Uncut Poets

About

Chrissy Banks and Matt Bryden are delighted to launch the 2026 Uncut Reading series with appearances from the poets Vishvantara and Tom Weir.

️ Julia Lewis became Vishvantara on her ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005.

️ Her debut pamphlet Cursive was published by Happenstance and her poetry has featured in various magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, PN Review, Poem, Poetry London and The North.

️ She has won 1st prize in the Poetry London competition, twice been commended in the National Poetry Competition and has been a Hawthornden Fellow.

️ Vishvantara lives in a Buddhist women's community attached to the London Buddhist Centre, and, though semi-retired, still works as a piano teacher.

Tom Weir's poetry has been Highly Commended in both The Forward Prize and The National Poetry Competition.

️ He has won the Magma Editor's Choice Prize and was one of the inaugural winners of the Templar IOTA Shots competition. He has published two full collections All That Falling and Ruin, both published by Templar.

️ His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including After Sylvia (Nine Arches Press) and The Forward Prize and National Poetry Competition Winners' anthologies.

️ Tom was one of the original poets chosen for the Poetry Society's 'Then and Now' project and his poems appear on the National Poetry Society website in print and film form.

Open mic spots available.