A bookshop in Cathays is hosting the latest poetry-specific night, joining other similar events in the city
“I’m trying to build a community here,” said owner Lily Baron, a book shop owner who has added her venue to the expanding open mic poetry scene in Cardiff.
“I think doing the poetry open mic nights is a really tangible way of seeing it grow.”
Lily owns Book Space Cardiff, on Crwys Road, and it is one of a number of venues hosting open mics around the city intended just for poets.
The bookshop, which opened in 2024, began hosting open mic nights in January of this year, giving attendees the chance to read a poem, often their own, in front of the crowd.
Gordan Anderson, one of the featured poets who kicked off February’s event, said because the bookshop can only a fit a few people, it offers the chance for those who’ve never read poetry aloud to do so in a comfortable space.
“It doesn’t feel scary at all,” he said.
First-time performer Rebekah Lleuad Senchal, a student, said: “I think it’s great opportunity for budding poets to get the chance to hone their skills and perform in a friendly and welcoming environment, like I did, for the first time.”
The Paris effect
Lily first fell in love with poetry while working at the famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris, when she had the chance to attend their open mics for poets.
“I went along a few times and read some poems and just really loved it. I fell in love with bookshops and fell more in love with poetry,” she said.
This open mic night joins a number of other events around the city offering poets the chance to perform their work and supporting the wider scene in the progress.
Other monthly events include Big Words at Tiny Rebel, and Moonchild, which moved to Porters following the closure of The Moon.
“South Wales seems to be doing quite well in terms of creating poetry events at the minute,” said Lawrence Smart, one of Moonchild’s co-organisers.
“There are all these different open mics, but it’s not like we’re in competition. We’re all supporting the same scene,” said Moonchild’s other co-organiser Ellis Burgess.
“Anyone can sit down and have a go at writing a poem or reading someone else’s poem if they don’t want to write their own. There’s really no barrier to entry. You don’t need to know how to play a musical instrument”.
Lawrence started the event, originally known as Howl at the Moon, to help support The Moon, but also to push himself as a poet.
“Selfishly, it was a way to force myself to write. With what it’s become, it’s somehow not just a community, but a support network. We have people who have made friends through this event and do things other than poetry together.”
Whether people chose to read a poem or not, Lily hopes that the open mics can be “a nice evening out,” not least because she enjoys running them so much.
“My main hope is that it carries on forever because I loved that first one. I would love to do it every month until the end of time.”
- Book Space Cardiff hosts poetry open mics every month. Details of their next event can be found on their website.
- Moonchild Poetry and Spoken word will be hosting their next event on March 10 at Porters Cardiff.
