Word Central open mic poetry and spoken word presented by Manchester Libraries and Flapjack Press.

Hosted by Tony Curry with special guest poet Ciarán Hodgers.

Book your open mic slot from noon on Tuesday 11th June via mail@flapjackpress.co.uk.
N.B. Open mic slots are 3 minutes per performer – it is essential that you stay within this timeframe.
Performance slots are allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis from the stated booking time.
If they are already filled you will be offered a place on the reserve list.

Our special guest for June is Ciarán Hodgers, an Irish spoken word poet based in the UK. He is winner of the Sean Dunne National Young Writer Award 2010, an International Pangaea Poetry Slam 2015 and Word War III Slam Champion, and has been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize and the OutSpoken Prize for Poetry, and longlisted for the Not The Foreword and Gingko Eco-poetry competitions. His debut collection, Cosmocartography [Burning Eye, 2018], was shortlisted for the prestigious Rubery Book Award, and he is currently touring his new collection, Solastalgia [Burning Eye, 2023].

Event host Tony Curry is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator who runs literature-in-the-community projects with a specific leaning towards mental health and wellbeing. His work has been exhibited at Manchester’s museum and art galleries, and his play, The Teddy Bear, was staged at Contact Theatre. Tony’s solo spoken word shows include Brit Boy, Complicit Relations, Moving and The Odyssey, performed at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. In 2024 he will be touring his new show, Tall Tales for All Men, adapted from his collection Tall Tales for Tall Men Who Fall Well Short [Flapjack Press, 2012].