Farrago Poetry, London (2026)

an open mic poetry competition format, to Britain from America in February 1994. The same year Farrago started organising both the UK SLAM! Championships and The London SLAM! Championships, the longest running slam competitions in Europe. Also co-organising the first poetry slam International events and tours in 1995 & 1996 between London, San Francisco and Asheville, here and in the US. Farrago r

uns other events including regular Spanish Language nights and the annual Farrago Festival of Spoken Word. Since 1992 Farrago has staged shows all over the U.K. at venues including Hastings Castle, Tristan Bates Theatre, The Drill Hall, The Deptford Albany, The Vortex, George Bernard Shaw Theatre, the I.C.A. for West End Live and at the Bradford, Brighton Alternative & Glastonbury Festivals. Farrago has been featured on Carlton T.V, B.B.C. Radio 4, 5, G.L.R & Radio London, The World Service & Kiss 100, as well as in the Metro, Daily Telegraph, Time Out, Times and the Sunday Times. Guests for our nights have included novelists Ferdinand Dennis, Aoife Mannix, Courttia Newland, Nii Parkes, Zadie Smith & Gemma Weekes, veteran poets Bob Cobbing, Michael Horovitz, Fran Landesman & Dudley Sutton, top International stars Patricia Johnson, Shane Koyczan, Katie Wirsing, (all US National Slam Champions), Buddy Wakefield, (The World Slam Champion), Ainsley Burrows, Andrea Gibson, Suheir Hammad & Taylor Mali, alongside London and UK poets including Patience Agbabi, Charlie Dark, Dizraeli, Zena Edwards, Floetry, AF Harrold, John Hegley, Kathleen Jamie, Keith Jarrett, (former London & UK Slam Champion), Hollie McNish. Mimi Khalvati & Deanna Rodger. Another guest, Mark Niel, set up Tongue in Chic after coming to one of our shows!

02/03/2026

I've been working for Farrago Poetry on the England SLAM! Championships all weekend. Fantastic poetry with the champions of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Ledbury Festival, Brighton H&T, Genesis, Slamchester, Dreading, Huddersfield Lit Fest, Geet Muckle Newcastle & Glastonbury Poetry slams.

Congratulations to all the poets, Bix Bond, Jo Eades, Charlotte Faulconbridge, Paul Holroyd, Henry Maddicott, Chikomberero Manoah, Sarthak Mukheji, Loll the Poet and especially to Georgia Griffiths, The new England SLAM! Champion! Who will be going to compete in the World Cup of Slam in Paris!

Thanks to the brilliant judging panel Kofi Achina., Anna Chen, Dee Dickens, Marva Jackson Lord & Gill Passman.

Videos of Georgia's winning poems https://youtube.com/shorts/91iVmDkabFs?si=2UEIS4_JevEZL3r-
https://youtube.com/shorts/fFspJjYfTJE?si=U0wQFOdSRvJaP5b2

All the other poems are up on the youtube channel.

Photo of Georgia https://www.instagram.com/lunatidesproductions?igsh=MWprZnExNGtmbmxpYw==

John Paul

24/02/2024

Congratulations to Sven Stears The England Slam Champion for 2023, who will be going out to Paris to compete in the World Cup of Slam AND alongside runners up Ciaran Barata-Hynes, Cooper Robson, Emma Taylor & Red Frederick has also won a place in the UK SLAM! Championship Finals happening later in 2024.

Thanks to all the poets who took part, the slam organisers and to the judges Fay Roberts, Mithago Crazee, Marva Jackson Lord, Kathryn O'Driscoll & Leanne Shorley.

26/12/2023

The Journal of Wild Culture got relaunched this year but still left my only Christmas poem up, thank you! It's dedicated to the memory of my uncle Richard O'Neill, who I was blessed to have as part of all the childhood Christmas days I can remember, his presents for me were alway over large airfix style glue together models, battleships, large ocean going liners and many, many Lockeed C130 Hercules, none of which came to particularly sucessful fruition post Christmas when I finally got hold of the glue needed, that he wisely never thought to also purchase with the kits.

Merry Festive Season!

John Paul

https://www.wildculture.com/article/christmas-dinner-was-duck/1347?fbclid=IwAR1NdujY0It10zhOHthVgjucmUn7CH2RRdpPiE_wm_HKOVkSvM76Ve0E95o

08/12/2023

I'm really upset to hear of the passing of Benjamin Zephaniah. I first met him just over 30 years ago, I had just started Farrago Poetry, we we were a small press producing a magazine and I went to see him at a venue in Greenwich, near where I was at university.

He was toiuring with a band and was brilliant, at the end I went to have a chat, I knew a friend of his and I gave him a copy of the first Farrago publication and asked for a poem. Within a week he sent me through TWO fantastic short poems, exactly right for what I was publishing and a real boost for the next magazine they appeared in.

My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.

John Paul

19/05/2023

This Sunday I’m hosting a SLAM! and running an Art of SLAM! masterclass for Griots Arts at the Globe Theatre in Hay on Wye. SLAM! slots still available for the 1st qualifier for the 2024 UK SLAM! Championships. Info: [email protected] . I’m really looking forward to it!

John Paul

Address

London

Telephone

+447905078376

Website

http://e-poets.net/

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