This Is Just to Say: spoken word open mic

Oxford Poetry Library presents a spoken word open mic night! Join us in the library on the first Tuesday of every month to enjoy all manner of word-weaving, story-sharing, and spell-casting.

We welcome poets, storytellers, and writers of all kinds to share their work (or the work of others) in a safe, supportive, and inclusive space. Slots are 2-3 minutes long, and performers sign up on the door – first come, first served and slots fill up quickly so we recommend arriving in good time for 7pm!

At OPL we want everyone to feel comfortable and has space to enjoy the night. That’s why we have a few basic guidelines that we ask everyone to follow:

• Please refrain from using discriminatory language or harmful content in your performance. If you are unsure about your performance, speak to the host when you arrive.
• You should aim to read something that’s around one page or two minutes – this ensures that everyone has enough time to read.

We have a very special edition of This Is Just To Say this month: welcome to COVERS NIGHT! For just this month, we’re asking you to bring the work of other people to share. It can be a well-known writer, someone you admire, a family member or friend – bonus points if it’s someone from our own OPL community! But the only rule is don’t bring your own!

And fully in keeping with the ‘covers’ theme, the night will be hosted not by our usual Phoebe Nicholson, but by the hosts of the Poets Cafe in Reading, Vic Pickup and Katherine Meehan!

Katherine Meehan is a writer from North Carolina. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Magma, Crannog, Shearsman, and other journals. In 2023, her first collection, Dame Julie Andrews’ Botched Vocal Cord Surgery, was published by Two Rivers Press. She is a co-organiser of Reading’s Poets’ Cafe and is currently researching tarot ekphrasis for a practice-based PhD at the University of Reading.

Vic Pickup is the author of Lost & Found (Hedgehog Press, 2020), What Colour is My Brain? (co-written with Jules Whiting, Hedgehog Press 2022) and The Omniscient Tooth Fairy (Indigo Dreams, 2023). She has also edited a new anthology from Two Rivers Press, Reading Poets, which was launched this summer. Vic is a postgraduate researcher, working in the Mills & Boon archives held in Reading University’s Special Collections. She is the co-organiser of Poets’ Café Reading and Reading Stanza group, both of which are affiliated with The Poetry Society. www.vicpickup.com

The session starts at 7.30pm (performers are advised to arrive from 7pm), at The Community Works (21 Park End St, OX1 1HU).

£5 entry (£2 concessions), performers free.

The building is accessible, but if you have any specific access needs, please drop us an email at oxfordpoetrylibrary@gmail.com beforehand!