SpokenWord Paris

Sue Burge is a freelance tutor, mentor and editor based in North Norfolk, UK.  Her poems have appeared in a wide range of journals and featured in themed anthologies on science fiction, modern Gothic, illness, Britishness, endangered birds, WWI and the COVID pandemic.  In 2016 she received an Arts Council grant which enabled her to write a body of poetry in response to Paris’s cinematic and literary legacy, resulting in her first pamphlet, Lumière. She has three poetry collections out with Live Canon: In the Kingdom of Shadows, Confetti Dancers and The Artificial Parisienne.  The latter explores the world of the alter ego she left behind in Paris three decades ago and her edgy on-going relationship with the city. Sue’s second pamphlet, The Saltwater Diaries was published in 2020.  Her next collection, watch it slowly fade, is forthcoming with Yaffle Press and explores ideas around ecological angst.  www.sueburge.uk

Gill Sotu is a Navy veteran, poet, playwright, DJ, and performing artist.  He is a 2x Grand Slam Poetry Champion, 2x Raw Performing Artist of the Year, and 5x TEDx San Diego presenter. Currently, he is a teaching artist and a commissioned playwright with The Old Globe Theatre & La Jolla Playhouse, and the official Poet in Residence for the San Diego Writer’s Festival.  He has over 10yrs of experience teaching written and performing arts within the penal system, working directly with incarcerated persons & in recovery settings, as well as with veterans and students from junior high to college.  His screenplay “The History Of Joy” in 2022 won two Gold Anthem Awards, was an Official Selection of the SoCal Film Awards and The San Diego Movie Awards as well as the Silver Award for Best Drama at the Paris Film Awards; and was a Finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival.  The poem he created and performed for Project Clean Water won the Gold MarCom Award for advertising and has been shown at AMC & Regal Cinemas across San Diego County.Gill was the Poet in Residence for the 2024 Inhabit Conference, former program director and teaching artist with Intrepid Theatre, creative director for TEDx San Diego, 2020 Artist in Residence for the Gainesville Creative Forces Art Summit, as well as the former Artist In Residence for The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Makers Church. He has been commissioned to produce original pieces for leading arts and community organizations such as: The San Diego Symphony, New Village Arts Theatre, The Unity Way, Feeding America, SD Fringe Fest, and the San Diego Opera to name a few.   His play on the life of the French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is commissioned by Classical Kids Live!, premiered in 2023 with both the Toronto Symphony and San Francisco Symphony and is currently touring across the country.  

2025 themes & special guests:

Jan 6th — Slip — 3 rounds of open mic, no guest
Jan 13th — Childhood — Gill Sotu
Jan 20th — Wood — Sue Burge
Jan 27th — Humanity — Henry Madd

See you at the Chat Noir!

more info here

Yann Rousselot is a translator, writer, and poet. He grew up in airport lounges and diplomatic enclaves in the company of his brothers, his sister, and countless cheap suitcases, raised across the globe by humanitarian parents. Graduate of the Sorbonne (Language & Literature) and the University of London Institute in Paris (Translation), he is a regular spoken word performer at Au Chat Noir, Culture Rapide, and le Bordel de la Poésie. His work has been featured in Paris Lit Up Magazine, The Bastille magazine, AUP’s Paris/Atlantic Magazine, Thought Catalog, Canopic Jar, Gard Poetry Journal (Turkish), and the Belleville Park Pages. His first collection of poetry, Dawn of the Algorithm, was published by Inkshares in 2015.  at https://anominousmistake.substack.com/

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.”

Damian Corcoran is an actor, and director as well as a voice artist and language coach. He has been acting  in France for over 25 years and has a wide experience in theatre, film dubbing and voice overs, primarily in English.Theatre is his passion and he has acted in and helped produce a number of plays from Shakespeare to Neil Labute in theatres in and around Paris such as Le Nesle, L’Atelier, and Le Sudden. He regularly performs in public readings for Moving Parts Paris and presents his own poetry for Spoken Word Paris. He is co-founder of Brava Productions, and Open Globe Theatre Paris. Specialising in English narrations for documentaries, Damian is an accomplished voice actor and dubber working for some of the biggest film and TV production companies in Paris such as Studio Lincoln, Dubbing Bros, Ce Qui Meut as well as Arte, Canal+ and Imagine.As a language coach he accompanies professionals at management level in honing their presentation and public speaking skills and developing team building and communication events in companies throughout France.

