Lyrical Mehfil

John Siddique is an author, photographer, and sacred teacher. He is the author of nine books, including Signposts of The Spiritual Journey, SO: Collected New Poems 2011–21, and the widely loved children’s collection Don’t Wear It on Your Head. His writing and photography explore conscience, humanity, and the sacred within ordinary life.

His work has been featured in Time, The Guardian, Granta, The Tablet, and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. He is Project Co-ordinator for the Royal Literary Fund and WritersMosaic North of England.

More at JohnSiddique.com and AuthenticLiving.life.

Len Pennie is a poet writing in both English and Scots who uses her work to advocate for minority languages, mental health, and survivors of domestic abuse. Her debut collection, poyums, was a Sunday Times bestseller, won the British Book Award, and was followed by poyums annaw, also a bestseller.
Len is also a broadcaster, who presented the Arts Mix on BBC Radio Scotland and collaborates with composer Paul Leonard Morgan on her forthcoming album, Delusions. She holds an MA from the University of St Andrews.

Hanan Issa is a Welsh-Iraqi writer, artist and the National Poet of Wales. Issa’s work spans poetry, prose, theatre, film and animation, including the award-winning collection My Body Can House Two Hearts and children’s anthology And I Hear Dragons. Issa contributed to Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts, was Hay International Fellow in 2023, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Bangor University in 2025. 

Aditya Narayan is an Edinburgh-based poet originally from India, writing across cultures, identities, and languages. He won the 2025 Roundhouse Poetry Slam and Audience Choice Award, before going on to win the 2025 Loud Poets Grand Slam. In 2026, he became the Scottish National Slam Champion and represented Scotland at the Poetry Slam World Cup in Paris. Aditya’s work has appeared on BBC Radio 4, including Jumoke Fashola’s Poetry Corner and Ian McMillan’s The Verb. He is currently working on his first poetry pamphlet, My Name is a Two-Person Sport, scheduled for release in August 2026.

Tigist Mamo Belachew is the founder of Kine Bet Arts and Entertainments, an arts and culture organisation in Ethiopia. Belachew holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Addis Ababa University and has published two poetry collections and a poetry audiobook. She worked for ten years at Ras Theatre, co-produced “The Way of Art” on Sheger FM 97.1, and has written numerous radio dramas and songs.

Catherine Redford is a poet and scholar whose Forward-nominated debut collection, The Way the Water Held Me, explores young widowhood, grief and motherhood. A Magma Selected Poet, Redford’s work has appeared in Under the Radar, Propel and Lighthouse. Redford is an editor at Dust Poetry magazine and has published widely on Romantic and Victorian literature, particularly Mary Shelley and the Gothic. 

William Letford has three collections of poetry published by Carcanet Press. His latest book, From Our Own Fire, was longlisted for Scotland’s National Book Awards, and was one of The Telegraph’s, and the Observer’s, Books of the Year.