it feels like we’ve barely blinked, but in a matter of weeks, Tubthumping is set to return with its fifth installment after a short summer break. join us at The Constitutional in Farsley on Thursday 29 September for feature slots from Kevin P. Gilday and Sophie Sparham!

as always, we’ll have the showcase section – featuring emerging talent from across the region. and your hosts for the evening will be Maria Ferguson and Matt Abbott. tickets are on sale here for £10 plus booking fee. see ya there!

Kevin P. Gilday

Kevin P. Gilday is an award-winning poet, writer and performer from Glasgow. He is the founder of poetry performance collective The Scribbler’s Union and was co-founder of much loved spoken word cabaret night Sonnet Youth. He is a National Theatre of Scotland Breakthrough Writer, a BBC Writersroom Scottish Voice and one of Scotland’s most celebrated contemporary poets. He has performed all over the world, from Hollywood to East Kilbride, including major festivals (BBC 6Music Festival, Glastonbury), Fringes (Edinburgh, Toronto, Vancouver) as well as large-scale tours of the UK, Germany, Canada, and the US. He has supported artists and public figures such as Akala, Saul Williams, George the Poet, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead, Sage Francis, The Silencers, and Jeremy Corbyn MP.

Sophie Sparham

Sophie Sparham is an award-winning poet and writer from Derby who has written for BBC Radio 4 and The People’s History Museum. She has shared the stage with punk legends such as Crass’s Steve Ignorant, Subhumans, Inner Terrestrials and Alan Moore. Her poetry mainly focuses on political and social subjects, such as depression, LGBT+, and feminism. She co-hosts the night Word Wise, which won best spoken word night at the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Her latest collection ‘The Man Who Ate 50,000 Weetabix’ came out in April 2021 via Verve Poetry Press. Her poem Sunrise Over Aldi won third place in the 2020 Charles Causley International Poetry Competition.