AUTUMN 2026
AT A GLANCE
Thurs 3 September - Romantics, Mystics & Revolutionaries by Pete the Temp
Sat 26 September - Say Owt Slam featuring poet Kirsty Taylor and rapper KG
Thurs 8 October - The Ballad of Blea Wyke with support from PitchWitches
Fri 23 October - Say Owt Showcase
Tues 10 November - Michael Rosen
Sat 5 December - Len Pennie
Thurs 3 September - Romantics, Mystics & Revolutionaries by Pete the Temp
Sat 26 September - Say Owt Slam featuring poet Kirsty Taylor and rapper KG
Thurs 8 October - The Ballad of Blea Wyke with support from PitchWitches
Fri 23 October - Say Owt Showcase
Tues 10 November - Michael Rosen
Sat 5 December - Len Pennie
Romantics, Mystics & Revolutionaries
by pete the temp
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Plus support act Tahmina Ali
3rd September 2026 Doors 7pm, show starts 7.30pm 41 Monkgate, York YO31 7PB Tickets £10-15, available here (plus booking fee) A spoken word show about rebellion and imagination. The 1800s Romantic movement began as a rebellion: against empire, industry, and the mechanisation of the soul. Yorkshire became the epicentre of its rebellion. This is a storytelling stage show fusing scholarship with music, comedy, and poetry. Witness a spellbinding history of riot, repression, and psychedelic experimentation. As we face this age of despair, find out what we can learn from past dreams of freedom and renewal. Expect enchantment, resistance and wild imagination. “Remembering, reviving, and re-enacting the Romantics. We were all very moved.” — Alfoxton House (home of William Wordsworth) Performed by Pete Bearder, aka Pete the Temp. An award-winning spoken word poet, author and comic whose work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, Newsnight and the World Service. Plus support from Tahmina Ali, an award-winning Bangladeshi-Geordie spoken word poet and creative practitioner whose work cuts through silence with honesty, tenderness, and political edge. Rooted in lived experience, her poetry explores identity, belonging, motherhood, mental health, and cultural inheritance through a distinctly northern lens. |
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say owt slam
featuring guests
kirsty taylor & kg
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26th September 2026
Doors 7.30pm, show starts 7.45pm 8, The Crescent, York, North Yorkshire, YO24 1AW. Tickets £6 or 11, available here (plus booking fee). All tickets £15 on the door. Say Owt Slam is a raucous evening of poet vs poet in a fun and frantic night of verse. Poets have three minutes to wow YOU the audience. Expect an evening with humour and heart, comedy and charisma, stories and sizzling spoken word! Fancy slamming? Slots open 1st August 2026. Please not we prioritise people living in York and the surrounding villages, and people who haven't performed in a previous slam. Plus special guests straight outta Bradford: Kirsty Taylor and KG. Kirsty Taylor is a writer and educator inspired by her beloved hometown Bradford. She is passionate about storytelling through poetry and has performed all over the country telling tales about people, class and the realities of Broken Britain. Kirsty was a BBC Verb New Voice in 2017 and was awarded the Apples and Snakes & Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance award in 2020. She is the creator of the inimitable Front Room Poetry, which takes nanna style living rooms and world class poets to unusual settings such as car parks and housing estates. Kirsty opened Bradford’s city of culture year in January performing her words to 20,000 across the weekend in city park. KG is a prominent, Bradford-born rapper, poet, and youth worker. Hailed by Wordplay Magazine as “one of the sharpest lyricists” in the UK rap scene. |
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THE BALLAD OF BLEA WYKE
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Say owt showcase
HENRY RABy, STU FREESTONE
HANNAH DAVIES, BRAM JARMAN (AKA JARMOUSE)
23rd October 2026
Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8pm
York Theatre Royal, St. Leonard's Place, York, YO1 7HD
Tickets £15, available here (plus booking fee).
Say Owt Showcase is an evening of poetry, music and comedy that veers from the comical to the raucous to the sincere and back again, brought to you by the same gobby gang that have been proudly packing out York venues for years. Veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe, and Highly Commended in the York Culture Awards, let Hannah Davies, Stu Freestone, Jarmouse and Henry Raby entertain you! Say Owt have been bringing you the biggest names and the best new talent from across the poetry and spoken word scene for more than 10 years. The artists behind this York institution shine the spotlight on themselves, so expect some special top quality shenanigans you won’t see at a typical Say Owt gig. Part of the Old Paint Shop programme.
Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8pm
York Theatre Royal, St. Leonard's Place, York, YO1 7HD
Tickets £15, available here (plus booking fee).
Say Owt Showcase is an evening of poetry, music and comedy that veers from the comical to the raucous to the sincere and back again, brought to you by the same gobby gang that have been proudly packing out York venues for years. Veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe, and Highly Commended in the York Culture Awards, let Hannah Davies, Stu Freestone, Jarmouse and Henry Raby entertain you! Say Owt have been bringing you the biggest names and the best new talent from across the poetry and spoken word scene for more than 10 years. The artists behind this York institution shine the spotlight on themselves, so expect some special top quality shenanigans you won’t see at a typical Say Owt gig. Part of the Old Paint Shop programme.
michael rosen
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Plus support act Cory Rich
10th November 2026 Doors 7.00pm, show starts 7.30pm The Citadel, Gillygate York YO31 7EA Tickets £12-18, available here (plus booking fee). Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults. His poetry speaks deeply of humanity - whether bursting with joyous, bouncy humour or reflecting on family, heritage and loss. He articulates life with a wonder for written and spoken language. He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children’s Literature. Michael is also a popular broadcaster and has presented BBC Radio 4’s acclaimed programme about language, “Word of Mouth” since 1998, as well as regularly presenting documentary programmes for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3, including the Sony Gold Award-winning “On Saying Goodbye”. Plus support from Cory Rich (he/they). Cory is a poet living in York, who has just finished a BA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham. He writes about queerness, faith, community and things that give him hope or make him laugh. Cory won the Say Owt slam in April 2026. |
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LEN PENNIEPlus support act No Dry Eyes Poetry
5th December 2026 Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8.30pm rise @ Bluebird Bakery, 201 Acomb Rd, Acomb, York YO24 4HD Tickets £10-15, available here (plus booking fee) Len Pennie is a poet who writes in both Scots and English. She writes passionately about the promotion of minoritised languages, survivors of domestic abuse and the destigmatisation of mental illness. Her two poetry collections poyums and poyums annaw were instant Sunday Times bestsellers. poyums won Scots Book of the Year in 2024 and was the winner of the British Book Awards Discover Book of the Year in 2025 “The keeper and reinventor of the Scots language in the 21st century.” -Ian McMillan. “This intense and remarkable collection now marks her out as a poetic voice to be reckoned with – strong, tested, skilful, driven, and facing firmly towards the future.” –The Scotsman. “I think Lennie is brilliant. She has such talent and passion and joy.” -Michael Sheen. |
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