Please note, Cerys Matthews: Live on Sun 11 Sep at 11.30am has been cancelled.

Across Borders – Poems from the Commonwealth (originally scheduled for Fri 9 Sep) will now take place instead on Sunday at 12 noon. Ticket holders for Cerys Matthew and Across Borders are welcome to attend this event using their existing tickets. There is no need to rebook.

The Contains Strong Language festival lands in Birmingham for a spectacular celebration of poetry and spoken word in the region.

Celebrating spoken word in all forms, the BBC’s flagship four-day festival gives a platform to the most exciting existing and emerging artists in the region as well as collaborating with artists from across the Commonwealth, all available for audiences on radio & BBC Sounds plus BBC iPlayer and digital platforms.

The BBC Arts annual poetry and spoken word festival Contains Strong Language 2022 is a partnership between the BBC and VERVE Poetry Festival, and is supported by Arts Council England, Birmingham Hippodrome, the British Council, PoliNations, Creative Lives and presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.