Sold out Friday!

The Poets Against Racism gig on the opening night of the festival was a sell-out, 80 people filled the hall and 18 were turned away due to fire regulations, including Tommy Farmyard the festival organiser.

I was so proud to host such a talented group of poets and artist from across the Midlands, we smashed it! The open Mic sessions was also of a very high standard, encouraging local poets to join the movement. NAE are on our side The New Art Exchange has been a great support for PAR in Nottingham, it allows our poets to perform in a high tech venue and always attracts a large audience from across the diverse communities in the city.

The NAE are very happy to have Poets Against Racism as a regular event, I’m in talks to see if we can hold workshops for all ages and keep attracting local poets to perform at the venue. Nott’s TV interview I was asked to join the Nott’s TV show to talk about the Nottingham Poetry festival and Poets Against Racism, the poem I performed ‘Empire Calling’ had 5,200 views on their social media site, great publicity for us.

We were so popular, I have been asked to join the live show to celebrate 5 years of Nott’s TV, and I’ll be reviewing the poetry festival, taking about PAR and performing a few poems. Having a curry with Linton Kwesi Johnson! I was very proud to host the biggest gig at the Nottingham Poetry Festival, Jamie Thrasivoulou, Bridie Squires were two fantastic poets, supporting the legend Linton Kwesi Johnson, and he was brilliant!

Over 250 people packed into the Metronome for one of the best poetry nights for years, Linton performed a fantastic set of poems and stories from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and today Linton wanted to eat after the gig so we all headed for a curry at my local, the food and conversation was great, we talks about Enoch Powell and Rivers of Blood speech, the Anti-Nazi League and the fight against racism today. Building on success

Since Poets Against Racism was launched in 2016, we have had over 300 different artist and poets perform at our event, the biggest audience being in East London at the ‘beautiful resistance’ gig which attached over 100.

PAR have been invited twice to the Wolverhampton Literature Festival 2018/2019 and the Nottingham Poetry festival, our fan base is getting bigger with 450 followers on Facebook and 750 friends on my Facebook page! Why we need Poets Against Racism

The rise of racism and the far-right continues across the world, so it is so crucial to use our art as poets and performers to challenge bigotry and celebrate diversity, for me poetry is a political act, we need to use the stage to spread the words of love and celebrate our humanity.

Come and join us

Love Poetry! Hate Bigotry!

Manjit Sahota
Poets Against Racism