News Archive

Wales Proves Poetry Talent at the Bristol Tri Nation Poetry Slam

Poetry Slam teams from Wales, Scotland and England went head to head on Friday 8 September at the Bristol Tri Nation Poetry Slam. The slam which was held in the studio theatre at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic was cheered along by a sell out crowd of 120.

The Welsh contingent, Nick Fisk, John Davies, ’Hangetsu’ (real name, Dan Drummand) and Christopher Brooke, eventually finished a respectable second behind the Scottish team, leaving the English quartet to take third place.
 
Scotland ran away with the first half, with Wales in second place. Despite Wales significantly cutting the Scottish lead in the second half they couldn’t quite rally the audience and judges to award them the points needed to take the Tri–Nations Poetry Slam crown. That honour belonged to the Scottish team, who also produced the highest scoring poet of the evening.   
 
England took third place, though an impressed home-grown judging panel gave their last performance the second highest individual score of the evening.  
 
In all, it was a very tight competition, with an average of only 30 points separating each team.
 
There have already been discussions to host a return Slam in Cardiff in 2007. Watch this space…

Christopher Brooke launches his first collection & The Concept of Zero (Cinnamon Press)

Tuesday 24 October 2006. Cinnamon Press:  Book Launch.  Cardiff-based poet Christopher Brooke will be reading from his new collection & The Concept of Zero. 8.00 pm, The Top Floor Bar at Cineworld (formerly The UGC Cinema) in Cardiff.  Complimentary glass of wine from 7.15pm. Free Entry. For more information please contact Jan Fortune-Wood: 01766 832112.

"Impressive… a talented poet who has developed a distinctive perspective on his experience & on the world around him" — Rob Middlehurst

"A fine first collection merging wordcraft & dark humour. well, well overdue" — Lloyd Robson

Born, against his will, in Tredegar, Gwent in 1971 Christopher Brooke lives in Adamsdown, Cardiff. He runs the Square  Writers’ Circle creative writing group in his converted loft and tutors new writers in his very rare spare time. His poetry has appeared in small presses, magazines and online around the world. He has edited the poetry magazine Ramraid  Extraordinaire, Volume II. Christopher is a member of The Welsh Academy,