Temple of Ideas Afternoon Salon

Join us for an afternoon of creativity, conversation, and performance!
As always, the afternoon will feature our signature mix of open mic, mob karaoke, and salon-style discussion—so come ready to share your voice, ideas, or just enjoy the atmosphere.
On 11 March 2026

Jon Klein & Darryl Biggs British guitarist and producer Jon Klein co-founded Specimen (1980) and co-launched The Batcave at Soho's Gargoyle Club (1982), a landmark moment in goth culture. He joined Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1987 — becoming their longest-serving guitarist — recording Peepshow, Superstition and The Rapture. He has since worked with Talvin Singh, Sinéad O'Connor and Jah Wobble, and now runs Tuned IN Over 50s jam nights at Wimbledon Library. He'll be interviewed by UK music journalist Darryl Biggs.

Charlotte Harker Artist, writer and performance poet whose work spans drawing, text and live art, exploring memory, identity and embodied experience. Supported by Arts Council England and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, she has exhibited internationally and been shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize. Her live poetry extends her visual practice, keeping language and image in constant dialogue.

Paul Birtill Born in Liverpool (1960), Birtill is a London-based playwright and poet whose darkly humorous work explores death, relationships and mental illness. His Collected Poems gathers work from Terrifying Ordeal (1996) onward, and his latest collection Bad News responds to the Covid pandemic. Books will be available for sale.

Please buy at least one drink or some food to keep the landlord happy.

On 8 April 2026,

Paul Taylor the "Trombone Poet" will be our featured host at a daring Temple of Ideas salon-style afternoon with Paul Taylor of "Trombone Poetry" where words twist, turn, and tumble.

The Japanese verse form, haiku, is familiar to poets worldwide—but Paul has gone further, creating compact forms like the marinet, beiku, tankard, and kafkard. In this informal session, he’ll share how constraints can spark creativity, drawing on inspiration from Oulipo, the Paris-based Workshop of Potential Literature (1960–present).

After short readings from his published work, Paul will invite attendees to experiment with these invented forms, offering a playful alternative to yet more haiku. We’ll close the session with readings of the new poems created on the spot.

On 13 May 2026,

London Poet/Comedienne Fran Isherwood brings a playful, subversive spoken word set that moves between poetry, monologue, and the (very) occasional, slightly wayward song. Her work centres on the songs that raised us — lullabies, folk fragments, classroom tunes half-remembered and badly played — the melodies that lodge deep and never quite leave.She unpicks what these songs carried: the mood of their time, the values buried in their lyrics, and the quiet ways they continue to shape who we are. Looking back becomes a way of cutting into the present.Expect wit, bite, and moments that catch you off guard. Some pieces emerge through strange, playful methods — anagrams, predictive text, Scrabble — twisting familiar language into something uncanny and revealing.Bring your songs, your voice, your instruments, your poetry, your comedy or topics for conversation. Join our Temple of Ideas signature style of mob karaoke and open mic.

As always, bring your poetry, music, comedy, and voice for our open mic and mob karaoke. Let’s make it an afternoon of invention, laughter, and unexpected performance.

The event is free, but donations are welcome to help keep these gatherings going.

Come for the art, stay for the community!

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Host or Publisher Meg Lee Chin