Legendary live poetry night Raise the Bar returns to Bristol Beacon with UK Poetry All-Stars 2.0.

Grace Nichols joins an event full of headline poets including Harry Baker, Hollie McNish, Travis Alabanza, Nikita Gill, Georgie Jones, Michael Pedersen and Safiya Kamaria Whitaker. Plus resident DJ NGAIO on the decks.

Grace Nichols is considered by many as a literary national treasure, as one of the poets widely studied on the GCSE syllabus and the author of many books for adults and children. She has published numerous adult collections including the ever popular ‘The Fat Black Woman’s Poems’ and ‘I is a Long-Memoried Woman’ which won the 1983 Commonwealth Poetry Prize as well as many books for children.  As acknowlegement of her contributions to literature, she was awarded The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry by Her Majesty, the Queen in 2021.

Nichols new poetry collection The Tracks of My Name will be published by Bloodaxe later this year. 

In 2024, UK Poetry All-Stars was the South West’s biggest ever poetry event with over 1000 people attending. The South West’s biggest poetry event takes over Bristol Beacon once again for an unforgettable night of raucous, energetic, life-affirming poetry. Expect poets, storytellers, lyricists, and wordsmiths of all