Category: SOL Extra Event
Satellite of Love: Lyra Open Mic (+ Bertel Martin)
Wednesday 30th April at the Loco Klub
Doors open 7pm Open Mic 7.30pm
Event finishes 9.30pm
Join Satellite of Love for the biggest open mic event at Lyra Festival 2025, with an extended open mic and a headline set from local legend Bertel Martin. Sign up on the door to perform on the night, or come along to enjoy an evening of local talent.
Bertel Martin:
Founder of Bristol Black Writers Group, Bertel has been active in Bristol’s writing scene for over 25 years, as a writer, performer and producer. Promoting Caribbean and African writers in Yardstick and with the British Council.
A co-founder of Word of Mouth (now Blah, Blah, Blah). Former Director of Plymouth International Book Festival and Director of City Chameleon, a publishing company specialising in poetry and short stories. Bertel has been published in a number of anthologies. Performance highlights include performing with Lee Evans, Benjamin Zephaniah, Attila Stockbroker and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Satellite of Love: Summer Slam
Join us on the 21st of August 2024 for Satellite of Love’s second ever poetry slam. Twelve competitors will put their words to the test in a battle of who-can-impress-three-selected-poets unlike anything you may have seen before*.
The winner of our slam this year will receive a paid 10 minute feature slot at our event on the 25th of September, supporting UK poetry legend, Joelle Taylor.
Entry requirements: 14+
*if you have been to a poetry slam before it will be exactly like something you may have seen before.
Doors & Bar open – 7pm
Night starts – 7:30pm
Night ends – 10pm
The John Sebastian Lightship, Cabot Cruising Club, Bathurst Basin, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6SG
Meet the Judges
Sophie Shepherd
Sophie is a performer and poet based in Weston. She runs the Rhyme Against the Tide poetry slam in Weston and recently hosted to South West Showdown (Weston v Bristol v Clevedon v Exeter) at the Wardrobe. She is a poetry slam enthusiast and can’t wait to see what the poets at Satellite of Love have in store.
Emma Taylor
Emma Taylor is a multi-slam-winning spoken word artist, event organiser, and performer based in Bath. She is a Bristol Slam Champion, Coaches SLAM 2024 winner, and placed 2nd in the Farrago UK Slam Championship 2023. Her debut pamphlet, ‘Bed and Breakfast’ launched on the 25th April 2024 and is available via her website & and in selected bookstores now!
Emma has failed her driving test seven times. She maintains that she is simply ‘too bisexual to drive’.
Kathryn O’Driscoll
Kathryn O’Driscoll is a queer, disabled poet, mentor and editor from Bath. She was the 2021 U.K. Poetry Slam Champion and a World Slam Finalist and has been a judge for the U.K. Slam Finals for the past three years.