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HOW TO HOLD SPACE IN A CRYPT DURING HOLY WEEK
Nols Nathankski provides all you need to know about the Hold Space Poetry Festival.
A sober gift to the London Open Mic scene in collaboration with the Crypt Gallery running from the 1st - 7th April 2026.
A festival dreamed up and produced in only 2 weeks to run during the most sacred days of the Christian calendar. Of course it begins on APRIL FOOLS DAY!
After an open call fifteen poets will take up residence in The Crypt Gallery underneath St Pancras New Church for seven whole days during Holy Week 2026. Yes, its a crypt. Yes, there are 557 departed souls down there. Yes, it's going to be SEVEN days of back to back open mic.
A week of free experimental poetry, workshops, open mics, and a zine built page by page across the week. Entry is free throughout. Workshops are mainly free with some paid and pay what you can with booking.
1–7 April 2026 · The Crypt Gallery, 165 Euston Road, London NW1 2BA
What's on:
Wed 1 Apr — Residency opens. Set-up, intentions. Opening Ceremony & Open mic from 6pm
Thu 2 Apr — Podcast recordings. Scary Stories workshop with Stevie Grant. Open mic from 6pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) — Live podcast recordings. Writing from the ashes workshop with the Trashfire poet. Zine Day. Good Friday Open Mic.
Sat 4 Apr (Holy Saturday) — Penance tea ceremony and workshop. Podcast recordings. Open mic from 6pm
Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday) — Sensual Small Poem workshop with Alexia Chrysostomou. Open mic from 6pm
Mon 6 Apr — Saying the Unsayable workshop facilitated by Nols. Zine workshop. The River Returns Home immersive performance fundraising for Ukrainian charities + Open Mic.
Tue 7 Apr (Easter Tuesday) — Zine assembly and distro. Closing performances + Open mic.
The resident poets — give them a follow:
Pia Fajelagutan / The Piss I Call Art — Abu Dhabi-bred word wrangler, debut collection Whiskey For The Uninitiated. Feral charm, unfiltered verse.
Emma Keun — London-based, published in Kite String II–IV, four honourable mentions from Dark Poets Club.
Luigi Coppola / The Only Emperor — featured at Glastonbury, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre. Slam champion. Debut from Broken Sleep Books. linktr.ee/PoetryPreacher
Maria Cohut — Romanian writer in Brighton . Debut collection Multiple Exposures out 2026 on Flight of the Dragonfly.
Maddy Kilsbury McMurray — non-binary poet, neurodiversity advocate, LGBTQIA+ community stalwart.
Oscar Rodriguez — Salvadoran American poet. Diaspora, generational trauma, noise music, queer liberation. Does it all at once.
Em Cosgrove / Girl Can't Sing Well — spoken word artist. The body, decay, rebirth, and campy humour. Hyper-visual.
Bee Wylie — witchy wordsmith from the West Midlands. Debut book Dream Weaving coming through Hay House. Exploring spirituality, grief, love.
Tadgh Haran — trans poet, London. Work in Anthropocene, Scab, Perverse, Tentacular. Writes out of anger and curiosity. Sobriety anchors everything.
Jordan Minga — Afro British, first-gen Ugandan, from Peckham. Poet and visual artist. Self-identity, spirituality, intergenerational discourse. Refuses to ask permission.
Tom Bland - Tom has published Camp Fear and The Death of a Clown, with Bad Betty Press. His work has been nominated for the Polari Prize and have been on Dennis Cooper's yearly Fav Books List. He writes on the relationship between language and sexuality, trauma and liberation
Leatrice — originally NYC, now UK. Memory, obsession, mental illness. Co-hosts Oxford DIY Pride. Debut collection Yearbook Signing.
H Phillips — started performing poetry in early 2025 and has not stopped. Surreal social satire, tranquilised emotions, characters. @haitch_speaks
Byuka Makodru — trans, disabled, migrant writer. Mixing immersive performance, ritual, visual art. Writing with ash. Poetry as liberation.
Get tickets for all events here: OutSavvy - Make Poetry Weird Again tickets and events. Book tickets instantly via the OutSavvy app or website for Make Poetry Weird Again
Find us:
Instagram: @makepoetryweirdagain
View all episodes
By Nols NathankskiNols Nathankski provides all you need to know about the Hold Space Poetry Festival.
