Out-Spoken Live
Founded in 2012, Out-Spoken Live is one of Europe's leading live poetry nights. In residence at the Southbank Centre since 2019, Out-Spoken’s unique shows will be relaunching in style in October 2026 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Pairing poets & live musicians, each event is carefully curated by the Out-Spoken team. Hosted by Polari Prize and T. S. Eliot Prize-winning poet, Joelle Taylor, programmed by Ondaatje Prize-winning poet and Out-Spoken founder Anthony Anaxagorou, and with wonderful resident DJ Sam ‘Junior’ Bromfield on the decks, Out-Spoken gigs are a fantastic way to experience the most exciting contemporary poetry and live music in a vibrant and welcoming environment.
‘Out-Spoken plays a vital role in presenting challenging work, while also making it welcoming & inviting for new audiences’
– Mónica Parle, Forward Arts Foundation
The Live Team
Anthony Anaxagorou
Artistic Director
Award-winning British-born Cypriot poet, Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL founded Out-Spoken Live in 2012 and Out-Spoken Press in 2015.
As Artistic Director of Out-Spoken Live, Anthony is responsible for programming the live shows, bringing audiences the best of contemporary poetry and live music.
Joelle Taylor
Host
Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring.
She is a co-curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, and tours her work nationally and internationally in a diverse range of venues, from Australia to Brazil. She is also a Poetry Fellow of University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023. She has judged several poetry and literary prizes including Jerwood Fellowship, the Forward Prize, and the Ondaatje Prize. She served as Editor of Out-Spoken Press in 2021.
Sam ‘Junior’ Bromfield
DJ
Sam ‘Junior’ Bromfield is Out-Spoken’s Resident DJ, taking to the decks at all our live shows to provide seamlessly blended sets of reggae, soul, and R&B.
A DJ, musician, record producer and cabinet maker, Sam began his music career in the late-1970s as a bass player in the band Second Image as a part of the Brit funk movement.
As a founding member of Second Image, Sam spent 8 years signed to two major record companies. From the mid-1980s through the late 1990s, he worked with artists including Jamiroquai, Chaka Khan and Randy Crawford, to mention a few. He was also involved in the production and performance of the longest number 1 single in 1986, ‘The Only Way Is Up,’ by Yazz and the Plastic Population, alongside touring and working with Paul Weller.
During this period, Sam was also DJing in London’s West End clubs, playing both the underground scene and more pop groups such as Boy George ‘Hug Club’ venue in Trafalgar Square and Spandau Ballet in Ibiza.
Today, alongside his work as a cabinet maker, Sam continues to write music and is preparing to release another album in 2027.
Sam first performed with Out-Spoken at the Forge in Camden in 2014, and still remains passionate about music, poetry, dance and the arts.
Danny Carlo Pandolfi
Producer
Danny Carlo Pandolfi is a poet, rapper, writer, educator and cultural producer from London, now living in Bristol, UK. As a producer in the arts, he founded and directs Raise the Bar, one of Europe’s leading live poetry nights based in Bristol, is co-founder and Artistic Director of Lyra - Bristol Poetry Festival, and coordinator of Bristol Palestine Film Festival.
