THE spoken word has always been central to the culture of Ireland - and few typify the current vibrancy and pluck of the country’s poetry scene more than Stephen James Smith, who appears at Settle Victoria Hall next week.

The Dublin-born poet and playwright is on stage, with guest singer-songwriter Enda Reilly, on Saturday, October 13, bringing a love of language which has seen his poetry videos amass more than 2.5 million views.

In 2017 Stephen was commissioned by the organisers of the St Patrick’s Festival - an annual event based in his home city and intended to showcase the best of the country’s talent - to write a new poem as a ‘celebratory narrative’ of Ireland. The resultant piece was ‘My Ireland’, which was accompanied by a short film.

This has since been been viewed well over 300,000 times and even crossed the water to become a major hit when it was screened at the London Film Festival.

And this year, he was commissioned by insurance firm Aviva, the sponsors of the Dublin Stadium, to write a poem on the rugby union clash between England and Ireland on St Patrick’s Day.

The result was the poem ‘Bring it Home’, which chalked more than 750,000 views across that weekend alone - presumably not least because Ireland won the match at Twickenham to clinch the Grand Slam!

The 36-year-old’s Settle date is part of a 30-date tour of Ireland and the UK which is going on through October and November, giving the chance to see him in the flesh to those who have come to know his work online.

And he is no stranger to live performance, having been seen at events and festivals including the Electric Picnic, Other Voices, the London Palladium, Glastonbury, and in events at New York, Chicago, Iowa, Montreal, Ottawa, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Utrecht, Ljubljana and Warsaw!