HOW TO MAKE A POETRY FESTIVAL FROM THE DEPTHS

From MAKE POETRY WEIRD AGAIN · 00:35:02

Show by Nols Nathankski

Nols Nathankski takes an hour away from festival organising to talk you through what to expect from the Hold Space Poetry Festival 1-5th October 2026 in the Crypt Gallery.The Crypt Gallery sits under St Pancras New Church on Euston Road. It was aburial ground until 1854 and an air raid shelter in the war, and 557 people arestill down there. From 1 to 5 October it is also a poetry festival.Hold Space: From the Depths is the second edition, after seven sold-out nightsin Holy Week this April that produced a zine assembled overnight. This one goes further down. Twelve resident poets have the run of the crypt for five days, writing in it, recording in it, and performing in the evening work that did not exist that morning. The residency is not a retreat. It is an exposure.In this episode we go into the stone and find out what it does to a poem. Whathappens to your line breaks when the room is cold, the light is bad and theaudience is partly dead. Why a church let a queer poetry organisation in. Whatit costs to run a festival the Arts Council turned down and the public paid forinstead.==============================================================THE SCHEDULE==============================================================The crypt is open 10am to 6pm daily. Workshops and the open mic are separatelyticketed. Featured poets open each open mic, two or three a night, before thefloor goes to fourteen.THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER10am Crypt opens · residency begins · set-up and intentions3pm Penance Poetry Workshop (3 to 5pm)3pm The Sacred Space Within (3 to 5pm)6pm Open mic in the crypt Featured: Kristal Sisodia · Valera Simonchuk · HFRIDAY 2 OCTOBER10am Crypt opens · residency · podcast recordings6pm Open mic in the crypt Featured: Byuka Makodru · Nols Nathankski · Luigi CoppolaSATURDAY 3 OCTOBER10am Crypt opens · residency · live podcast recordings · Zine Day1pm Trash Fire Poetry: Writing From The Ashes (1 to 3pm)3pm Disasterpieces (3 to 5pm)6pm THE GATHERING, upstairs in St Pancras New Church (6 to 9pm) Featured: Maddy Kilsby-McMurray · Emma Keun World premiere from Neil Bartlett OBE. No open mic in the crypt tonight.SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER10am Crypt opens · residency · podcast recordings11am Protest Poetry: Defamiliarising Violence (11am to 1pm)1pm Saying The Unsayable (1 to 3pm)6pm Open mic in the crypt Featured: Dr Maria Cohut · Pia Fajelagutan · Bee WylieMONDAY 5 OCTOBER10am Crypt opens · closing day · podcast recording · zine assembly11am Rediscovering Joy In A Crypt (11am to 1pm)3pm Penance Poetry Workshop (3 to 5pm)5pm Stevie's Scary Stories Sharing Circle (5 to 7pm)6pm Closing open mic in the crypt Featured: Stevie Grant · Alice Border · Tom Bland Zine launch and distribution at the close.==============================================================THE WORKSHOPS==============================================================All separately ticketed, all pay what you can, all small. Book individually.PENANCE POETRY WORKSHOPThursday 1 October, 3 to 5pm · and Monday 5 October, 3 to 5pmFacilitated by Nols NathankskiSeven poets produce automatic poetry under deliberately restricted conditions.Over two hours, participants respond to three minute prompts and immediatelyperform their poems to the crypt. Poets are limited to pen, paper and water.Choosing to use a phone, drink alcohol, smoke or otherwise distract oneselfresults in becoming an audience member. None have failed yet. No photography orfilming. Since its inception PENANCE has generated over 200 poems performed bymore than 30 poets.THE SACRED SPACE WITHINThursday 1 October, 3 to 5pmFacilitated by Kristal SisodiaA meditative, poetic, psychedelic journey through sound, body and collectivewriting. Poetry becomes ritual, sound becomes language, and the body becomes aplace to listen. Kristal works with singing, live instruments, loop station,meditation and collective writing, asking where poetry comes from, where itlives in our bodies, and who gets to have access to it. Bring a notebook andcomfortable clothes you can move in. Nothing needs preparing.REDISCOVERING JOY IN A CRYPTFriday 2 October, 11am to 1pmFacilitated by Alice BorderAs light and frothy as you can get running a workshop in a crypt. Expect towrite and discuss poetry that takes your ideas somewhere bizarre, somewherefunny, somewhere surreal, and almost certainly somewhere weird.TRASH FIRE POETRY: WRITING FROM THE ASHESSaturday 3 October, 1 to 3pmFacilitated by Maddy Kilsby-McMurrayA new kind of writing circle, for unblocking your practice. After an initialprompt the poets make a new piece of work. Each is invited to share it, thendestroy it. The scraps are combined and used to make the next pieces. Challengethe limits of inspiration and learn to tease new work from the ashes of what camebefore. Up to 15 writers, all levels.DISASTERPIECESSaturday 3 October, 3 to 5pmFacilitated by Emma KeunThe world is ending, so come and make a disaster piece. Disasterpiece: disasterplus masterpiece, a work so ignominious it gains a cult…

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