Doors open at 8pm for an 8:30pm start. Tickets are £5 or £4 for concessions (and open mic readers!*) Tickets available here or on the door. *20 SLOTS AVAILIBLE ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS

Robin Thomas has had poems published in many journals and anthologies including Acumen, Agenda, Poetry Salzburg Review, Stand, Tears in the Fence and the Journal of the Duke Ellington Society. His pamphlet, A Fury of Yellow, was published by Eyewear in November, 2016. His debut collection Momentary Turmoil was published in 2018, followed by A Distant Hum in 2020, both by Cinnamon.  Dempsey and Windle published his Cafferty pamphlet in 2021 and his collection Weather on the Moon was published by Two Rivers Press in 2022. Cinnamon published a third collection Reminded of Something in 2023.  Robin mentors for Cinnamon.

John Froy was born in Leeds in 1953 and grew up in south-west England. After gaining a degree in Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art, he taught English as a Foreign Language in London and Costa Rica. Five months on a desert island resulted in On Cocos Island, a fictionalized account (unpublished) and the start of his writing career. He settled in Reading with his wife and daughter in 1986 and set up a decorating business. He juggled decorating with writing for many years: novels (The Driver, To Be Frank), an account of his mother’s death (Mum, So Far), and three volumes of memoir: Waterloo Road: A Childhood Memoir and Teacher, Squatter, City Farmer (self-published) and The Art School Dance (Two Rivers Press, 2010). He began writing poetry in 2001 and has published two collections: Eggshell: A Decorator’s Notes (2007) and Sandpaper & Seahorses (2018) both with Two Rivers Press. John ran Two Rivers Press from 2003 to 2009. He retired to write full time in 2018.

Susan Utting Two Rivers Press poet Susan Utting, the originator of Reading’s long-running Poets’ Café, taught Poetry & Creative Writing at Reading and Oxford Universities for more than 17 years. Her work has been widely published, including in The Times, TLS, Forward Book of Poetry, The Poetry Review, Poems on the Underground, Poetry Salzburg Review, The High Window, London Grip,and were broadcast at London’s South Bank Centre for Poetry International. Following Half the Human Race: New & Selected Poems, The Colour of Rain is her fifth full poetry collection. www.susanutting.com

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