Bedford Events 2015/16

Here’s an update on a pretty packed poetry events calendar for the next season in Bedford.

Ouse Muse is back, starting on 16th September, in a new venue, The Auction Room bar, 1 Duke St, 7.45pm. Our guest poet will be Richard Frost and as usual plenty of open mic slots. Same time same place for October 14th with guest Katy Evans-Bush and November 18th, Peter Daniels. Dates for 2016 are Jan 20th, Feb 17th, Mar 16th, Apr 20th, May 18th and Jun 22nd. The guest line-up for the spring to summer is nearly complete and as widely varied as you will have come to expect (I hope).

The National Poetry Day Poetry Takeover comes to Bedford Central Library on 8th October 10am-1pm, utterly free, please drop by some time in the morning, and there will also be an event in the evening at Putnoe Library reading poems submitted to last year’s library competition (7pm, free but contact the library to book your place).

BedSlam! is a brand new initiative, kindly supported by The Place theatre, on November 13th. A slam for Bedford with guest performer Mark Neil and guest host Lee Nelson. Tickets are available from www.theplacebedford.org.uk  – for more information (particularly for prospective competitors) contact me!

Meanwhile the other regular Bedford events go from strength to strength: the Poetry Cafe at 3pm on the last Friday of every month in Frescoes coffee shop (upstairs); The Swan theatre company poetry readings at the Eagle Gallery, 7pm on the first Sunday of the month; and Pass-on-a-Poem, now every other month on the last Tuesday (29th of September and 24th November).

You can find a list of my recent and prospective readings here too. To keep up with all the Bedford centred poetry news please join the OuseMuse Facebook group and sign up to Muse News, our monthly email, here, http://eepurl.com/uMlXL