Speak Easy Guest Host Announcement November 2025 - Lindy Newns

 

* Speak Easy Guest Host *

Full list of readers to follow next few days to follow,  but we can announce that our guest host for November's Speak Easy (Our Spoken Word Open Mic night) at Dulicmer, Chorlton will be the wonderful Lindy Newns.

Lindy Newns appears in open mics around Greater Manchester and facilitates Mostly Manchester, an online Stanza group. She is part of Chorlton Arts with special responsibility for artists in schools, so if anyone wants to visit a local school , or perform  during next year's festival in May, let her know and sign up online as an artist. Lindy's poetry and flash fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies and she runs writing workshops in Yorkshire and Wales as well as locally. She is currently shortlisted for the Hysteria flash fiction prize. 

We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday 06 November 2025.

Free admission. Start around 7.30pm. To go on the subs / cancellation list - email Andy N on

aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk

Deborah Weitzman (Spoken Label, October 2025)

 

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author Chat Podcast) features Deborah Weitzman making her debut to talk about her debut novel ‘The Sinking of the Leonardo Da Vinci’.

“The Sinking of the Leonardo Da Vinci’ is described as “Itis 1976, in New York. Joanna, a dreamy and sensitive young woman, suffers deep loneliness and a sense of never belonging. The world of music, of songwriting,draws her toward something deeper, if only she had permission to enter that world.

When she meets Luca, onboard The Leonardo da Vinci, her wildest dreams come true. He-the young navigator of the ship, rebellious and passionate-gives her that permission. They fall hopelessly in love, and against all odds, shetravels to Rome to be with him. When she arrives, he has drastically changed.

Never knowing what turned him so callous, this dark seed contaminates the rest of her life.

Back in NY, she runs into her former professor, Stuart, avisionary environmentalist, and they marry. Older than Joanna, he is her anchor and benevolent father figure. To never be burned again, she vows to stay far from the rocky shoals of passion. To keep that vow, she buries her creativesoul, her real voice, and her music. When Stuart unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, her unlived self awakens with a vengeance. Hoping to heal, she travels to the walking trails of Cinque Terre, where she unexpectedly reawakens bothpassion and comfort in her relationships, finding herself along the way.

Her book is on Amazon etc

Substack link:
⁠https://open.substack.com/pub/deborahjeanneweitzman⁠

Facebook:
⁠https://www.facebook.com/deborahjeanneweitzman⁠

Instagram
⁠https://www.instagram.com/deborahjeannew/⁠

Her website is:
⁠https://deborahjeanne.com/

*

Podcast can be streamed etc from:

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/deborah-weitzman-spoken-label-october-2025/id1501847969?i=1000731849318

creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Deborah-Weitzman-Spoken-Label--October-2025-e39hipl

youtu.be/pi3WwsHgMY0

music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/e97fd432-7cf2-478c-b8ce-b39600d62026/spoken-label-deborah-weitzman-spoken-label-october-2025  

Craig Snelgrove (Spoken Label, October 2025)

 

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author Podcast) features making his debut is Craig Snelgrove.

Craig Snelgrove is a writer from Manchester and a PhD in Creative Writing. Craig is author of the short story cycle Young Mancunians, and the creator of The Existential Reader and The Subtext: The Art of Storytelling. (Both available on Substack).

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0FV59R6ZT?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=VJH77PYYG1HDPX8SJ6A8&plink=QAzHtHCE6qBrncWi&pageLoadId=kyTdcIS2tSXKtI18&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/1c59e313-020e-4fd2-9390-e8aaba9d2236/spoken-label-craig-snelgrove-spoken-label-october-2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwTPcmtcMUc

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Craig-Snelgrove-Spoken-Label--October-2025-e38h91f

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/craig-snelgrove-spoken-label-october-2025/id1501847969?i=1000730677577

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4brSZUaxhIOlbjlfNx5m6F

New Spoken Label Podcast - Toni Sidwell (96 Degrees)

 

Latest Podcast from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) features Toni Sidwell from 96 Degrees, a newish coffee cafe set Eccles, next  to Salford who talks about the creative / community projects which she is running / co-running at 96 degrees which includes running litter picking, a spoken word / poetry open mic and a writing workship among other things.

96 Degrees is based near Eccles Bus Station and the tram station.

96 Degrees can be found on facebook - 96 Degrees Eccles

(https://www.facebook.com/themalagadrift)

Toni is on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/kidwithcactus/

They can also be also be found on Instagram and Tik Tok.

*

Podcast can heard/found on:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/toni-sidwell-96-degrees-spoken-label-october-2025/id1501847969?i=1000729333061

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Toni-Sidwell-96-Degrees-Spoken-Label--October-2025-e38gnv7

https://www.instagram.com/andynpoet/reel/DPbQrqjDTj6/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmX6M6aMoDk

https://open.spotify.com/episode/54MNMHiUKNOthhABxJDh75

Speak Easy - thank you's for October 2025 and how to book November 2025

Busy few days folks but following on from the other day, a huge thank you for everybody who read at Speak Easy on Thursday at Dulcimer Bar and attended, 21 readers and a crowd of at least 45 people.

