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!