Like Nicky and Bud in ‘Gettin’ It On’, Robert and Nick go way back though they’ve never been roommates.  Yet. Robert Bradford has been directed by Nick in plays by Sam Shepard and ‘good ole Will’ Shakespeare and their natural idiosyncrasies lend themselves well to the sketch comedy format.  Or so it seems to them.  You be the judge.

Chiara Maxia is an actress and writer originally from Sardinia. She has lived in different places including England, Moscow and Paris, where she graduated in Film Acting. She now lives between France and Italy. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Opiate, The Journal, The Argyle, Paris Lit Up, OpenDoor and Our Verse. In September 2024 her debut poetry collection The Fire Within was published by The Opiate Books.

Luca Spanu Desogus is a Sardinian musician and composer. He became interested in music at the age of 11, starting with guitar studies. After playing in various ensembles, he discovered the world of theater, where he realized his main interest: composing music and exploring its relationship with words, images, and people, while also delving into sound design. This led him to work professionally in composition, arrangement, and sound design for drama theater. His multi-instrumentalism stems from the need to find the desired sound and, above all, from a constant drive to explore new ways of thinking through music. He studied at the Conservatory of Cagliari, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in classical guitar. He currently lives in Sardinia where he focuses on composing music for theater, radio, and film.

Rethabile Masilo, born in Lesotho, is a poet whose work explores themes of identity, exile, and cultural heritage. Forced into exile by political turmoil, he has lived in various countries, eventually settling in France. His poetry reflects his connection to his homeland, blending imagery, oral traditions, politics and contemporary themes. His award-winning collection, Waslap, earned the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry. He has authored several other books, including Things That Are Silent, Letter to Country, Qoaling and Mbera. His poems have also appeared in international anthologies. As a curator and editor, Masilo strives to promote African literature and encourage the young to read and write. An advocate for poetry, he participates in readings and workshops in France, where he lives, and elsewhere, and has notably been invited to The Medellin International Poetry Festival, The World Poetry Festival in Caracas, and Poetry Africa in Durban. Masilo writes a monthly poetry column for the South African newspaper The Daily Maverick.

Alison Grace Koehler is a poet who uses broken shards and text to create stained glass windows and performances in diverse spaces. Her first book ‘Stained Glass Poetry’ bridges these two worlds, as does her spoken word album ‘Stained Glass Arrangements,’ both produced by Paris Heretics. Alison has performed in international festivals including the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the Bloomsday Festival, Upwentelling, and Iruzzioni. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and art centers including la Cité Internationale des Arts, Vilniaus Dailės Academija, Espace Christiane Peugeot, and Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre. She has just released her second book and spoken word album ‘Secret Space,’ in collaboration with Benjamin Dwyer, produced by Farpoint Recordings, and released at the James Joyce Center, Dublin in June 2024.  Born in Chicago, Alison currently lives and works in Paris, France.

Andrej Kapor (b. Sarajevo, 1989) is an artist, writer, and creative producer working across disciplines. As an author, Andrej’s work is driven by rebellion, sensuality and the divine, underpinned by dark humour and informed by his multicultural background. As a curator, publisher and broadcaster, he is focused on community-building and the platforming of marginalized voices as a means for affecting social and cultural change. He is currently based in Utrecht, Netherlands. His work has been published, exhibited, and toured internationally.

Genna Rivieccio is the editor-in-chief of The Opiate, a literary quarterly specializing in fiction and poetry. She is also the author of Corona(tion) Year, Vols. 1 and 2 (2021) and Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life: A Tate Carmichael Novel (2023). Her work, in fiction and essay form, has appeared in/on From Nowhere to Somewhere: The End of the American Dream, Wrongdoing magazine, Sensitive Skin magazine, PopMatters and, most frequently, Culled Culture.