On Sunday 7th September I’m skipping out of Scotland. With a wee bit of funding from Creative Scotland, I’m heading to cities in the northeast of North America in a pilgrimage to some of the heartlands of spoken word. I’ll be giving feature sets at some big nights, throwing my hat into the ring for some of the biggest and best slams in the world, interviewing organisers and spoken word artists, having a great time, and trying to bring back ideas and inspiration to our flourishing Scottish scene.

Part of the work I’ve been funded to do is to blog regularly about the experience, finding out how spoken word and performance poetry happen in North America, what we can learn from organisers there, and what’s special about what we do in Scotland. I’m also going to be building touring connections for other poets who are interested in making their way over the pond, and running a workshop when I get back to talk about what I’ve learned.

So for the next month, here’s where you can find me:

Tuesday 9th: Art Bar Poetry Series, Toronto
Wednesday 10th: Nuyorican Wednesday Slam, New York
Friday 12th: Nuyorican Friday Slam / Open House, New York
Monday 15th: Readings at the Common, Toronto
Tuesday 16th: Boneshaker, Toronto
Thursday 18th: Burlington Poetry Slam
Friday 19th: London Poetry Slam
Saturday 20th: Guelph Poetry Slam
Sunday 21st: Words and Music, Montreal
Monday 22nd: The Poet in New York, The Bowery

I’m still open to more gigs — I arrive on Monday 8th, leave on Thursday 25th, and have a bit of travel budget left (I think!) You can read about me here, and get in touch at harry@harrygiles.org