A sober gift to the London Open Mic scene in collaboration with the Crypt Gallery running from the 1st - 7th April 2026.
A festival dreamed up and produced in only 2 weeks to run during the most sacred days of the Christian calendar. Of course it begins on APRIL FOOLS DAY!
After an open call fifteen poets will take up residence in The Crypt Gallery underneath St Pancras New Church for seven whole days during Holy Week 2026. Yes, its a crypt. Yes, there are 557 departed souls down there. Yes, it's going to be SEVEN days of back to back open mic.
A week of free experimental poetry, workshops, open mics, and a zine built page by page across the week. Entry is free throughout. Workshops are mainly free with some paid and pay what you can with booking.
1–7 April 2026 · The Crypt Gallery, 165 Euston Road, London NW1 2BA
What's on:
Wed 1 Apr — Residency opens. Set-up, intentions. Opening Ceremony & Open mic from 6pm
Thu 2 Apr — Podcast recordings. Scary Stories workshop with Stevie Grant. Open mic from 6pm
Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) — Live podcast recordings. Writing from the ashes workshop with the Trashfire poet. Zine Day. Good Friday Open Mic.
Sat 4 Apr (Holy Saturday) — Penance tea ceremony and workshop. Podcast recordings. Open mic from 6pm
Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday) — Sensual Small Poem workshop with Alexia Chrysostomou. Open mic from 6pm
Mon 6 Apr — Saying the Unsayable workshop facilitated by Nols. Zine workshop. The River Returns Home immersive performance fundraising for Ukrainian charities + Open Mic.
Tue 7 Apr (Easter Tuesday) — Zine assembly and distro. Closing performances + Open mic.
The resident poets — give them a follow:
Pia Fajelagutan / The Piss I Call Art — Abu Dhabi-bred word wrangler, debut collection Whiskey For The Uninitiated. Feral charm, unfiltered verse.
Emma Keun — London-based, published in Kite String II–IV, four honourable mentions from Dark Poets Club.
Luigi Coppola / The Only Emperor — featured at Glastonbury, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre. Slam champion. Debut from Broken Sleep Books. linktr.ee/PoetryPreacher
Maria Cohut — Romanian writer in Brighton . Debut collection Multiple Exposures out 2026 on Flight of the Dragonfly.
Maddy Kilsbury McMurray — non-binary poet, neurodiversity advocate, LGBTQIA+ community stalwart.
Oscar Rodriguez — Salvadoran American poet. Diaspora, generational trauma, noise music, queer liberation. Does it all at once.
Em Cosgrove / Girl Can't Sing Well — spoken word artist. The body, decay, rebirth, and campy humour. Hyper-visual.
Bee Wylie — witchy wordsmith from the West Midlands. Debut book Dream Weaving coming through Hay House. Exploring spirituality, grief, love.
Tadgh Haran — trans poet, London. Work in Anthropocene, Scab, Perverse, Tentacular. Writes out of anger and curiosity. Sobriety anchors everything.
Jordan Minga — Afro British, first-gen Ugandan, from Peckham. Poet and visual artist. Self-identity, spirituality, intergenerational discourse. Refuses to ask permission.
Tom Bland - Tom has published Camp Fear and The Death of a Clown, with Bad Betty Press. His work has been nominated for the Polari Prize and have been on Dennis Cooper's yearly Fav Books List. He writes on the relationship between language and sexuality, trauma and liberation
Leatrice — originally NYC, now UK. Memory, obsession, mental illness. Co-hosts Oxford DIY Pride. Debut collection Yearbook Signing.
H Phillips — started performing poetry in early 2025 and has not stopped. Surreal social satire, tranquilised emotions, characters. @haitch_speaks
Byuka Makodru — trans, disabled, migrant writer. Mixing immersive performance, ritual, visual art. Writing with ash. Poetry as liberation.
Get tickets for all events here: OutSavvy - Make Poetry Weird Again tickets and events. Book tickets instantly via the OutSavvy app or website for Make Poetry Weird Again
Find us:
Instagram: @makepoetryweirdagain