Raise the Bar

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Raise the Bar

The South West's leading live poetry night. Events, open mics, retreats + more.

Raise the Bar is a premier live events organisation and talent development platform, providing a space for artists of all kinds of background and lyrical styles to perform their work, and providing high quality YouTube packages of their poetry. We also invite outstanding and internationally renowned poets, as well as fantastic local talent, to perform at our live events.

13/09/2026

🔥 THIS THURSDAY! 🔥

Join us on Thursday 17th September for Raise the Bar’s first Open Mic at our new regular home, The Pickle Factory — featuring two brilliant voices:

✨ Zakariye (Zakariye) ✨ Enzie (zee)

And of course, our open mic is open to poets, storytellers, lyricists, rappers, songwriters and wordsmiths of all styles and experience levels. Come share your work, or grab a drink and enjoy some of Bristol’s finest voices.

📅 Thursday 17 September 2026 📍 The Pickle Factory — All Hallows Rd, Easton, Bristol BS5 0HL ⏰ Doors 7pm | Show 7:30–9:30pm
 🎟️ Tickets via link in bio

📸 Photos from our August Open Mic by the brilliant Urmila

✨ New venue, same Raise the Bar energy. See you Thursday!

10/09/2026

We are the generation where everything is political.

Tia-Zakura Camilleri () shares her poem We Are the Generation.

🎥
📍 Bristol, UK

🔥 Join us on Thursday 17th September for Raise the Bar’s first Open Mic at our new regular home, The Pickle Factory 🎟 Tickets via link in bio

08/09/2026

🌟 A special invitation from Hollie McNish 🌟

has a special invitation for you to join us for Raise the Bar: UK Poetry All-Stars at !

Hollie is joining an incredible lineup of some of the very best in contemporary poetry and spoken word, alongside:

✨  ✨ Grace Nichols ✨  ✨  ✨  ✨
 🎧 Plus music from on the decks.

After our record-breaking 2024 edition, we’re bringing UK Poetry All-Stars back to Bristol Beacon for our biggest celebration of poetry, performance and live storytelling yet.

📅 Sunday 27 September 2026 📍 Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon ⏰ 7pm–9:30pm (doors 6:30pm) 🎟️ Tickets via link in bio — from £16.80

✨ Come and join us!

04/09/2026

✍️ Raise the Bar: Writing Workshop | Autumn 2026 ✍️

Our quarterly poetry workshop returns to Arnolfini — an affordable, welcoming space for writers of all levels to generate new work, explore contemporary poetry and craft, and connect with other poets in the community.

Our Autumn workshop will be led by writer, performer and facilitator Kat Lyons (Kat Lyons), as part of National Poetry Day 2026.
Kat Lyons (they/them) is a Q***r writer, performer, workshop facilitator and creative producer whose work is grounded in everyday politics and a love of storytelling.

Kat was the 2022–24 Bristol City Poet, and their debut poetry collection Love Beneath the Nails is available from Verve Poetry Press. Their spoken word theatre show Dry Season explored gender, age and menopause, and they have performed and facilitated workshops throughout the UK.

Through gentle writing prompts, lively discussion and creative exercises, this session is designed for both complete beginners and experienced/published writers alike.

✨ Just 15 places available ✨ £5 tickets ✨ Advance booking essential

📅 Saturday 3 October 2026 📍 Arnolfini (Reading Room), Bristol ⏰ 12:00–2:00pm 🎟️ Tickets via link in bio

24/08/2026

🌟 Here’s the FULL LINEUP for our biggest ever event! 🌟

We’re bringing Raise the Bar: UK Poetry All-Stars back to Bristol Beacon — and this time, we’re going BIG.

Get ready for an unforgettable night celebrating some of the very best in contemporary spoken word, featuring:

✨ Harry Baker — World Poetry Slam Champion and Sunday Times bestselling author ✨ Hollie McNish — Ted Hughes Award winner and Sunday Times bestselling author ✨ Grace Nichols — acclaimed Guyanese poet and literary icon ✨ Travis — award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker ✨ Nikita Gill — acclaimed poet, playwright, writer and illustrator ✨ Georgie Jones — acclaimed poet and performer with a formidable stage presence ✨ Michael Pedersen — prize-winning Scottish author and Edinburgh’s Makar
🎧 Plus music from NGAIO on the decks.

After a record-breaking 2024 edition that brought over a thousand people through the doors, we’re returning bigger than ever for a huge celebration of poetry, performance and live storytelling.

