POETRY with your pint is the deal as homeless charity StreetSmart takes centre stage for a fund-raiser in the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Hub at Albert Square on Wednesday, October 5.
The city’s unofficial poet laureate Mike Garry (above) leads an eclectic line-up of spoken word specialists and musicians in the midst of the 100 Greatest Beers Festival. What a way to celebrate National Poetry Day the following day (Thursday October 6).
All of this is staged in aid of StreetSmart, which launches in Manchester on November 1. The StreetSmart campaign supports Manchester’s homeless charities and organisations. It works by Manchester’s best restaurants adding a voluntary £1 to the bill for the festive months of November and December, then in January, 100 per cent of the money collected is given to local homeless shelters and projects such as The Booth Centre, Mustard Tree and The Well Spring.
Throughout the Poetry Nightt, guests are invited to make donations, plus 50p from every pint sold will go to the charity throughout the evening.
The Line Up
Mike Garry A former librarian, he began by reading his own poems to the hundreds of young people who attended his Library Homework Centre. They loved what they heard and encouraged him to perform them at live poetry events and Slams, which he did, instantly winning fans and prizes throughout the UK. His performances are passionate swirling rhythms of thoughts and emotions converted to monologues of quickfire words.
Marvin Cheeseman Award-winning comedy poe known as "The Doyen of the Deadpan" (Cheltenham Festival of Literature ). His published work includes Full Metal Jacket Potato, Making Prawn Sandwiches for Roy Keane and We Hate It When Our Ex-Lodgers Become Successful.
Toria Garbutt Her unique blend of pure punk heritage and unapologetic spoken word confessions make her one of the most vital and visceral voices in the country. She burst onto the scene through A Firm Of Poets in summer 2014 and released début album 'Hot Plastic Moon' in May.
Sahra At 16 she entered a high school competition, which led to her poem being published in the 'Young Writers Anthology'. She has not looked back performing in venues around Manchester.
Lucy Hope’s Gypsy Band The singer known as "The Chanteuse" presents a fusion of non-purist Django Reinhardt-inspired gypsy jazz interspersed with French yéyé and chanson classics.