Links

About me

I am mostly known as the host of Poetry Unplugged, London’s longest running poetry open mic, at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden. The event has run every week since 1997 and I took over as host in 2004. The Poetry Cafe has been closed since March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but I am hopeful we will eventually return when it is safe to do so.

I have published four books of poetry with Flipped Eye, the latest being Werewolf of London, my New and Selected, which was released in Spring 2021. I have also personally printed and bound a little run of my Caffeine Songs but you can also read them online for free.

I have previously hosted Rusty Sonnets, a podcast where I take an old poem, read it out, give it a good going over before I “wander off on one…” If your knowledge of older poems is a bit sketchy and you want an accessible entry point, a lot of people in a similar situation have found Rusty Sonnets to be very helpful.

I currently teach poetry at London Metropolitan University.