More Song at The 1 in 12 Club Library

More Song is back for its last event of the year with readings from Dom Hale, Alex Marsh and Elvire Roberts, plus an open mic – you don’t want to miss this!

Running since early 2023, the event is hosted by Tom Branfoot, writer-in-residence at Manchester Cathedral and regular on stage around the good north, including at May’s Poetry at the Dusty Miller (the next of that is 7 October with – news just in – a rejigged line-up of Kim Moore, Matthew Paul and Molly Prosser). Tom Branfoot’s poem “Parliament of Jets” has been shortlisted in the Forward Prizes for Poetry category of Best Single Poem – Written, and we’ll have our fingers and toes crossed for him on 26 October, when we’ll be hobnobbing with the literati at London’s Southbank Centre.

Anyway, back to More Song, which features a handful of invited guests from the world of poetry each time. So far in Bradford’s year as City of Culture, More Song has heard from Caleb Klaces, Lenni Sanders and Maya Caspari (July), Tallulah Howarth, Erkembode and David Mullin (May), and Rowan Evans, Rebecca Lockwood and Sean Roy Parker (February).

In 2024, the poets who read were Rachael Allen, David Mullin, Nasser Hussain, Edwina Attlee, Jazmine Linklater, Kym Deyn, Hannah Copley, Susan Vickerman, Scott Thurston, Hamish Rush, Holly Hopkins, JR Carpenter, Liam Bates, Sarah Corbett, Gregory Betts, Naoise Gale, Stefan Tobler, Fran Lock, Qudsia Akhtar, Ophira Gottleib, Bonnie Hancell, Dan Melling and Janette Ayachi. In 2023, the guests included Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, Lydia Unsworth, Zaffar Kunial, Joe Carrick-Varty, Charlotte Eichler and Will Harris.

Impressive programming – and apparently there’s a brilliant 2026 shaping up, and another anthology on its way. You can expect an unforgettable night of community, drinks, and experimental and political poetry exploring environment and place, sexuality and language.

Tickets are £4 / PWYC – ticket sales go towards future events and help pay the poets for travelling and performing, and you might like to also buy a copy of the More Song fundraiser pamphlet 2024 featuring poems from Fran Lock, JR Carpenter, Lydia Unsworth, Sarah Corbett, Edwina Attlee, Lu Rose Cunningham, Michael Farren and many more. And if you fancy a five-minute slot on the open mic, send an email to tombranfoot@gmail.com with your details.