King Ink

In February 2026, we were joined by The Princess of Felling, Elaine Cusack. Elaine has many talents, from book-selling, to journalism, to smacking tambourines, but we know her best for her delightful poetry.

We had an evening of poems with great titles (including one that made me laugh so loud I had to ask Julius to re-read it). From our open mic, we have Premium Pasta by Levi Hart, Watching The Superbowl in an Irish Bar in the USA...

In January 2026, we welcomed the New Year with the Head of the Department of Weird Shit at Barter Books, Ann Porro. As ever, Ann’s headline set was full of her characteristic warmth, wit and wonder.

From our open mic that night, we have I Have a Baggy Jumper by James Whitman, Images That Stay In My Mind by Christine Fowler, Fifty Years a Pensioner by Sharon Milley, and Time for a Raid by John Edwards. And from Ann’s he...

In December 2025, our spoken word stocking was well and truly stuffed. One of the things we love most about King Ink is the wide variety of poetry that is performed every month. From the personal to the political to the puerile, this podcast has a bit of everything King Ink has to offer.

All told, we have jammed nine poets into this episode (and if time had allowed, we could have included many, many more). From a joyful and triumph...

In November 2025, we were delighted to welcome back a long-time regular of King Ink, Steve May. With his son, Sam, providing music and visuals, Steve’s set was a joyful and moving tribute to his wife, Pauline.

King Ink turned up in numbers that night, both to see Steve perform and to remember Pauline. From a packed open mic, we have People In Glass Houses Shouldn't Get Stoned by John Turner, Talcum Powder by Elaine ...

In October 2025, a gleeful Bob Beagrie brought the spook factor. Reading from his latest collection, The Hand of Glory, we have never seen Bob so absolutely in his element, like an ebullient goat at some kind of goat festival.

We also have some fab stuff from that month’s open mic poets. There’s Patria by AJ McKenna, The Safest Ones Shout by Rachel Emmott, The Dust of War by John Edwards and Our Ancestors by M...

In September 2025, we were joined by the Cactus Daddy himself, J Archer Avery. Joey has been a regular at King Ink for some time, and his performances are always memorable. On this occasion he was launching a collection of his short stories, entitled Prick.

We also have debut performances from new and exciting open mic poets, and a poem from the King Ink Archive. From the open mic, there’s an untitled piece by Charlotte Feath...

In August 2025, the wonderful Amy Langdown came to town. Amy is the host of Newcastle’s Out Of Your Head spoken word night, and their poetry is informed by their queer, disabled and neurodivergent activism. And the way they say “tatters” is the purest expression of the Geordie accent we’ve ever heard!

Alongside Amy in this episode, we’ve got some of our longest-serving, and some of our newest open mic ...

In July 2025, we were joined by the glorious Kirsten Luckins. She read from her (then) new collection, Offworld, a beautiful ekphrastic experiment in sci-fi storytelling published by local press, The Braag.

From our open mic, we’ve got The Artist by Liam Stokoe, A by Brogan Brannan, Born to Grout by Gaeran Southern and Frenzied by our Community Director, Sharon Milley. And from Kirsten, we have The Art of Delic...

In June 2025, we travelled to the second of two collaborative events with Born Lippy. Three brave poets, and a bunch of our regulars, took the Metro to the other place. And what a night we all had!

From Born Lippy, we’ve got You’re Beautiful by Rasheeda, Nowt In by Cooper Robson, and Cigars are the Cigarettes of Fascists by Out Of Your Head’s Amy Langdown. And from our lot, we have Lotus by Lian Maltas, The U...

All right? From September 2025 into January 2026, you might have spotted James hanging out at Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen. As part of a Cultural Spring Nibbles commission, he spent several months working alongside the volunteers and guests, trying to find some hidden poets.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Andrea, the Soupie’s CEO, along with some of the poems we wrote together.

Massive thanks to everyone who took...

All right? In June 2025, we celebrated Pride month in glorious style.

This episode includes poems from the four feature sets that night, including On Being a Thing and Northern Lights by Scotters, Me, They, Them and My Sundered Land by Just Think Phil, What Do You Mean, Bill? and Tuesdays by Auburn Langley, and Esther’s Baby and Love Song For a Moderate by AJ McKenna. 

Thanks to all of our fabulous featured poe...

In May 2025, the wonderful Rue Collinge shared some poems from her collection, How to Train Your Dragon (published by Verve Poetry Press).

Our open mic was as superb as ever. This episode features I Didn’t Know by Bobby Darling, The Emperor’s New Glucose by Pip McDonald, Eulogy for a Wealthy Monarch by The HellPoet, and Genital Inspectors by that James Whitman. And from Rue’s headline set, we have Body L...

In April 2025, we hosted the first of two collaborative events with Born Lippy. Three poets from each night went head to head, and the winners...? Poetry!

From Born Lippy, we had Hold Thoughts by Lydia Bruce, Back in Blyth by Tommy23, and Blackouts from the irrascible Donald Jenkins. And from King Ink, we had Entrails by Helen Rogers, Willem Dapoem by The Hellpoet, and Penelope, Bearer of Great Enmity ...

In March 2025, we hosted a launch event for Robin Moss. Robin’s latest pamphlet, Learning to Count on the Fingers of Two Hands is available from Mudfog Press. 

Our open mic turned out in force, and we have four podcast debutants in this episode. From the open mic, we have My Island by Vinci, The Shape of It by Pip McDonald, Get Together by Marcella Martin, and Daisies in Bloom by the ever-dapper Bobby Darling. And f...

In February 2025, we were joined by children's author and dead canny poet, Lisette Auton. We’d met Lisette at one of Steve Urwin's infamous Writing Marathons, and she’s one of those poets who just straight-up first drafts beautiful, authentic, human poetry.

Our open mic was as eclectic (and busy) as ever. From the night, we have an untitled piece by Barrie Hall, Disguises by Jose Maria Covas Lima, Shit Goggles by Sky Sh...

Throughout the summer of 2024, Helen was Poet in Residence at Sunniside in Sunderland. And in January, she launched a pamphlet of the poetry she wrote during that residency. Woohoo!

From the night’s buzzing open mic we have an untitled piece by Jack Wallace-Hunter, Table Water by Lizzie Lovejoy, a wee rap by Donald Jenkins, and Unhappily Married by Nina Mackie. Plus, from Helen’s pamphlet, we have Sunniside Up, Half of ...

We weren’t able to record an episode in December, due to James being laid low with lurgy. Sad times.

But... James never throws any audio away, so we have a couple of festive poems to tickle your baubles. First, we have Festive Fare by AJ McKenna, then Steve Urwin revisits his Ridiculous Resolutions.

Thanks, as always, to Pop Recs for hosting us throughout the year, to all of our many, many contributors, and to every...

In November we lost one of our longest-standing community members, when Pauline May passed away. We all miss Pauline a great deal, and at the top of this episode, we wanted to commemorate her by sharing one of the poems from her pamphlet, Planets, Plants, and the Taste of Salt.

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The remainder of the episode is the same poetry shenanigans you'll be used to by now. From a lively open mic, we have Capitalist King by Auburn L...

All right? This month, we launched the first issue of the King Ink Collection, a celebration of our diverse, talented and raucous open mic regulars.

Some of the poems in this episode feature in the collection (available to buy from our Etsy store); some were from people who just wanted to celebrate the launch with us.

For your listening pleasure, we have Nil Desperandum by Helen Wilko, Tell Me, Physician by AJ McKenna, The After-Li...