at the state of the world now. So that’s 14 years of futile ranting. A collection of his poems from 2003 to 2017 entitled Viva Loch Lomond! was published by Burning Eye Books in 2017. Elvis McGonagall has suffered for his poetry. Now it’s your turn.

“….righteous ire, directed at very deserving targets ... McGonagall’s verses are shot through with a moral umbrage and rhetorical power” (Brian Logan, The Guardian)

“… funny, angry and tightly written ... McGonagall combines anger, polish and carefully crafted verse in a way which recalls John Cooper Clarke ... If the word ‘poetry’ is putting you off, get over it”
(Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman)

“brilliantly anarchic, verbally agile, always a treat”
(Joan Bakewell)

“I couldn’t imagine the poetry scene without Elvis McGonagall. His verse is wonderful, full of chippy invective and scorching satire. My favourite Elvis, just ahead of Costello”
(Luke Wright)

“someone you’ve never heard of whose every stanza sounds like it was written by Les Dawson on the back of a fag packet”
(Rachel Cooke, The New Statesman)


Acclaimed performance poet Susan Evans is a regular featured and headline artist across the UK's performance poetry and alternative cabaret circuits, from the Royal Festival Hall to the festival tent. Susan is from east London and studied visual and performing arts at the University of Brighton, where she is now based. Straddling stage and page, she is widely published in a variety of magazines and anthologies; most recently, The Best of British (Paper Swans Press). Her highly-anticipated, debut poetry collection, Shift Happens, is due out in 2018.


“Well respected, much loved and formidably talented” (Ernie Burns, Platform 1)

“Her live performances rock the woe out of you.” (Abe Gibson, Poet in the City)

“Seriously thought-provoking or hilarious (sometimes both)" (Workers’ Liberty Women)

“A rich brew” (Sam Smith, The Journal)

“Show-stopper” (Colin Grant, Speaky Spokey)


You can find her here: https://www.facebook.com/SusanEvansPoet/


The eagerly-anticipated performances by Elvis and Susan are part of four hours of free poetry - although donations to the Lightbox very welcome - from 11am to 3pm in the ground-floor café of the Lightbox gallery. Your compere will be Write Out Loud Woking’s organiser Greg Freeman. Contact Greg at gregfreem62@gmail.com if you’d like to sign up for an open mic slot.

Entry: Free entry, suggested £3 donation

Time: 11:00am