Hannah is an award winning poet, museum worker and musician based in Birmingham. They often write around recovery, queerness, religion and myth.

Their poetry has been featured by the Poetry Society Young Poets Network, Verve Poetry press, SoFar sounds, Crate Poetry and more. They were a member of the first Verve Poetry Collective 2023-24. They are a previous Unislam winner and current co-coach. Their debut poetry pamphlet is forthcoming from Fawn Press. They are happiest near water.

Sarah Magaharan is a writer and performer from Hull, Yorkshire. Myth, nature, and memory intertwine in her work, with evocative storytelling and dramatic flair in performance.

For Tell It To The Music, she will take the audience on a journey through “the haunted wood of childhood”.

Sarah has headlined over the years in Brum’s thriving poetry scene, including Grizzly Pear and Overcoat Poetry. She has a MA in Creative Writing (Distinction) and a pair of nice binoculars for birding.

Deontaye “Dee” Osazuwa (she/her) is a born and bred Brummie poet and playwright. A regular on the poetry scene, she has headlined across various evenings in the city. Deontaye won the Benjamin Zephaniah Future Writers Award 2025 and her first play, Hope + Death, was longlisted for the Mustapha Matura Award in 2025. Her work often explores the whimsy, woe and magic of trying to exist.

Leo Dragstedt is a poet and compere at his own original poetry and music night Tell it to the Music.

He is a former host of the Grizzly Pear poetry night, onetime Unislam competitor and coach, member of The Verve Poetry Collective 2024-25 and is the current host of Tell it to the Music. He has headlined and collaborated with nights across Birmingham and was even commissioned by the Birmingham Festival 2023. You can find Leo’s poetry in the These Are the Hands Anthology, Eponym Magazine and any microphone he can get his hands on.

Luke is a saxophonist and composer from Sheffield, currently working as part of the flourishing Birmingham creative scene. Trained as a jazz musician and holding a deep love of improvised music from across history, Luke fields inspiration from artists such as John Coltrane, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Autechre within an improvisational framework heralding freedom of expression, material communication and the connection of abstract forms with figurate meaning

Jack Handyside is a UK-based guitarist, composer, and educator based in Birmingham. A graduate of Goldsmiths, University of London, Jack has performed at major venues and festivals across the UK, including Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Brick Lane Jazz Festival, Moseley Jazz Festival, and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. His playing spans jazz, folk, rock, and classical influences, and he’s appeared on international platforms such as French TV network TF1 and opened for NWA’s DJ Yella. In 2024, Jack released his debut EP In Cahoots in collaboration with saxophonist Elliot Thomas.

In 2025, Jack published The Counterpoint Guitar Method with Fundamental Changes, offering a fresh approach to learning counterpoint and voice-leading on the guitar. As an educator, Jack has worked with students across the world for over a decade. He is a guitar mentor and writer for Pickup Music and has built a diverse international client base of private students.

Isla Hutchins is a creative musician, drummer and composer, currently based in Birmingham. She values music to be more than just her instrument, seeing it as a tool for artistic exploration and storytelling. Isla’s professional experience as a musician spans studio, pit band and session work, including for the BBC. She is increasingly seen performing within the jazz scene in and around Birmingham, playing gigs at locations encompassing Wolverhampton Arts Centre and Cheltenham Jazz Festival, as well as regularly house banding jam sessions. She has played for independent artists across the UK, in Manchester, Birmingham and London. Isla is a part of the current She:Music cohort at B:Music; she advocates for gender equality within music, through mentoring and representation. Isla is a current jazz student at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she grateful to be supported by the Leverhulme Trust.

Vato Klemera is an award-winning composer, pianist, and improviser based in Birmingham. Since graduating from the University of Birmingham in 2021, Vato has been an active presence in the Birmingham scene. An organiser of events such as Tell It to the Music – a poetry open mic featuring improvising musicians – Vato frequently collaborates with musicians, poets and artists, bridging mediums alongside working as a session musician. Vato recently graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, having studied a master’s in composition with Trish Clowes, Andrew Hamilton, and Ed Puddick. His work blends jazz, folk, and experimental electronics, with a philosophy of improvising with tradition to critically examine lineage and facilitate the unusual. His most recent project, his jazz sextet “Khachapuri”, explores Georgian folk and film music, and his family’s history, merging influences from composers such as Gia Kancheli, and players such as Beka Gochiashvili and Tigran Hamasyan