A Lovely Word at St James Gardens and online
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Having branched out from its usual home at the Everyman Street Café into the ether, Liverpool’s spoken word stalwart A Lovely Word is now gearing up to relocate outdoors for another alfresco special on Thursday 3 September, taking place in Liverpool’s pleasant St James Gardens just below the imposing Anglican Cathedral, off Upper Duke Street. There will be three featured poets – poet and theatre-maker Heidi Henders, spoken word artist Just Joe and Day Mattar, whose pamphlet SKiNN will be published in May 2021 with indie press Broken Sleep.
A Lovely Word is now gearing up to relocate outdoors for another alfresco special on Thursday 3 September, taking place in Liverpool’s pleasant St James Gardens
Following the announcement on 9 July by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden that performing arts could resume outdoors from 11 July with a socially distanced audience present, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, who support A Lovely Word, teamed up with the Unusual Art Sourcing Company to bring the usual poetry open mic to this outdoor setting, complete with stewards and the same measures as you would expect at a restaurant or bar. The open-air event is free to attend and seating is ‘bring your own blanket/chair for your comfort’ with facemasks required and allocated seating plots to ensure safe social distancing. One member of your ‘bubble’ will be asked to provide a name/phone number for track and trace purposes.
The second A Lovely Word at St James Gardens will see featured poets perform alongside open micers both in the open and online (there are 10 physical slots and three online, restricted to four minutes each), and audience members are invited to watch in the park or via a live stream on YouTube. Readers are encouraged to sign up to perform on the open mic by emailing alovelywordpodcast@gmail.com and confirming your full name, mobile number and if you’d prefer to perform on ‘stage’ or online, shown on a screen on the gardens wall.
