Midlands Mix-Up with Sophie Sparham & Casey Bailey

Incredible Midlands talent headlines our three-part event series.

At Midlands Mix-Up events, two poets from three cities – Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham – showcase their own poetry and nominate a ‘Poet to Watch’ from their hometown.

Sophie Sparham is a poet and writer who has written commissions for BBC Radio 4, The V&A and The People’s History Museum. She co-hosts the night Word Wise in Derby which won best spoken word night at the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Her latest collection ‘The Man Who Ate 50,000 Weetabix’ came out in April 2021 via Verve Poetry Press. Sophie’s work has been published in Orbis, Under the Radar and The Morning Star. Her poem Sunrise Over Aldi won third place in the 2020 Charles Causley International Poetry Competition.

Sophie’s Poet to Watch is Charlotte Lunn

Casey Bailey is a writer, performer and educator, born and raised in Nechells, Birmingham, UK. He was Birmingham Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2022. Casey’s second poetry collection Please Do Not Touch was published by Burning Eye in 2021, and he’s had poetry published in a number of anthologies and journals including Poetry Birmingham Literature Journal and anthologies published by Emma Press and Verve Poetry Press. Casey has been commissioned by organisations including the BBC, Symphony Hall, West Midlands Combined Authority and Birmingham City Council, and he has performed his poetry in Edinburgh, London, Liverpool, Birmingham, France, India and many other places. Casey is a fellow at the University of Worcester, and in 2021 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education by Newman University.

Casey’s Poet To Watch is Adjei Sun

Doors 7pm
Show starts 7.30pm 

(An NPF Event)