CandleLIT Poetry Slam ft. Sven Stears & Jo Butts

The CandleLIT Poetry Slam happens on the first Wednesday of every month at the Bath Brew House, upstairs in the Tank Room!

Join us for the tense excitement of 9 poets going head to head with words, plus two featured artists which this month include featured artist JO BUTTS and our headliner SVEN STEARS!

Sven is the Champion of Champions '25, the European Slam Vice-Champion '24 and the England Slam Champion '24, plus being an Award Winning Filmmaker. He has performed across the UK, Germany, as well as at events in Austria, Latvia, and Mexico to name but a few. His work touches on themes of personal loss, societal trauma, mental health and addiction, with a resolute message of hope. He’s worked with Dizraeli, Joelle Taylor, Buddy Wakefield and supported Neil Hilborn on his UK tour.

Jo is a seasoned performer, having written poetry for longer than she cares to admit. Her father also wrote and taught poetry and she was regularly thrown into the midst of artist workshops whilst growing up. She’s intrigued by word play and general life observations and loves a good list. 

She’s performed at Glastonbury, Ashton Court Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, WOMAD, and the local poetry circuit in Frome, Bath, Bristol and sometimes further over the years. Jo runs Speakeasy Spoken Word for the Larkhall Festival once a year in May. 

Jo is a multi-crafter, a dancer, fluent in sign language, is currently volunteering for several nature groups and is a stickler for a misplaced apostrophe. 

9 poets get the opportunity to slam each month. You can pre-book a slam spot by purchasing a Slammer’s ticket. If they are sold out there will be 3 more Slammer spots available on the door on the night, first-come first-serve! Our event doors open at 7pm, and the event begins at 7.30pm, so if you want to grab a slot be there by the time doors open for a chance.

The slam winner gets a 10 minute paid set at the next month’s slot, a trophy (of sorts), and entrance into the Grand Slam to compete for the title of Bath Slam Champion.

The rules:

• You have 3 minutes. You have a ten second 'grace period' after the 3 minutes ends. After that, points are deducted for every 5 seconds you go over. For example: -5 points at 3.11. -10 points at 3.16. Your time begins from your first word or gesture to the audience (including introductions but not including a concise content warning).
• You must be the original author of the poem (if a group poem then you must between you have created all the content).
• If you reference or quote someone else's work, it should be a very minor amount of the poem and where possible be credited unless an obvious well known quote that everyone would know isn't your work.
• No nudity.
• No hate speech, defined as disparaging a group or person with less power than you. Examples include (but are not limited to) racism, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, ageism, descrimination based on religion or nationality.
• Please use the microphone, as this is for accessibility of our audience members using hearing aids that connect to the PA system.
• The majority of your poem should be spoken. It may contain less than 25% singing. No backing tracks or instruments.
• Whilst you do not have to perform in English, the judges can only judge what they can understand. So we recommend having a majority of English in your poem.
• Last rule is a traditional rule within the poetry slam community: the point is not the point, the point is the poetry! Remember that by having an audience's captive attention for 3 minutes you have already won. So enjoy it!

The event organisers have the final say on disqualifications and they can disqualify any poet for any reason.

https://linktr.ee/CandleLITSlam

https://www.thebathbrewhouse.com

We have 40% off concessions available for people who face financial barriers to the arts - please email [email protected] or DM us on Instagram for the code to apply at check out.

Host or Publisher Kathryn O'Driscoll