Apples and Snakes Takeover @ Unislam
Apples and Snakes Takeover @ Unislam
There are two events (for the price of nothing!) for you to enjoy on Friday 11 April – ready to get you in the mood for the Unislam weekend.
A&S Takeover
Doors 7.15pm / Show 7.30pm
Join Apples and Snakes for an electric Friday night of fabulous poetry from award winning poets Maria Ferguson, Kareem Parkins-Brown and Bradley Taylor with the Poetry Society’s brilliant Billie Manning as your host for the evening.
You can also sign up for the open mic, for seasoned performers and first-timers!! Share your poem in this welcoming, supportive atmosphere.
Sign up from 7.15 for a chance to perform on the open mic, or just come and soak in the words.
Pre-event Bonus
Join us for ‘Poetry from the classroom to the streets’ – a panel talk with our Takeover headliners, Amerah Saleh and Toby Campion, examining poetry’s role in Birmingham, universities and our wider society, marking 125 years of poetry at University of Birmingham. 6pm – 7pm.
Free entry | All welcome!
Full Event Details
Date: Friday 11 April
Time: 6-10pm
Itinerary:
6-7pm Panel Discussion
7.15 doors and open mic sign up for Apples and Snakes Takeover
7.30-10pm Apples and Snakes Takeover
Location: University of Birmingham, Muirhead Tower Lecture Theatre G15, B15 2TT
About the artists
Maria Ferguson
Maria Ferguson is a writer and performer. Her poetry has been widely anthologised and published in literary magazines such as Magma, The Rialto, The North and The Poetry Review. She was a finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024 and her debut collection, Alright, Girl? (Burning Eye, 2020), was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes. On the stage, her one-woman show Fat Girls Don’t Dance (Oberon, 2017) won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show; Essex Girl (Oberon, 2019) was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award and won Show of the Week at VAULT Festival. She has been commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts, Stylist magazine, The Bronte Parsonage and BBC Radio. Her work has been featured in The Guardian and on Radio 4’s The Verb and Woman’s Hour. She is the Associate Producer of LIVEwire Poetry and teaches creative writing in a variety of settings. Her second poetry collection, Swell was published in 2025 by Penguin Random House.
Bradley Taylor
Bradley Taylor is an award-winning performance poet born and based in Birmingham. In 2024 he won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, the night of which was the biggest poetry slam in history, and in 2025 he releases his debut collection ‘You Missed The Best Part’ with Verve Poetry Press. Bradley is also the co-host of The Big Gay Poetry Night alongside M. L. Walsh, which has featured poets such as Joelle Taylor, Kandace Siobhan Walker & Sanah Ahsan.
Bradley has appeared at the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Inspirational Youth Awards, on BBC News and on BBC Radio 6 Music as part of Craig Charle’s ‘Class of 2024’, in which Craig Charles described him as ‘A brand new voice and a fresh perspective on the art of poetry and performance’.
Bradley’s work has appeared in Gutter Magazine, Shooter, Strix and across Birmingham train stations as part of Birmingham Hippodrome’s collaboration with photographer Paul Stringer’s project The City That Spoke To Me.
He writes for, and about, people.
Kareem Parkins-Brown
Kareem Parkins-Brown is a writer and visual artist from London. His work concerns surrealism, humour, grief and community. He’s worked with The Barbican, Tate Britain, Royal Academy of Arts, Serpentine Gallery, The Poetry School, Poetry Society, The British Museum, The Roundhouse, Southbank Centre, Apples & Snakes, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, among community groups and classrooms and various poetry nights up and down the country. Kareem is a proud Barbican Poet Alumnus.
He co-led the New Writers Collective with Spread the Word in 2024. He won the Roundhouse Slam and was almost Young Poet Laureate for London. In 2024 he toured a solo show with Talawa about the trials of the Hospitality industry. Kareem’s happiest when watching Mean Girls or Carlito’s Way. His debut poetry pamphlet ‘Oi You Lot’ is out now with Little Betty.
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