Meet Danny Carlo Pandolfi, Lyra Festival Co-Director
I moved to Bristol for University in late 2013. I’ve lived here for more than 10 years and I’m proud to call it my home. I used to perform poems and rap music at the local open mics when I was 19 and it’s always been a huge part of my journey as a writer, workshop facilitator and cultural producer. Bristol has generally had a huge impact on my life through all the wonderful people and progressive values you’ll find all over the city.
I live in East Bristol and am lucky to be close to Trooper’s Hill and St. George Park – not far from Snuff Mills and other lovely walks. Nature and creativity go hand in hand for me, and I really value Bristol’s green spaces as a place to recharge and refresh. For artistic inspiration there’s nothing like live music, art, poetry and theatre. I’ve been particularly inspired by Nancy Medina’s curation since she became artistic director at Bristol Old Vic (Choir Boy was a particular highlight!), and there’s been loads to enjoy at Bristol Beacon since it reopened. Not to mention the independent venues which are the lifeblood of the arts – shout out to The Cube, Strange Brew, People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, Bristol Palestine Museum, Orchard Coffee & Co and many more places you’ll find me.
I founded Lyra Festival alongside my co-director, Professor Lucy English, in 2019. I studied under Lucy for my Masters at Bath Spa University, and we also travelled together to Austria to teach a poetry course. There was no active poetry festival in Bristol and we were really keen to change this and make something happen! With Lucy’s experience in performance poetry going back to the Bristol slam scene of the ‘90s, and my years of experience running poetry and spoken word events with Raise the Bar, we brought our skills together to launch a new festival. Lyra is now in its seventh year!
There are so many incredible, established poets based here in Bristol and opportunities for new writers to get involved, too. I’ve been running a regular poetry night, Raise the Bar, for more than 10 years now and am always in awe of the talented writers and vibrant audiences – it’s such a special city for poetry. The city also has such a rich literary tradition, including its role in the Romantic poetry movement (this year, we are running festival activities that mark 230 years since Coleridge and Wordsworth met in Bristol).
Our aim with Lyra Festival is always to inspire creativity, community and connection by showcasing poetry in as many ways as possible. This year we have a poetry and dance show by Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, a poetry and music retelling of The Lyrical Ballads by Pete Bearder, walking tours, poetry slam competitions, open mics, writing workshops, and an array of national and international headliners. We’d like to connect as many people as possible with live poetry.
I think it’s always exciting to have an exclusive international guest performance at Lyra Festival, and this year it’s Ilya Kaminsky (in the UK for one day only). He will be reading from one of my very favourite collections of the 21st Century, Deaf Republic. We also have international poet Arielle Cottingham headlining our poetry slam grand finals to close the festival. The slam is always a firm audience favourite and one I’d recommend to anyone who is a first-timer and curious about live poetry.
Lyra Festival returns from 25 April to 4 May | lyrafest.com
