The poetry walk will be accompanied by an Arnos Vale tour guide who will add fascinating facts about the cemetery as the walk progresses. Poetic licence meets historical fact!

Deborah Harvey, Pameli Benham, Dominic Fisher and David C Johnson are the IsamBards. They are all published poets in their own right. Their poems have been broadcast on the BBC and abroad. They enjoy coming together from time to time to write site specific verse to share in public. Previous projects have included Brunel’s Bristol, Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Bristol University Botanic Gardens.

Pameli Benham is a Londoner now happily settled in Bristol. She is an actor and director who sings with Gasworks Choir, dances, gardens and makes jam, writes and performs poetry. Her poems have been published in anthologies, and her collection “Plentiful As Blackberries” has so far raised £5,000 for WaterAid.

Deborah Harvey is a Bristol-born poet and novelist. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies, and broadcast on Radio 4’s Poetry Please. Her sixth poetry collection, “Love the Albatross” will be published by Indigo Dreams in September 2024. Deborah is co-director of The Leaping Word poetry consultancy.

Dominic Fisher lives near his allotment in Horfield. He is the winner of the international Bristol Poetry Prize 2018 and his poems have been published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies. His collection “The Ladies and Gentlemen of the Dead” was published in March 2019 by The Blue Nib and his second, A Customised Selection of Fireworks, was published in 2022 by Shoestring Press.

David C Johnson is a witty performance poet. He was featured poet at the 2018 Austin International Poetry Festival and The Great Northern Slam in 2019 and Blindingly Funny at the Tobacco Factory 2024. He is a multi-poetry slam champion. He has written radio plays for the BBC. He has six volumes of poetry published by Paralalia., including “Dayspring” (2021)”.