Jawdance is London’s biggest poetry night featuring some of the best names on the Spoken Word scene. With a different line up every month each Jawdance is a unique experience and May is no exception! The next event takes place 7pm, Wednesday 19 June at Rich Mix in London!

June’s line up is set to excite, entrance and exhilarate anyone who attends, including Toby Campion as host and a talented line up of Jay Mitra, Antonia Jade King and Stacy Makishi.

You could also get the chance to perform your poetry through our Open mic opportunity, add you name to the hat at the beginning of the evening and if you’re lucky then your name names could be drawn at random to perform! Everyone is welcome to add their name to the hat.

Jawdance is a supportive environment and welcomes first-timers and those who are well-seasoned.

Host: Toby campion

Toby Campion is an award-winning poet, playwright, presenter and poetry educator, born and raised in Leicester.

A former UK Poetry Slam Champion and World Poetry Slam finalist, his poetry won the Aurora Prize for Poetry 2019 and the Poetry on the Lake Prize 2017, awarded by former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. 

His debut short poetry collection, Through your blood (Burning Eye 2017), was nominated for the Polari First Book Prize and Highly Commended in the Forward Poetry Prizes 2018.

His poetry has been published most recently in Magma, Orbis & The London Magazine. His work is featured in anthologies including 100 Queer Poems (Vintage 2022), The Book of Hope (Bluebird 2021), Everything Is Going To Be Alright (Trapeze 2021) and The Forward Book of Poetry (Forward 2019).

Toby is the Director of UniSlam, the UK National Inter-University Poetry Slam & Summit and founder of the National Youth Poetry Showcase. His chapter on the history of UK poetry slam is published in Spoken Word in the UK (Routledge 2021) and he regularly facilitates poetry workshops and courses.

​Insta: @tobycampion Twitter (X): @TobyCampion

Jay Mitra

Jay Mitra is an award winning punk poet and artist based in Hull/Manchester and a founding member of Hull’s poetry collective No Larkin About and a member of Manchester based collective Young Identity. They have facilitated workshops around the country for The Poetry Society.

In 2021, Jay won the Oooh Beehive UK Slam Championship and the Margate Bookie poetry award. In 2022, Jay became the Shambala Festival Slam winner and Roundhouse Slam and Ledbury Poetry Slam finalist. They also have performed poetry live for BBC’s Contains Strong Language, Freedom Festival, Save Me A Seat Festival, Manchester Punk Festival, Awareness Festival,  and was commissioned by Humber Mouth Literary Festival, Middle Child Theatre and Wakefield Litfest.

Jay’s poem The Green Flame was featured on BBC Radio 6 in September 2022 on the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show.

Insta: @punkofcolour Twitter (X): @punkofcolour

Antonia Jade King

Antonia Jade King is one of the hosts of Boomerang Club, and a previous Hammer & Tongue finalist. She has featured at Poetry and Shaah and Heaux Noire and was part of Apples and Snakes Writing Room programme in 2018.

She has performed at numerous events including Love Supreme festival and Rallying Cry at Battersea Arts Centre. She is currently a Barbican Young Poet and her debut pamphlet ‘She Too Is a Sailor’ is out with Bad Betty Press.

Instagram: @antoniajadeking Twitter (X): @antoniajadeking

Stacy Makishi

Stacy Makishi has been arousing creativity around the world for over twenty years.

Stacy is a transplant from Hawaii who found paradise in Dalston, London in 1994. Like a bonsai plant, she is small but old. She has been making art for over 30 years. A cross-fertilization of theatre, comedy, film and visual art, her work is as complex as it is accessible; humorous as it is challenging; visual as it is literate. It ranges across solo performances for stage, large-scale outdoor participatory projects and intimate one-to-ones. 

Twitter (X): @StacyMakishi