Lyra - Bristol Poetry Festival

@lyrafest.com

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Lyra runs Bristol's Poetry Festival, City Poet, Young City Poet & community collabs. Festival supported by ACE. Next Festival: 17 - 26 April www.lyrafest.com

Joelle Taylor: Maryville Joelle is wearing a grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and red tie. She is sat in a red booth and drinking a pint of beer.
The Power of Poetry Panel, Friday 17th April, 18:00, Arnolfini and the Lyra Logo in front of a grid of four images: Georgie Jones, Joelle Taylor, Vanessa Kisuule and Bertel Martin.
The camera is at the back of the stage looking out towards the audience at the Arnolfini. Hosts Aish Humphreys and Sam Grudgings are stood at microphones looking over their shoulders at us. Each is wearing black shorts, black tops and black cowboy hats. They both have tattoos. Text Reads: "Your Chance to Perform at Lyra" with the Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival Logo in the bottom right corner.
Michael Rosen is a white man in his 70s with short grey hair and a beard and blue eyes. He is stood in front of a grey brick wall and earing a grey wool coat and a blue scarf. Text reads: Family Poems with Michael Rosen Saturday 18th April, 13:00 St George's Bristol Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival
In the centre of a dark grey graphic, a book called The Age of Olive Trees by Haia Mohammed, published by Out Spoken Press. The cover is a cream background with black and green squares with the outline of olive leaves on them. In the corners, logos read The British Book Awards Shortlisted Book of the Year Discover Sponsored by Audible
Slam host Saili Katebe is a black man with short close cropped hair and stubble on his face. He is wearing a black tshirt and a watch. He is stood at a microphone looking out at the audience which are out of frame. He is carrying a clipboard under one arm while he claps a previous performer. In front of him, text reads: Slam Applications Closing tonight You have until 23:59 Lyra Bristol poetry festival
Lyra Cofounders Lucy English & Danny Pandolfi stand in front of a whole bunch of logos of Bristol based businesses. On the left, Lucy is a white woman with shoulder length blonde hair, she is grinning at the camera. She is wearing a long sleeved maxi dress in a striped patten in the lyra branded colours of black, gold and various shades of green. On the right, Danny is a white man with curly ginger hair and goatee he is smiling at the camera with his thumb up. He is wearing a white shirt with a cream suit and a gold chain around his neck.
In the dark Arnolfini theatre, a crowd of people wait for the poetry to begin. Over the top of the image text reads "Lyra Festival Passes" with the Lyra Fest, Lottery and Arts Council England Logos
An audience wait for a Lyra Festival event to start in a large, blue lit room with a high stage. 'Become a Friend of Lyra' is written in large white text across the image. At the bottom of the image are logos that read 'Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival', 'Arts Council England Lottery Funded, and 'Supported using public funding by Arts Council England'.
Slam Rules There is a time limit of 3 minutes for the poem. Props, special costumes, musical instruments etc are not allowed. Just you and your words. Any poem containing language that is sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, discriminatory, or offensive towards any minority/disadvantaged group, will be immediately disqualified.
The Grand Slam Finals will be on Sunday 19th April at Arnolfini Slammers will compete in-person in 2 rounds, with the 3 highest scoring poets battling it out for the 2026 trophy!
Qualifiers are on Saturday 21st March at Arnolfini and Online You can compete in person or online. There will be 3 rounds, the top 3 from each round + the highest scoring wild card will qualify for the final (10 finalists in total).
Submissions close at 23:59, Thursday 12th of March We’ll notify all applicants of the results by 17:00, Friday 13th March
Previous Winners and slammers who have competed in 2 of the last 3 Grand Slam Finals* are not eligible for entry in this year's slam. This is to ensure space for new faces *ie. were a top 10 finalist
Use our online form to apply The form does not guarantee your entry into the slam. This registers your interest and we also use this form to reserve a number of spaces for writers from the global majority, marginalised genders and sexualities, and writers in the South West.