Courtroom Cafe, Liverpool
30th June 2017

Review by Colin Serjent
Photographs by Steve Lamb

The Nerve launch event, marking the special issue of the magazine focusing on asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, proved a success.

The Courtroom Cafe, based in the Atrium on Victoria Street, played host to the event, in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

MC’d supremely well by Tommy Calderbank, the musicians on stage featured guitar duo Ritchie Hunter and George Balmer, as well as folk pairing Katy Brown (violin) and Terry Broughton (ukulele).

A multitude of poets participated. They included Sylvia Miley, Nigel Devereux, Janet Bennett, Tommy Calderbank, Paul Tarpey, Alan Moore, Pete O’Neill and Judy Mazonowicz.

In regard to the nature of the current issue a number of speakers, some expressing their own personal anecdotes of their experiences of being an asylum seeker and/or a refugee, took to the stage. They included Elia Sa, Volkan Celebi and Katherine Wright.

Many thanks to Steve Lamb for taking a series of top notch photos of the event.

The event was part of Festival 31. www.festival31.com