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• LIVEwire – Poetry Night

LIVEwire – Poetry Night

Presented by Front Room

LIVEwire Weston – A night of electric spoken word poetry starring Laurie Bolger, Vanessa Kissule, and Kat Lyons! The LIVEwire Poetry team has been producing nationwide events since 2016 – earning a reputation as one of the most vital and dynamic producers on the UK’s thriving scene. From the back rooms of pubs to sold-out theatre shows; from music festivals to libraries; their events continue to entertain and enthrall….

Laurie Bolger is a London-based writer and the founder of The Creative Writing Breakfast Club. Laurie’s work has been widely anthologised and has featured at Glastonbury, TATE and Sky Arts. Laurie’s first publication Box Rooms celebrated community and her W10 roots.This year Laurie was the winner of The Moth Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for The Sylvia Plath, Bridport and Forward Poetry Prize. Her latest books include ‘Makeover’ and ‘Spin’ celebrating the resilience of working class women, autonomy and love.

Kat Lyons is a Queer writer, performer, workshop facilitator and creative producer. Their poetry collection Love Beneath the Nails is available from Verve Poetry Press, and they recently finished touring Dry Season, a spoken word theatre show exploring menopause. They are interested in how stories connect us to our world and each other, and in artistic and interdisciplinary collaborations of all kinds. Kat is the current Bristol City Poet (2022-2024).

Vanessa Kisuule is a writer and performer based in Bristol. She has won over ten slam titles including The Roundhouse Slam 2014, Hammer and Tongue National Slam 2014 and the Nuoryican Poetry Slam. She has been featured on BBC iPlayer, Radio 1, and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Blue Peter, Don’t Flop and TEDx in Vienna. She has appeared at an array of literary and music festivals and was Glastonbury Festival’s Resident Poet in 2019. She has been invited to perform all over the world from Belgium to Brazil to Bangladesh.

Her poem on the historic toppling of Edward Colston’s statue ‘Hollow’ gained over 600,000 views on Twitter in three days. She has two poetry collections published by Burning Eye Books and her work was Highly Commended in the Forward Poetry Prize Anthology 2019. She has written for publications including The Guardian, NME and Lonely Planet and has publication credits in pending anthologies with Canongate, Orion and Penguin Random House. She has worked extensively in theatre with Bristol Old Vic, Kneehigh Theatre and Pentabus and her Arts Council supported show ‘SEXY’ toured nationally in 2017. She was the Bristol City Poet for 2018 – 2020 and will be co-tutor for Southbank Centre’s first ever Poetry Collective alongside Will Harris. She is currently working on an essay collection and her debut novel.