📅 Sunday 27 September 2026 📍 Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon ⏰ 7pm–9:30pm (doors 6:30pm) 🎟 Tickets via link in bio (from £16.80)

20/08/2026

🔥 Harry Baker performs “Dust” 🔥

A special performance from UK Poetry All-Stars headliner Harry Baker ()

For this performance, and more from an incredible line-up featuring:

✨  ✨ Grace Nichols ✨  ✨  ✨  ✨  ✨  🎧 on the decks

Head to the link in bio for tickets and full event info.

📅 Sunday 27 September 2026 📍  ⏰ 7pm
🎥 at

19/08/2026

🔥 Join us on Thursday 17th September for Raise the Bar’s first Open Mic at our new regular home, The Pickle Factory — featuring two brilliant voices:

✨ Zakariye (Zakariye) — poet, playwright and filmmaker from Birmingham. His debut pamphlet Pulling Faces was longlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize, while his short poetry film Cages was broadcast on BBC 4 and BBC iPlayer. A former Roundhouse Resident Artist and Origins Artist with Birmingham Hippodrome, Zakariye brings poetry, film and theatre together in his work.

✨ Enzie (zee) — multi-genre artist and spoken word poet drawing on her Nigerian-Welsh, working-class roots. Recently awarded the Glenn Carmichael Audience Choice Award at LyraFest Poetry Slam 2026, her introspective work explores identity, love, grief, politics and the human condition.

🎤 Our open mic welcomes poets, storytellers, lyricists, rappers, songwriters and wordsmiths of all styles and experience levels — whether it’s your first time or your hundredth. Come share your work, or settle in with a drink and experience some of Bristol’s finest voices.

📅 Thursday 17 September 2026 📍 The Pickle Factory — All Hallows Rd, Easton, Bristol BS5 0HL ⏰ Doors 7:00pm | Show 7:30–9:30pm (incl. interval) 🎟 Tickets via link in bio

💡 Open mic sign-ups open Sunday 23 August at 10am 10 performers selected in advance, 4 drawn on the night 👉 Sign up via link in bio

✨ New venue, same Raise the Bar energy.

✅ Wheelchair accessible ✅ Reserved open mic spaces for underrepresented voices ✅ Zero tolerance for hate or discrimination

17/08/2026

✨ Welcome to The Pickle Factory! ✨ The Pickle Factory

After our regular venue, The Orchard, announced that it will be closing this month, we’ve been searching for a new home for our much-loved open mic — and we’re so excited to finally share the news.
We’re staying in East Bristol, continuing our mission to bring brilliant poetry events to this side of the city, and we couldn’t be happier to be partnering with a venue that shares our commitment to community.

A vibrant community hub in the heart of Easton, The Pickle Factory will be our new home for the rest of 2026.

And there’s more good news: our new venue has a larger seated capacity, meaning even more of you can join us for our (often sell-out!) nights — while we continue to platform as many open mic poets as possible.

📅 New regular date: the third Thursday of every month 🎤 First night: Thursday 17 September

We can’t wait to welcome you to our new home. See you there! 💚

14/08/2026

🔥 Safiya Kamaria Whitaker joins Raise the Bar: UK Poetry All-Stars 🔥

We’re incredibly excited to welcome choreopoet, scholar and live-literature artist Dr Safiya Kamaria Whitaker to Bristol Beacon this autumn.

Known for her compelling performances bringing movement, literature and research together, Safiya’s practice explores new ways of working with dance, poetry and storytelling across the Black diaspora. Her debut collection Cane, Corn & Gully was shortlisted for the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize and Felix Dennis Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and won the 2023 Barbados ‘Gine On’ People’s Choice Award for Best Book.
Her work has appeared in publications including POETRY, Callaloo, Wasafiri, Poetry London and The Caribbean Writer, and she is the first alumna of the Obsidian Foundation.

Joining an already huge line-up featuring:

✨ Harry Baker — World Poetry Slam Champion and Sunday Times bestselling author ✨ Hollie McNish — Ted Hughes Award winner and one of the UK’s most beloved live poets ✨ Grace Nichols — acclaimed Guyanese poet and literary icon ✨ Travis — award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker ✨ Nikita Gill — acclaimed poet, playwright, writer and illustrator ✨ — acclaimed poet and performer with a formidable stage presence ✨ Michael Pedersen — prize-winning Scottish author and Edinburgh’s Makar 🎧 NGAIO on the decks

After a record-breaking 2024 edition, UK Poetry All-Stars returns bigger than ever for a massive celebration of contemporary spoken word.

📅 Sunday 27 September 2026 📍 Bristol Beacon ⏰ 7pm start 🎟 Tickets via link in bio

Address

Bristol

Website

http://www.rtbspokenword.com/

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