Scott Hobbs Bourne is originally from North Carolina, the author of the novel, A Room With No Windows, a book of short stories, several journals and a trilogy of poems. His poetry has been put to score by American composer Shinji Eshima, and premiered at the San Francisco Opera in April of 2016. His most recent work, An Act of Imagination, is an illustrated book of poems for children. Scott lives in Paris with his wife and two children. His novel, Good Morning Captain, is the winner of the 2025 International Beverly Prize set to be published by Black Spring Press this coming year. See a full documentary about his work here: http://vimeo.com/64647082.
Jennifer K Dick is an author, translator, events organizer and academic with 4 books and 7 art/chapbooks most recently That Which I Touch Has No Name (BlackSpring Press Group, London, 2022), Meridian (artist book, Estepa Editions, Paris, 2022) & Lilith: A Novel in Fragments (Corrupt Books, Luxembourg, 2019). Her 5th collection of poems, Shelf Break, is forthcoming from BlazeVox in NYC 2026. She teaches at the Université de Haute Alsace-Mulhouse, France, curates the bilingual reading series Ivy Writers Paris and co-directs the Ecrire l’Art residency for French authors with La Kunsthalle Mulhouse Centre d’Art Contemporain which currently publishes one French poetry book annually as part of that project. Recent poems appear online in Arcturus (https://arcturusmag.com/2026/02/25/two-poems-jen-dick/ ) and Artsfuse (https://artsfuse.org/318134/weekly-feature-poetry-at-the-arts-fuse-133/ ), and in print in Gutter Magazine from Scotland (Feb issue).
Born in the USA, the bi-lingual poet and long time resident of both England and France, Tim HOLM, “est un voyageur européen de la culture.” Poems from his collection entitled, The Quiet Sun / Le Soleil Calme, translated into French by Claude Held, have been published in Poetry of Europe by Carcanet Press-UK, Anthology UNICEF-Rencontres Européen – Europoésie-France (Joël CONTE TAILLASSO, ed. 2023, and a host of others. Michel DEGUY, when poetry editor of Editions Gallimard, said the poems from The Quiet Sun are “full of life, with both piercing and subtle sequences”. The French poet, Eric SARNER, said recently of The Quiet Sun, “j’aime beaucoup la précision des détails et l’attention aux petites chose : une goutte d’eau, un moucheron, une tulip, une armée de moineaux, etc.”Others of HOLM’s poems have been published in numerous collections including the OPA Yearbook 2025 on JUSTICE, (edited by Nilovso Nill SHOOVRO) and in multiple issues of the prestigious, La Traductiére, most recently in its Anthology 2025, France, (edited by Linda Maria BAROS… HOLM is a recipient of the Antioch International Literary Fellowship for Master’s degree study in London and Oxford, UK, and also studied in Ireland thanks to a WB YEATS Society Scholarship award. His DEA in modern literature (Women Characters in the Verse Plays of WB YEATS) was awarded by La Sorbonne, Paris IV. Tim HOLM was founding Associate Editor (M. LYNCH, ed.) of the Paris/Atlantic International Review of Poetry created in 1982 and published by the American College, now University, in Paris. He has also served as Representative in France of the IWP (International Writing Program) of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, under the direction of founding co-directors, Paul and Hualing Nieh ENGLE.
Aria is a poet born and raised in Paris. She writes about everything that goes on in her life, from queerness to mental illness, along with love in all of its forms. She started performing here at Spoken Word Paris in January 2023 and has never left since, reading her poetry aloud and even becoming one of the hosts of this event in June last year. She has also been posting some of her poetry on Instagram, @ariapoems, since January 2025. Her debut poetry collection, Every Broken Thing, works as a mirror reflecting her identity: a broken yet whole portrait of a struggling lesbian woman and budding young poet. The book was designed entirely by her, she made the cover drawing herself and hand makes every book in Brussels with the help of her brother. She’s now here to launch her book and present it to you, let’s welcome Aria to the stage!
