Popular Song & Romanceros

A celebration of the spoken and written word with guest poets Harry Man & Bob Beagrie.

Workshop participants are invited to read work at this performance poetry event, after which Harry Man will read from his debut collection Popular Song (Nine Arches Press 2024).

Popular Song, the eagerly awaited debut from Harry Man, is an electric adventure into science, science fiction, poetry and pop culture. Here we encounter the Invisible Man’s search for meaning, traverse time and space through the music of David Bowie, find Wordsworth water-skiing with a clownfish, Ed Sheeran’s superabundant love of typography, and find a new connection with our past by re-watching The Empire Strikes Back in reverse.

Bob Beagrie will perform poetry from his latest publication Romanceros: poems inspired by the Spanish Civil War, accompanied by an immersive soundscape created by Stewart Forth.

Romanceros' special gift lies in Beagrie's attention to detail; in capturing those minute nuances of place and voice. While clearly a writer of depth and daring, this collection reveals him as an exemplary reader and historical listener, equally able to lay bare the obscenity of war and to capture the hope of enduring resistance.

• 3rd October from 6pm - 7.30pm
• £2 per ticket

Host or Publisher The Word, National Centre for the Written Word