Top poet and wildlife enthusiast Susan Richardson kicks off 2016 for the Cellar Bards.

She will be the special guest at their January meet at the Cellar Bar in Cardigan on Friday, January 29.

Susan has had a lifelong passion for live performance, the written and spoken word, wildlife, conservation and wild places.

She has performed at literary and environmental festivals throughout the UK, on BBC 2, Radio 4 and at Universities both nationally and internationally.

Her third collection of poetry, skindancing, was recently published by Cinnamon Press.

Her previous two collections, Creatures of the Intertidal Zone and Where the Air is Rarefied, focus on her own, and others', journeys through the increasingly fragile Arctic environment.

Susan is currently poet-in-residence with the Marine Conservation Society, writing poems and running workshops in response to their Thirty Threatened Species project, and with the global animal welfare initiative, World Animal Day.

She is co-founder and poetry editor of Zoomorphic, the online literary magazine that publishes writing in celebration and defense of animals.

Susan will be reading at the Cellar Bards on Friday, January 29, in the Castle Café Cellar Bar.

Doors and the bar open at 7.30pm, the event starts at 8pm. Entry is £3.

As always, there will be open mic spots (max five minutes each) 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: https://www.facebook.com/groups/333544513348067/