7th Annual Derby Poetry Festival Slam: Meet the Slammers.

Derby Poetry Festival is returning for 2025 with an 'abridged' version of our much-loved festival, a 48-hour celebration on Thursday, 2nd and Friday, 3rd October, with workshops, events, and a Slam.

We’ve announced the poetry festival is back, we’ve shared the programme including the 7^th annual slam, but a slam means slammers and this year we have fourteen participants.

Although the slammers are the most interesting part of night, we do have to announce the judges too. Ready to be heckled and booed we have Nottingham Poetry Festival producer and slam champion, Ben Macpherson. The Derby Dracula’s reigning Count of Poetry, Chris White. Derby Poetry Festival 's own Aoife O'Connor and one half of Bad Betty Press, Jake Wild Hall.

Tickets for this year's slam can be found here.

Jenny Raynor is a poet from the North, a lover of all things spoken word. Known best for their brash, no-nonsense style of poetry. Jenny has previously been described ‘as subtle as a hammer to the head’-- she took it as a compliment.

Igor dos Santos Mota (he/él/ele) is a teacher, award-winning poet, translator, and PhD student from Brazil, based in Derby. His debut poetry collection, Record the Instinct, written with Danielle Tosta, was self-published in the UK this year.

Fuad Busoir, a Nigerian-born poet living in South-East London, is a multi-talented individual rapidly rising in the poetry scene. He was crowned the UniSlam 2024, One Night Slam, AND Genesis Poetry Slam's Champion. Fuad's poetry is rich with imagery and emotion. He brings a unique blend of diasporic storytelling and emotional vulnerability that makes his work unforgettable.

Ella is a contract writer by day and creative writer in the margins. This is her first poetry slam. 

Gemma Lees is a Romany Gypsy, disabled and autistic performance artist, poet, facilitator and journalist from Bury. Her practice focuses on protest, advocacy and inclusion, and she is a passionate advocate for GTRSB and neurodiverse education and inclusion. She has performed poetry in venues from tiny pubs to theatre stages, often infused with live art and comedy. She is a frequent opinions columnist for ‘Traveller’s Times’ and her poetry collection, ‘1000 Years’ is available from Written Off Publishing.

Jay Sandhu is a British Asian poet, comedian and creative producer who uses humour and storytelling to explore identity, justice, and belonging. His work spans live performance, presenting (BBC), and published collections (HarperCollins, Otter-Barry Books). As a director for Nottingham Poetry Festival and founder of Nott Another, Jay curates' events, workshops, and projects that amplify underrepresented voices. From programming stages at festivals to leading initiatives like Our City Our Stories and Educated, Elevated, Melinated, he bridges art and activism. Whether teaching maths, mentoring young people, or performing, Jay believes creativity is a tool for connection and change

Katie Lou is a spoken word poet and performer from Blackpool, now based in Bradford. She is a domestic violence survivor, having grown up in an abusive environment, the scars of which she carries to this day.

After the breakdown of a relationship in late 2023, she started therapy and was diagnosed with attachment disorder. She uses poetry as a way to process and organise the thoughts in her ‘busy’ brain writing about domestic violence, women’s health, love and loss. She aims to share her story so that it might help others to reclaim their voice.

Meri Brooks hasn’t won anything yet, but she’s got a positive mindset. She’s in it for the participation award and loves to share her work. Poets write from their hearts, and Meri is no different - she tells tales of her family and her mental health and loves finding beauty in the mundane.

Michael Ormond (AKA MO the Poet) is a Jack-of-All-Tirades and a master of fun. Never straying too far from humour, his wordsmithery ranges from the socially charged to the occasionally absurd. By day a professional science communicator, by night he is unprofessional, unscientific and, frankly, not that communicative. Expect some mouth and some trousers

Kerry Needs is a freelance writer, author and poet. She writes on Medium about personal growth, love, loss, and optimising your life for wellbeing. Creatively inspired by Rumi, Sylvia Plath, Hafiz, and Elizabeth Gilbert, and ridiculously obsessed with cats and TikTok

Nadia Martelli of Italian-English-African-Irish descent, and born in Liverpool, now based in Derby. Nadia began writing poetry aged 11, and later went on to study Combined Arts at Derby University, which included Creative Writing, gaining a BA Hons, II(i). They're a prominent member of poetry groups like Invisible Poets, Wheelsong and Safe Haven.

Conor Perrott is a gay short story writer, poet and performer from Derby. He was an Associate Poet for Derby Poetry Festival in 2024, and has performed his work at a variety of poetry events across the UK. Conor has a BA (Hons) in Writing and Publishing, an MA in Creative Writing and is currently preparing a research proposal for a PhD. His work explores the intricacies of queer life, struggles in mental health, neurodivergence and the dirty realism of being a working-class man from a low economic background.

Priya Gill As chair of Writing East Midlands’ youth board, @pkgwrites is passionate about providing equitable opportunities for writers across the region. Since her tenure began, the youth board projects have included: the inaugural South Asian Heritage Month Event, the Quasar Prize and Print anthology, and Scribblefest 2.0. She is a poet who has featured in First Story Anthologies, Culture Matters Anthology ‘We Are All Palestinians’ and Renard Press ‘Remembrance’

Hannah Blanton is a local poet who was born and raised in Derby and has now found her way back to her hometown, where she is raising her own family. She is a wife to a wonderful, if slightly odd, Canadian man and to two delightful little girls. Her poetry revolves mainly around the topic of motherhood (since that is what she spends 99% of her time focusing on these days) and has received widespread attention and praise on social media from other mums and grandmothers around the world.

This year’s slam is part of the abridged version of the festival taking place on the 2^nd and 3^rd of October. DPF uses a tiered ticketing system for access and affordability reasons. Tickets are priced with a standard, pay-it-forward, and reduced-price ticket. We encourage people to attend and select the best ticket price for their circumstances. The full programme for this years festival including the #nationalpoetryday special with Bad Betty Press can be found here.