Poet Kate Fox to headline Sunderland's King Ink as spoken word night booms

Stand up poet, author and broadcaster Kate Fox will headline Sunderland's King Ink as the spoken word night blossoms.

The BBC radio regular will appear at the monthly night, which is held at Pop Recs, on Thursday, October 12.

The nationally-known performer is a great booking for the night, which was founded by Patrick Shannon.

An artist and poet himself, Patrick passed away in 2021, but King Ink lives on as his legacy and continues to grow.

Helen Wilko has been running the night for 20 months since it resumed post-pandemic and say it's great to see the numbers increase for an oft under-appreciated area of the arts.

"It's all completely free to attend, and we host and organise for free," said Helen. "Everything is done on good will and it continues to go from strength to strength. It's gone from 8-12 people per night after we relaunched to 30-50.

"It's really built a community across the diverse group who come along to what is Sunderland's only spoken word night. We have an open mic section and anyone can sign up to speak, but we also have a headliner perform each night.

"We have published, established poets as the headliners, and Kate is a great headliner for us to get."

Kate, who has published a number of books, is a regular contributor to Radio 3's spoken word cabaret, The Verb, and has made two comedy series for Radio 4, as well as being Poet in Residence at Glastonbury.

King Ink takes place at Pop Recs, in High Street West, on the second Thursday of every month from 6pm to 9pm and anyone can come along.

There's also a King Ink podcast recorded by James Whitman on the night, as well as King Ink Zines available at fairs.

Moving forward, there will also be a King Ink workshop.

*Kate Fox headlines King Ink, at Pop Recs, on Thursday, October 12 from 6pm to 9pm. It's free to attend and all are welcome.