A NEW poetry and music night celebrating local artists takes place this month.

The event, which is being held at The Forum at Borough Road in Darlington, is called Babel and features music, cabaret and a range of local and national spoken-word artists.

It is being MC-ed by Jo Colley, a local poet and writs, who ran a similar event, ‘Hydrogen Jukebox', at Darlington Arts Centre for several years with poet Andy Willoughby.

Artists who will be giving readings at Babel this month include: Kate Fox - Poet in Residence of The Great North Run and Radio 4 Saturday Live; Ira Lightman, creator of public art in Spennymoor and Northumberland; Sheree Mack, organiser of 'Writers of Colour in the North East' Festival; Karl Riordan; Joanne Clements and singer/songwriter Laura Severi.

All the performers have links to the North-East.

The event is on Thursday, June 23, in the large cabaret room at The Forum.

It starts at 7.30pm with an open mic slot after the interval, there is a bar, and entry is £3 or £2 concessions.