Nick Calderbank is the founder of the On Stage and New Open Space theatre companies, working mainly at the Theatre de Nesle in the Latin Quarter. Over 20 years he produced plays in English by Shakespeare, Pinter, Beckett, Mamet, Ayckbourn, etc. More recently, he has focused on writing and performing his own material.He is the author of “Comic Sketches.”
Joanna Bartholomew began performing as a child. At Art School she was involved in performance art, sculpture and making costumes.From the fringe theatre in London she came to Annie Fratellini’s Circus School in France, then studied mime with Etienne Decroux. different forms of dance and corporal disciplines, was member of “l’Atelier Contact Improvisation de Paris” and more recently explored Yat Malgem’s psychology of movement and performing with masks. A founder member of the company Lynx Joanna performs and runs theatre workshops. Currently, she is a member of l’Atelier René Loyon and is working on a pluri-disciplinary new show.
Dublin born Ursula Wynne has lived in Paris for decades and performed many times with Nick Calderbank since the late 1980s. Over the years, she has performed in French and English, worked as a tourist guide and as an English teacher. She currently hosts at Paris Lit Up open mic
Ned Dunn is a poet borne of the road, with the stories of men and solitary existence he has performed in the likes of Workman’s main room Electric Picnic and Beyond the Pale. However, the place for giving a few poems would be none other then the barstool, itself. Ned has gone on to run his own Open Mic known as Juno Beats for a time and even collaborated with artists as far as America. He was also published in the Pay Attention Collective (2023) and Lily of the Valley (2025) magazines. His words to live by, May there never be a stone in your shoe, and at least never a hole in your socks.
Alison Grace Koehler is a poet who works with broken shards and text to create stained glass windows and performances in diverse spaces. She has published two books and accompanying spoken-word albums, Stained Glass Poetry and Stained Glass Arrangements (Paris Heretics, 2020 & 2023), as well as Secret Space with Benjamin Dwyer (Farpoint Recordings, 2024). She has performed at international festivals including the Edinburgh Arts Festival, l’Antidote, the Bloomsday Festival, Upwentelling, and Iruzzioni. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and art centers including Point Ephémère, the Jonas Mekas Visual Art Center, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Studio d’Arte SL, La Cité Internationale des Arts, and Poush. Born in Chicago, she currently lives and works in Paris, France.
Sean Walsh is a Poet and Filmmaker from Dublin who in 2025 performed at Ireland’s largest music and arts festival, Electric Picnic. His spoken word short film ‘Settle Yourself’ was screened in 6 film festivals both in Ireland and in the USA. Sean’s work often centers around social injustice and the journey of knowing oneself.
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Carrie Chappell is the author of two chapbooks: Loving Tallulah Bankhead (Paris Heretics 2022) and Quarantine Daybook (Bottlecap Press 2021). With Amanda Murphy, she co-translated Cassandra at point-blank range by Sandra Moussempès (Diálogos 2025). She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans’ Creative Writing Workshop and, presently, teaches English as a Foreign Language at Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. As a current doctoral student in French Literature at CY Cergy Paris University, Carrie is completing a joint research-creation dissertation entitled respectively La Poétique de la Femme Bessettienne and Bessettienne.
Sue Burge is a freelance tutor, mentor and editor based in North Norfolk. She is also a film-studies tutor with a penchant for silent film, road movies and David Lynch. Her poems have been published in a wide range of journals and feature in themed anthologies on science fiction, modern Gothic, illness, endangered birds, WWI and Laurel and Hardy. Her first pamphlet, Lumière explored Paris’s cinematic and literary legacy; her second pamphlet, The Saltwater Diaries was published in 2020. She has three collections out with Live Canon: In the Kingdom of Shadows, Confetti Dancers and The Artificial Parisienne. The latter examines her edgy on-going relationship with Paris. Her eco-angst collection, watch it slowly fade, was published by Yaffle Press in July 2025.
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