A special event combining the usual spoken word open mic with the première of the short film Coldhearts, a poetical.
Coldhearts is the world’s first ever Poetical – like a musical but where poetry drives the feel, flow, color and chemistry of the film. It was shot in Paris last year and this will be the first ever screening.
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_ftvjHrUM
For the spoken word open mic there will be 2 rounds – one before the film and one after – & the theme will be cold hearts.
8pm Zoom room opens, sign up for open mic
8.30pm Spoken word open mic (round 1) on Zoom
9.30pm Watch Coldhearts première on the YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCcTTdB9KNcU6–oy9hLbDA
You can also post comments on YouTube.
10pm Back to the Zoom room for discussion of the film including responses to comments.
10.20pm-10.30pm Spoken word open mic round 2 starts on Zoom
(All times are Paris times)
So pour yourself a glass of wine if that’s your thing
and join us to read or listen to the poetry and to watch the film.
Cheers all,
David Barnes
Texas-born Afro-Latinx performance artist, dancer, and Pushcart-nominated poet Arielle Cottingham is an internationally touring whirlwind. With a degree in theatre and an Australian Poetry Slam Championship under their belt, they explore the interplay between the word and the body, merging elements of dance and physical theater with written poetry to create multidisciplinary short works they have toured through the US, Australia, and Southeast Asia, from the mamaks of Kuala Lumpur to the Sydney Opera House. Their work has been published in BOOTH, Pressure Gauge Press, About Place Journal, and elsewhere, and their first collection, Black and Ropy, was published by Pitt Street Poetry.
Constant L. Williams is a Los Angeles-born poet and former resident of Paris, France, where his writing first came of age. He studied creative writing at the University of Southern California where he received the Beau J. Boudreaux Poetry Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Hotel Amerika, The American Journal of Poetry, 
Michael Rothenberg is co-founder of the non-profit 100 Thousand Poets for Change (
Lisa Pasold is currently sheltering in place in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a storyteller, journalist, and poet. Lisa’s 2012 poetry book, Any Bright Horse, was nominated for Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Award. Lisa’s poetry has appeared in magazines such as The Atlanta Review, The Los Angeles Review, Fence and New American Writing. @lisapasold
Laura Thurlow is a writer, filmmaker and musician originally from Toronto, Canada. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, and a Masters in Film Directing. Her recent endeavour is a short film called Shirley & Jane, starring Kate Dickie and Rosaleen Linehan. She did her first real slam in Paris in September, and was invited to go to Manchester with folks from Paris to compete in the Commonword European Slam Final. This past March, she had a show on in London, at the Drayton Arms Theatre titled Romance at The End of The World. She’s never had any poetry published- but she’s also not really tried yet ! It’s all a bit new! Plans for a chapbook this summer have halted with the pandemic – so for now she is best found @Laurelbrae on Instagram. She hopes to return to Paris very soon, but is enjoying quarantine in sunny Edinburgh, Scotland.
In Emma’s own words: “Emma Black was born in Paris of an Irish parent and an American parent. You will find her using her Anthropology degree as an excuse to blatantly stare at attractive strangers in the metro, “for research purposes”. She is the winner of no awards, has published no books, and has accomplished nothing noteworthy whatsoever. 
Suzanne Allen was born and raised in Southern California, but she thinks of Paris as her home away from home thanks to the amazing writers she’s come to know there. While studying French as an undergrad in 2005, she stumbled upon The Other Writers Group at Shakespeare & Company, and after completing her MFA, she returned to Paris and served for two years as the Creative Writing Program Director for WICE, a volunteer organization for Anglophones. She has since been honored to serve long-distance as a coeditor for The Bastille. Her poems appear online and in print journals and anthologies such as Tears in the Fence, Spillway, Pearl, Nerve Cowboy, Cider Press Review, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, Not a Muse, Strangers in Paris and Villanelles from Everyman’s Pocket Poetry Series. She has two chapbooks: verisimilitude from corrupt press, and Little Threats from Picture Show Press. She lives in Long Beach, California with her dog, Filou.
David Leo Sirois was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada, & grew up across the border in Madawaska, Maine. His poems have appeared in The Poetry Village, The Sunday Tribune Online, The Opiate, Those That This, THE BASTILLE, The Bioptic Review, Belleville Park Pages, Two Words For, Paris Lit Up, Terre à Ciel (which also published his translations of Paul Valéry, Adéline Baldacchino, & Déborah Heissler). Altogether, he has published over 75 pieces, including his work in The Keystone Anthology (Guildford, England), the anthology Vignettes & Postcards from Paris, & in the U.S., the anthology Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writing from Rising Generations, as well as Silo, Bennington College’s literary magazine, Poesy, & more. He is currently submitting two manuscripts for publication.
SpokenWord Paris 