Prickly Pear Open Mic feat. GEORGE BASTOW

Come and enjoy an event that shines a light on all disabilities, whether physical or mental, hidden or unhidden. Please note that self-diagnosis is Valid. Open to all, but priority will be given to those with a disability and/or those who wish to share words about disability. So please join us to celebrate and lift the performers among us that are often left uncatered for.

Run by neurodivergent poets we understand how difficult it can be to perform when the world is set up for the abled. This is one of the reasons we are an ONLINE event. Being online means no distance is a barrier, we want to hear voices from around the world, but please be aware that the hosts' language will be in English. This is a pay-what-you-feel/can event, instructions on how to donate will be given during the event.

This month we have the fantastic GEORGE BASTOW as our headliner! If you haven't heard him before we promise you are in for a treat!

Bio:

George Bastow is a writer, poet, blogger, workshop facilitator and hat connoisseur who just so happens to be a neurodivergent wheelchair-user with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. He is a regular at online spoken word events and has headlined at Oooh Beehive, Fire&Dust Poets Zoom Around the World and AccessAbility Arts Presents Spoken Word. George facilitates creative writing groups for young people with Writing West Midlands and has co-run creative writing workshops for neurodivergent adults with Writing East Midlands. He has spoken at events including The National Writers’ Conference at the University of Birmingham and The Cultural Exchanges Festival, De Montfort University in Leicester on disability representation and neurodiversity awareness. George also performed with the Word Weavers Poetry Collective at the 2025 Springboard Festival.

Please email ashleyedge.poet@gmail.com to request an open mic slot. A ticket does not guarantee this. If you have any special requirements, please let us know, as we will be more than happy to accommodate your needs.

A reading order will be given at the start of the event, to ensure folk are not left in the 'unknown'. The event will run from 7pm until 9pm bst/utc+1 every 2nd Sunday. Everyone will have 3 mins to perform.

To donate to Prickly Pear directly, PayPal URL:

https://paypal.me/edgepp?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB

No hate will be tolerated. So no racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism. Equality, equity and diversity are not just words.

***PLEASE USE AN AUTHENTICATED ZOOM ACCOUNT (LOGGED-IN) AND DISPLAY YOUR NAME WHEN JOINING THE EVENT. IT MUST MATCH THE NAME ON THE TICKET. ENTRY WILL BE REFUSED WITHOUT THIS***