Fire& Dust is a monthly and central poetry open mic event in Coventry. For November, we have TWO talented guest poets from Cork, Ireland!

Fire&Dust is currently hosted in Coventry's Priory Visitor Centre.

** You DON'T need a ticket to attend, just turn up on the night. You DON'T need a ticket to perform, there will also be open mic slots available on the night. Please ONLY register for a ticket if you need a guaranteed open mic slot (e.g. you're travelling a long way/you're arriving after 7.30PM) and can definitely attend. Please DON'T register for a ticket if you had one last month. **

Fire & Dust is a monthly poetry open mic event in Coventry city centre, hosted by local poets Ann Atkins and Raef Boylan. All welcome - 'page' poets, spoken word artists, slammers, MCs, story-tellers and anyone happy to listen to some wordsmith performances. Doors open for people to come in, grab seats and get settled around 7.15pm. The gig will start at 8PM.

Open mic slots are 3 minutes per poet. Find Raef (with clipboard) to sign up!

Travelling in from afar? Got accessibility concerns? Any queries? Please contact the hosts: raef @ hcemagazine DOT com

Bring friends, bring poems, or just come along for a listen! Take precautions to stay safe and keep others around you safe - respect people's preference to keep their distance, and please don't attend if you suspect you might have anything contagious. Cheers.

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HEADLINERS: SEAMUS HARRINGTON and BRENDAN DUFFIN

Seamus Harrington has had prize-winners/poems published in Ireland, the UK and the US. He has read his verse in Lake Orta, Strokestown and France, and contributed also to the RTÉ Radio 1 programme 'Seascapes'. Also, one of his poems was highly recommended in the Gregory O’Donoghue Poetry Competition and is now framed at the Hook Heritage Centre. (Seamus believes the muse frequents lighthouses, especially at night.) He is a regular contributor at Sound Eye Cabaret. He has a certificate for a play submitted to BBC Radio 4. He has a piece accepted by the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He has contributed to a blog written on a transatlantic sailing voyage with two colleagues over 19 days (https://blog.mailasail.com/sattwa/posts/2015/1/8/8-departure-soon).

Seamus has just published his first book of poetry, ‘Time and Tide’, with Revival Press. His book launch was featured as part of Bere Island Arts Festival 2026 (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/649fcaa0d16af71b340368b2/t/6a4cf306a361390cce471eb7/1783427846507/Bere+Island+Arts+Festival+2026+programme.pdf).

Brendan Duffin is a writer, musician and photographer based in Cork City. His poems have been published in The Stony Thursday Book, Swerve, Frogpond, Modern Haiku and The Mainichi. He is the 2025 winner of the Noel Brazil Song Competition and is a member of the Cork City-based band 'MacBóchra'. Named after the oldest storyteller and shapeshifter Fintan mac Bóchra, the project adapts Irish folklore and medieval Irish literature into new music, poetry, dance and visual art. They have released two EPs to date: 'Inis Ealga/Inis Fáil' and 'MacBóchra'. They are currently working on their first album.

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NEW OPEN MIC SYSTEM:

Some open mic tickets are available to reserve here on Eventbrite; the rest are for sign-up on the night. Priority will be given to poets who didn't get to read last month. If you read last month and want to read again, your name will go on the reserve list for random draw to fill empty slots. Most poets who want to read WILL get to, but sometimes the list is too busy to fit everyone in!

Please don't register for a ticket if you had one last month. Please do not take the ticket that is called ! STOP. NOT A TICKET, STOPS 'Sold Out' ALERT! - cheers.

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The Priory Centre is in Coventry city centre. It's located in Priory Place, behind Nando's/The Flying Standard Wetherspoon (Trinity Street), just a short distance from where The LTB was, and 2 minute's walk from Pool Meadow bus station. Info about nearby car parks and street parking can be found on this website. (https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/locations/priory_row_coventry_cv1_5ex_united_kingdom_1d2cgcqfjstwtn3hbg/?country=uk&arriving=202502061900&leaving=202502062230)

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Free entry. There will be a jar for donations on the night. Alternatively, you can donate online via Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/fireanddustpoetry) to help Fire & Dust gigs keep going. For additional info, check out the F&D linktree page (https://linktr.ee/fireanddustpoetry).

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Description supplied by the event organiser.