POEM and a Pint’s opening event of the 2017-18 season takes the popular proponents of words and music back to the Malt Kiln Village Hall at Bardsea.

The Saturday, September 23 gig, features skilled and engaging poet Miriam Nash.

Performer and educator, Miriam was born in 1985 in Inverness, spending her early years on the Isle of Erraid off the west coast of Scotland, where Robert Louis Stevenson's family once worked as lighthouse engineers.

She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study poetry at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and graduated with an MFA in 2014. Miriam leads creative writing and performance workshops in schools, museums, mental health organisations and prisons. She has worked and performed internationally, particularly in the UK, USA and Singapore. She was also the first writer-in-residence at Greenway, Agatha Christie’s summer home, as part of Writing Places with the National Trust, Literature Works and The Poetry Archive. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and her pamphlet, Small Change (flipped eye), was published in 2013. She received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2015, and was runner-up for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award in 2016.

Her first book-length collection, All the Prayers in the House, was published by Bloodaxe in spring to critical acclaim.

The tuneful interlude for Saturday's event will be provided by The Bluegrass Project - Dave Wearing (double bass), Rod Demick (mandolin, guitar and vocals), Ben James (fiddle and vocals) and John Lamb (banjo, guitar and vocals). The guys play a mix of traditional American instrumentals and songs with harmony vocals, mixing foot stomping dance numbers with soft ballads. They also throw in a few modern tunes played in bluegrass style, performing wherever possible without amplification.

Needless to say, it wouldn't be Poem and a Pint soiree without the open mic spot, born anew with the organisers expanding the traditional format into a mix of invited five minute poets and volunteers from the floor; sign up at the door at 7pm.

Starting at 7.30pm, MC for the night will be Mark Carson, helping to get the 2017-18 season off to a rousing start.