Verbose are hosting another spoken word take over of the Stage Bar of the iconic Band on the Wall venue whilst Harry Baker is in town on the main stage on 17 July 2024.

Alongside an eclectic open mic line up Verbose are proud to present Lou Mach and J. Daniel West who have recently released an incredible collaborative poetry collection, ‘The Words of Others are all we have’ with Hedgehog Poetry Press.

About the headliners:

Louise Machen is a Mancunian poet and a graduate of The Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester. Her poetry likes to explore the complicated relationships between people and the world through a working-class lens. Her work has most recently appeared in The Poetry Bus (nominated for The Forward Prize, Single Poem), Dreich, Acropolis Journal, The Morning Star, Cape Magazine and Sound and Vision – an Anthology from Black Bough Poetry. Louise has been a featured poet at East Ridge Review with a poem nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2023); she is also a Best of the Net nominee (2023). She has a collaborative pamphlet, alongside J Daniel West, The Words of Others are All We Have out with Hedgehog Poetry and an upcoming collection with Black Bough Poetry later this year.

J. Daniel West is a Yorkshire-born poet who moved to the wrong side of the Pennines after spending too much time down south. He has written extensively about identity, grief and his mental health issues, with newer work turning to the dumpster fire that is the current global political climate. This societal decline is the driving subject behind the pamphlet The Words of Others are All We Have, co-written with Louise Machen, set to be an exclusive one-time live performance at this year’s Manchester Fringe.

This event is an unticketed and pay as you feel on the night event, which is used to pay our wonderful headliners.

Open mic sign up is open to writers of all kinds on the night.
No booking needed – just turn up on the night.