Out-Spoken: June

Out-Spoken is London's premier evening of poetry and live music, hosted by TS Eliot and Polari Prize winner Joelle Taylor.

Each month, it celebrates diversity in voice and performance with a stellar line-up of the hottest UK poets, alongside world-class musicians.

Out-Spoken is hosted by Taylor, with Sam 'Junior' Bromfield spinning the best in reggae, soul and R&B throughout the evening.

Sandeep Parmar is Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool where she co-directs Liverpool’s Centre for New and International Writing. She is the author of three poetry collections, including Eidolon, which won the Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection, and Faust, which was selected as the Poetry Book Society Choice for Summer 2022. Sandeep was a 2015 BBC New Generation Thinker and is co-founder of the Ledbury Poetry Critics scheme for poetry critics of colour.

Richard Scott’s first book, Soho, was a Gay’s the Word book of the year and shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize. Recent works include ‘Still Life with Rose’ in the spring issue of Poetry Review and ‘love version of’ in 100 Queer Poems. Scott’s poetry has been translated into German and French. He is a lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London where he also runs a poetry reading group, and he teaches poetry at the Faber Academy.

Daniel Sluman is a 36-year-old poet and disability rights activist. He co-edited the first major UK Disability poetry anthology, Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back, and has published three poetry collections with Nine Arches Press. His most recent collection, single window, was released in 2021, and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.

Jonathan Bonya was born in Lagos, Nigeria but moved to London with his mum when he was six. As a jazz pianist and keyboardist, Bonya has performed at many international festivals and venues including North Sea Jazz, Monterey Jazz and Leverkusener Jazztage, and regularly at Ronnie Scott's. He is currently in the process of recording several Bach transcriptions, including his own, focusing on the spiritual aspect of Bach’s music.

Raie worked as a backing singer before forming her own country/Americana band. She has performed at venues across London. Raie gained the support of award-winning engineer and producer Wes Maebe who produced her EP, Earthbound, and album, This Music Thing. Together they are currently mixing her second album, Red Brick Angels. In the words of Blues Matters, ‘Raie is a purveyor of pin-me-to-the wall, beautiful life-enhancing music.’