Kudos and love to Ant Briscoe who did a sterling job of hosting the show for us.

Want to thank the following who read:

1. Anthony Briscoe

2. Mark Quinn

3. Luke Piercey

4. Jenny Pikington

5. Michael Hulley (Volodya Gorky)

6. Mr Kai

7. Jeremy Pak Nelson

8. Noemi Scotellaro Massimi

9. Andy N

10. Amanda Nicholson - Author

11. Gordon Zola

12. Steve Smythe

13. Sophie Gannon

14. Thomas Butterworth

15. Andy Cash

16. Annie Acre

17. Martin Elder

18. Martin CM (Martin Corlettmoss)

19. Ella Holmes

20. David Bond

21. Jo Somerset

We have pictures by a team effort from Amanda, Andy Cash and Olga Gerke – want to thank Olga and Andy for their help here

These can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=speakeasymanchester&set=a.1333261148592666&__cft__[0]=AZXZ71twv0g6Psfla9XDCgwenvPUusoySqdYEZjOAwG5xqlDlTULO5AhUOl3e-FEiq9Ls4fbX6rwgslE7rwHc2aU0jEpvdEw7Bdy0an60wcH6cr0vTcztzsXgbg8iMFoJqUpjaWdB-QgFmFVx3tHA7GCxMbTxxvVmGdCW_5CwQxmHkulYB3PH4oxFG630KbLyLk&__tn__=-R

Next Speak Easy is on Thursday 06 November 2025 and bookings open on Sunday 05 October by emailing me Andy N on aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk

Julia Webb - Spoken Label September 2025

 

Latest up from Spoken Label, featuring her return is the wonderful Julia Webb.

Julia advises "I was born in London but grew up on a council estate in Thetford, a small town in rural Norfolk surrounded by pine forest. Thetford is known for being the home of The Iceni tribe, the birthplace of Thomas Paine, the place where they filmed a lot of Dad's Army and (in the 1960s) as a London Overspill town.My ambitions to be a writer started when I was six-years-old and read The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton. I can trace my interest in magical realism, surrealism and love of language right back to the things read as a child - Dr Seuss, Enid Blyton, A.A. Milne, Tolkien and fairytales. However I left school (and home) at 16 with no qualifications and went to live in a commune. I continued to write short stories and poetry over the years, but with no real writing community I didn't really know how to improve them, and after my son was born I gravitated more towards art and printing while working as a pre-school supervisor. When I was 40 I had an epiphany of sorts and realised that writing was my first love. I quit my job and did a degree in creative writing at Norwich School of Art and Design (now known as NUA). After that I went on to do an MA in poetry at the University of East Anglia."Her website is: 

https://juliawebb.org/

Her new book - Grey time can be found at all of the usual places including - https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/grey-time.

Cafe Writers competition link: https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/home/poetry-competition/ and the main website link https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/

**

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/julia-webb-spoken-label-september-2025/id1501847969?i=1000728267828

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Julia-Webb-Spoken-Label--September-2025-e37tjjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PycUDwpVyoQ&t=1s (Chat)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTjORJaRpK4&t=2s (Reading)

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/67c662c5-d71d-44c4-8628-60c12b260348/spoken-label-julia-webb-spoken-label-september-2025

https://www.instagram.com/andynpoet/reel/DPJMFVODmwI/ (Chat)

https://www.instagram.com/andynpoet/reel/DPJHLiTjonQ/ (Reading)

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0FSFPD7KR?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=FBR63DF0YQZQC10A2HSY&plink=wmzS6B0nvveJPCbw&pageLoadId=1pqtXlVfsWjpWAYY&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3b9RnUEYsJrdCMDrJmUFpQ

Speak Easy guest host announcement

 

Special guest host announcement for Speak Easy (Our Spoken Word open Mic night at Dulcimer, Chorlton) on Thursday 02 October 2025....

Anthony Briscoe

We first met Ant all the way back in 2018 if my memory is correct at Speak Easy and Ant also has helped out with Amanda when she did Printed

Words and also at our Printed Words event in 2019, which Ant headlined.

Anthony Briscoe is a performance poet and Multi-disciplinary artist. His Poetry is a mix of comedy and at times seriousness.

Like a clown giving bad news.

Using spoken word poetry as a base Anthony discusses meaningful issues through an absurdist comedic lens using his background in theatrics (BA HONS in contemporary theatre - Lancaster university) to add an energetic, engaging and entertaining performance to all his material and to justify his overhanging student debt.

Night starts around 7.30 pm-ish.

Booking enquiries - Andy N on aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk for 4-minute slots.