Torriano Meeting House is a user-funded grass-roots volunteer-run arts and community organisation in Kentish Town. We are best known for our poetry events but we have many other long running strands including storytelling for adults, writing and storytelling workshops, hosting local political campaigning groups, theatrical events, left wing folk club, and we very much support grass-roots creativity and social change.
Torriano is a space for you to organise events and projects.
“What is the purpose of resisting corporate globalization if not to protect the obscure, the ineffable, the unmarketable, the unmanageable, the local, the poetic and the eccentric? So they need to be practiced, celebrated and studied too, right now.” – Rebecca Solnit
Our capacity audience is 20 people. Please bring a mask to events.
If you would like to make a financial contribution, donate here:
As Torriano is a small venue we are currently limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend. Hopefully see you tomorrow or later in the year. David, Torriano Poetry
Dinah Livingstone – book here. £5/£4 according to pocket Dinah Livingstone had a rural childhood in in the West of England and has lived in Camden Town, London, since 1966. She has received three Arts Council Writer’s Awards for her poetry. She is also a translator and editor of the magazine Sofia. She has three children and two grandsons. Her tenth poetry collection Embodiment was published in July 2019 with a London launch at Torriano Meeting House on July 12th. and a reading at the Torbay Poetry Festival. Previous collections include The Vision Splendid (2014), Poems of Hampstead Heath and Regent’s Park (2012), Kindness (2007), Presence (2003) and Time on Earth: Selected and New Poems, published by Rockingham Press in 1999.
Torriano in cyberspace
At 6.30pm, before the live reading, Joan Michelson, will be hosting Torriano Poetry in cyberspace. Through the pandemic this gathering has held together a community that was scattered across the earth. There is no guest reader. The live session at Torriano is not broadcast here. Bring poems to read or just listen. Join us there Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3940991487?pwd=VXN0djNHU0F5M2pDK0dscXdRTkJwZz09
Guest readers: Susannah Hart and Cheryl Moskowitz – introduced by Lisa Kelly
£5/4 according to pocket. Poets from the floor welcome.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
David Torriano Poetry
(i) Reading at Torriano booking now
November 28th – Susannah Hart and Cheryl Moskowitz – introduced by Lisa Kelly – book here.
Torriano in cyberspace
At 6.30pm, before the live reading, Joan Michelson, will be hosting Torriano Poetry in cyberspace. Through the pandemic this gathering has held together a community that was scattered across the earth. There is no guest reader. The live session at Torriano is not broadcast here. Bring poems to read or just listen. Join us there Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3940991487?pwd=VXN0djNHU0F5M2pDK0dscXdRTkJwZz09
£5/4 according to pocket. Poets from the floor welcome.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
David Torriano Poetry
(i) Reading at Torriano booking now
November 21st – Lisa Kelly and David Floyd – book here
Lisa Kelly‘s first collection, A Map Towards Fluency, was published by Carcanet in 2019 and shortlisted for the 2021 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. Her poems have appeared in Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches Press) and Carcanet’s New Poetries VII. Her pamphlets are From the IKEA Back Catalogue (New Walk Editions), Philip Levine’s Good Ear (Stonewood Press) and Bloodhound (Hearing Eye). She is co-Chair of Magma Poetry and learning BSL. She is currently co-editing What Meets the Eye, an anthology of poetry and short fiction by UK Deaf, deaf and Hard of Hearing writers for Arachne Press.
David Floyd‘s pamphlets are War in the Playground and Protest (both Hearing Eye). He is a trustee of Magma Poetry – and was co-editor of Magma 78, the Collaborations issue. November 28th – Susannah Hart and Cheryl Moskowitz – introduced by Lisa Kelly – book here.
