Name: Flame On: Leicester’s Official Poet Laureate Launch Event
Start: 2026-01-23T19:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-01-23T22:00:00+00:00
Location: 7 East Street, LE1 6EY Leicester, United Kingdom

$Flame On: Leicester\u2019s Official Poet Laureate Launch Event$

2025 marked the beginning of the city’s Poet Laureate, it’s only right that we light the torch with a bang! The night will include live music, poetry performances from local poets and a headline set from Mr Shay.
Akshay Sharma, better known as Mr Shay, is a Leicester based Poet & Rapper. Shay is influenced by social topics such as cultural heritage, community and identity. His poetry is a melting pot of intricate rap flows fused with South Asian roots. Off the stage, Shay works as a community arts practitioner, leading poetry, rap and music workshops with young people across the UK.
Poetry commissions include, Future Pathways (Thames Water), From Ratae to Leicester (Jewry Wall Museum) and Golden Mile (BBC Radio Leicester), which was nominated for the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry 2022.