THERE'S a red hot special guest at the Cellar Bards event in Cardigan on Friday, May 29.

Australian performance poet Candy Royalle will join the local bards as part of her Butch Priestess International Tour.

Candy is an award winning performance artist and poet who fuses cinematic storytelling, poetry and unique vocal rhythms with confronting, political and heart thumping content. She tackles topics ranging from sexual obsession to social injustice, exploring the human condition and illuminating the darker areas of the human psyche for her audiences.

Her recent accolades include being awarded the 2014 Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for poetry, a highly commended award for the Queensland Poetry Filmakers Challenge, the “2012 World Performance Poetry Cup” as well as the “AIPF Excellence in Poetry Award” in both 2012 and 2013.

Her work has been published and featured both in publications and online including Overland, Australian Love Poems, RN?s Poetica, AIPF?s Diversity anthology and many more.

The Cellar Bards meet on Friday, May 29, in the Castle Café Cellar Bar, Cardigan. Doors and the bar open at 7.30pm, the event starts at 8pm. Entry is £3.

As always, there are open mic spots (max five minutes) for writers of poetry, short stories, micro-fiction and novels. Just put your name down at the door if you want to read. Or go along to listen to a great variety of spoken word performances.

See The Cellar Bards Facebook page for more information.