Torriano in cyberspace
At 6.30pm, before the live reading, Joan Michelson, will be hosting Torriano Poetry in cyberspace. Through the pandemic this gathering has held together a community that was scattered across the earth. There is no guest reader. The live session at Torriano is not broadcast here. Bring poems to read or just listen. Join us there Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3940991487?pwd=VXN0djNHU0F5M2pDK0dscXdRTkJwZz09
7.30 Joan Michelson, will be hosting Torriano Poetry in cyberspace. Through the pandemic this gathering has held together a community that was scattered across the earth. There is no guest reader. The live session at Torriano is not broadcast here. Bring poems to read or just listen. Join us there Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3940991487?pwd=VXN0djNHU0F5M2pDK0dscXdRTkJwZz09
Guest readers: Ruth Valentine, Selina Rodrigues, Anna Robinson
£5/4 according to pocket. Poets from the floor welcome.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
Ruth Valentine‘s If You Want Thunder brings to life the tragedies of the political world and the associated personal griefs. ‘Utterly contemporary, lucid and lyrical, this mature collection fizzes with invention’ Jacqueline Saphra. Selina Rodrigues‘ Ferocious, explores contemporary living and working. Online desires, migratory workers and the gig economy, the collection tells the stories of hidden workers. ‘A captivating debut from a unique voice’ Hannah Lowe. Anna Robinson‘s Whatsname Street is a history of one housing estate as told through its tenants’ narratives – weddings, washdays, street parties and seaside daytrips – and above all work, poverty and inequality. ‘Humour, praise and a stark beauty to these poems’ Malika Booker.
November 7th, 7.30 – Alan Price, Louise Warren and Neil Elder
£5/£4 according to pocket
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
We understand that not everyone will currently feel comfortable and/or be in a position to attend in-person readings so Torriano in Cyberspace will also continue via Zoom (and details are below).
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
David Torriano Poetry
(i) Reading at Torriano booking now November 7th – Alan Price, Louise Warren and Neil Elder
Guest readers: Gboyega Odubanjo and Patrizia Longhitano – introduced by Lisa Kelly
Poets from the floor welcome
7.30. £5/£4 according to pocket.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
We understand that not everyone will currently feel comfortable and/or be in a position to attend in-person readings so Torriano in Cyberspace will also continue via Zoom (and details are below).
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
We understand that not everyone will currently feel comfortable and/or be in a position to attend in-person readings so Torriano in Cyberspace will also continue via Zoom (and details are below).
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
David Torriano Poetry
(i) Reading at Torriano booking now 24th October – Guest Readers: Rosemary Norman and Thomas McColl
We will be beginning in-person readings at Torriano Meeting House on Sunday October 24th, when the guest readers will be Rosemary Norman and Thomas McColl. Readings will then take place every Sunday at 7.30pm until mid-December.
As Torriano is a small venue we will initially be limiting the audience to around 20. Please sign up via Eventbrite for the reading(s) that you are planning to attend. There is an option to either pay via Eventbrite or to pay in cash on the door. If you are planning to pay on the door please still sign up so we know that you are planning to attend.
We understand that not everyone will currently feel comfortable and/or be in a position to attend in-person readings so Torriano in Cyberspace will also continue via Zoom (and details are below).
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon.
David Torriano Poetry
(i) Reading at Torriano booking now 24th October – Guest Readers: Rosemary Norman and Thomas McColl – book tickets here. 31st October – Guest Readers: Gboyega Odubanjo and Patrizia Longhitano, introduced by Lisa Kelly – book tickets here.
(ii) Other upcoming readings November 7th – Alan Price, Louise Warren and Neil Elder November 14th – Ruth Valentine, Anna Robinson and Selina Rodrigues November 21st – David Floyd and Lisa Kelly November 28th – Susannah Hart and Cheryl Moskowitz – introduced by Lisa Kelly December 5th – Dinah Livingstone December 12th – Hannah Lowe + others
Dinah Livingstone had a rural childhood in in the West of England and has lived in Camden Town, London, since 1966. She has received three Arts Council Writer’s Awards for her poetry. She is also a 
Torriano Meeting House 