Poetry Events

Have you ever checked out Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig in Cambridge?

Held on the second Sunday of the month it features a mix of the best of local music and poetry and is hosted by Mark McGivern.

*Mark McGivern Introducing Collars at the Flying Pig in January 2020*

I caught up with Mark at the Flying Pig to find out more about this eclectic regular event, as well as his own inspirations. I wanted to find out what inspired him to start this event. Mark explained ‘this night started at a different venue in town, when the guys that ran that venue saw me performing poetry and asked me if I’d like to run a night for them, putting together music and poetry.’

Mark knew a lot of the musicians in town having spent a lot of time working in the festival scene locally, with events such as the annual Strawberry Fair. ‘They asked me to put a night on and what inspired me from doing that, was to give people from open mic scene to feature length sets, which they didn’t ordinarily get – both from the poetry world and the music world.’

Mark has been performing poetry around Cambridge for many years now. Like a lot of poets he’s inspired to write a lot about his own life and relationships, ‘whether that be romantic or just friendship relationships and the interrelationships between people, that’s always what’s interested me throughout my life and that’s the majority of my poetry.’ In terms of other poets that have influenced him, Mark has one person that instantly springs to mind, ‘There’s a poet in Cambridge who does a lot of work, and that’s Fay Roberts. She runs open mics and other events and Hammer and Tongue, and if there’s any poet that’s inspired me to do better, it’s Fay.’

So, what advice would you give to anyone writing or performing poetry?

‘Whether they’re writing or performing – read other people’s as much as you can and then whenever you get the chance to see them, go and see them. Whether they’re just sitting there reading from a book, or doing the full on performance thing, it doesn’t matter – but go and listen, go and see, go and read, see what other people are doing, not to necessarily to influence you, but just to give you that wider sense and just that little bits of triggers and encouragement.’

Marks own ambitions for this year is to write and perform more, ‘I have the night here which I love, but I’m also heavily involved in the free festivals here – Strawberry Fair in the city, and that means that an awful lot of my time gets taken up with admin and I want to find time to get more creative and work in-between the admin, and to get out and perform.’

What acts have you got coming up this year at the Flying Pig that we should really look out for?

‘I have a very long wish list, but we’ll have Keltrix, who are a very well known Cambridge band, performing an acoustic set. We also have Ruby Glass and Three Years Younger doing sets for us. Beyond that I’m waiting for other acts to confirm, but the second Sunday of every month has Five different acts.’

Sunday Night Lives takes place at The Flying Pig, in Cambridge. For details of upcoming events, check out the latest listings by searching for Sunday Night Lives on Facebook – the next date is Sunday, March 8th.

The Flying Pig is a free house and is located at 106 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1LQ

*Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig in Cambridge*

Just like some other famous Cambridge inns (such as The Free Press and The Cricketers), it’s been a micro pub, long before Micro Pubs were actually a thing. Here since 1845, it’s been under threat for last 7 years from a planned office development. Previous plans have included demolishing the existing building and opening a new bar elsewhere on the site. More recent plans however seem to compromise by retaining the front section of the pub and redeveloping the rear of the site. The pub is a much loved inn and a live music venue, and would be sorely missed, especially as the last few years has seen the loss of so many small venues across the UK.

So if you’re free in Cambridge on a Sunday night, I definitely recommend checking out Sunday Night Lives. We certainly need more events like this, promoting local talent and supporting our great local venues. You can find out more about what’s on at The Flying Pig by following their Facebook page.

Looking for more local events in East Anglia? Check out our previous coverage of Poetry Swaps at Stamford Arts Centre, Wisbech Words at Wisbech Castle, and Pic n Mix Peterborough at When Polly Met Fergie in Peterborough.

Poetry Swaps January 2020 takes place in the Cellar Bar at the Stamford Arts Centre from 8pm on Wednesday 15th. The free event features Carina Beatrix and Scott Coe, along with a 30 minute open mic session.

Poetry Swaps January 2020 features Carina Beatrix and Scott Coe (Photo based on an original work by Gary Huskisson)

Carina Beatrix is a poet and playwright inspired by dark comedic values. Her poetry often influenced by ‘personal experiences and people watching’

She has a general interest in poetry, inspired by ‘words that rhyme’ whereas her scriptwriting, she prefers to ‘write things that don’t give everything away’ citing influences such as Mark Ravenhill, writer of “The Cut” – such plays which are often ‘hard to analyse’

Describing her own writing process, she adds ‘the poetry that I do is more dark,whereas the plays have a clear process and structure to them. They’re all cause, reaction, outcome with characters that go through issues’. She is hoping to bring her plays to the stage during 2020, as well as to continue writing poetry. She is also looking forward to carry on meeting new people on the poetry scene, especially fresh new talent ‘cos I think some of the best people I’ve met, are those who have just started out’.

Asked what advice she would offer anybody starting out as a performance poet – ‘don’t do the poetry voice… don’t be such a stereotype when it comes to performing. Just read it as yourself, or think of the sort of person you want to be on stage and stick to a character that you want to present yourself as. If it’s personal, then be yourself’

Poetry Swaps kicks off for 2020 on Wednesday January 15th from 8pm in Stamford (Photo credit – Stamford Arts Centre)

Scott Coe is a performance poet and artist currently based in Peterborough. This is his second headliner, and offers these thoughts about his poetry ‘Always write from the heart. Poetry is all about feeling and is always at it’s best when written in the moment, when the thoughts run straight from your soul to the pen’

He began writing, not as a poet, but as a lyricist, citing the likes of Noel Gallagher, Guy Chambers, Lennon and McCartney, and Bob Dylan as primary influences. In terms of Poetry he recalls being influenced by Wordsworth and Shakespeare’s sonnets. Recently he’s been spending more time discovering works by other more established poets. In particular he’s been drawn to the likes of Byron and R.S Thomas.

He spent about 18 months rehearsing and performing in a range of local plays and theatre projects. He believes this time helped him push the performance side further. ‘I enjoy being able to deliver my pieces with the same feeling and emotions that they were written with, but it’s still always the poem rather than the performance which is the most important part’

He’s looking forward to 2020, with the continued momentum he experienced during 2019 and is working on his first Poetry collection (Working title ‘Decade’), as well as committing time to further performances. He is also in the early stages of involvement with new Art and Theatre projects.

We’re also really excited to welcome Scott to the Disposable Media team as an Arts and Literature correspondent. He has already contributed a few articles and we look forward to what else he’ll be sharing from the East Anglian and UK arts and literature scene.

Poetry Swaps January 2020 takes place in the Cellar Bar at the Stamford Arts Centre, and entry is free. To find out more about this and other events taking place, visit stamfordartscentre.com.

So, what advice would you give to anyone writing or performing poetry?

What acts have you got coming up this year at the Flying Pig that we should really look out for?

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