Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer.
Burn After Reading / Kid Glove / Podium Poets. Writer for The Norwich Radical. Published by Nasty Little Press.
any news on poetry that’s been published or any exciting new things happening!
Join the eventĀ here.
I’ve had the honour of being part of Sammy Brough’s ‘Trauma Genes’ Home Cooking Podcast, which you can listen to here.Ā I was interested in the topic as it made me think of Dr Joy Leary’s research on Post Traumatic Slave Disorder, below.
My poem was based on research that IĀ amalgamated in poetic form, using first person, and a ‘telephone’ sound to give a sense of distance to reinforce the idea of trauma being passed through history.
On 1st June, I performed a piece I wrote for You PressĀ on a project called ‘Voices of Redemption’, where artists were paired with ex-offenders to tell their story. My particular story questioned the line between victim and perpetrator, and although I didn’t realise this would be a common theme, it was surprising to see the amount of injustice within the justice system. Yet, I also wanted the poem to recognise the crime committed, to move on from that, and other than impacting the audience, I wanted the person I was paired with to get something positive from the experience. It was a challenging project, simply because it is quite daunting to have someone else’s life and write a poem about it. There’s a recording of the previous project ‘One Story: Our Voice’ I was involved with, and I hope this will also be recorded as it was such a unique and important event.
I have also performed at The Last Word Festival with Kid Glove at The Roundhouse. It has been a long and difficult few months building up to the show, and we’re yet to decided where we will take the show. Practically, it may be unrealistic to be able to perform it in the way we may have had in our mind at the start, but it has been a massive learning experience and I think we accomplished a great scratch show in the end, being such an ambitious project. I mean, one of us lives in Germany! I think everyone deserves a massive pat on the back for pulling it off and I’m sure we’ve all learnt a lot about ourselves from it.
I’m reading a few books at the moment – one that stands out is The Ice Cream Empire, by Kit Poulson, and it very much reminds me of the writing from ‘Dear Adventure’ and has made me think that we could do something with text, or even sound, as a way forward with the show idea. I’ve also been listening to a few things on the radio…
1. BBC Radio 1Xtra are doing special features on poetry/spoken word and some of my fellow poets have been involved so far. Hopefully more on this later!
2. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and features lovely people like Kayo Chingonyi and Emmy the Great.
My next performance is at The Chocolate Poetry Club. Thank you to the mystery person who recommended me. I’ve only had one other paid gig this year, so it really cheered me up to have this to look forward to!
You Press Presents…One Story, Our Voice: Voices of Redemption from You Press on Vimeo.
You Press is very excited to invite you take an extraordinary journey into the world & lives of ten ex-offenders. A journey expressed through poetry, spoken word and music.
During the evening ten phenomenal life stories will be performed by a group of talented artists. Voices of Redemption, is a show stopping event that cannot be missed!
Come and support a cause that is deeply profound.
Date & Time: Monday 1st June 2015, 7pm.
Location: Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.
Book Tickets at Park TheatreĀ onlineĀ or by calling 020 7870 6876
For more information visit: youpress.org.uk
Kid Glove are Sophie Fenella, Joel Auterson, Sarah Perry, Antosh Wojcik, Carmina Masoliver, Chris Lawrence, Rose Swainston and Maeve Scullion. They are resident artists at The Roundhouse, where they will be scratching the show they have been working on…
Kid Glove are bored. Bored of commuting, bored of working, bored of drinking, bored of love. They’re looking for Adventure, have you seen him?
The former Roundhouse Poetry Collective have landed themselves a residency at The Roundhouse, where they have been writing poetry under the name ‘Kid Glove’, and developing their first ever spoken word show: ‘Dear Adventure’ a love/hate letter to a man called Adventure.
Kid Glove will be scratching ‘Dear Adventure’ during The Last Word Festival at The Roundhouse, on Sunday 31st of May. Come and see it with your own eyes. What’s a better way to spend a Sunday?
Featuring alongside Jazzman John Clarke, UEA poet Zoe Kingsley and Kid Glove collaboratorĀ Joel Auterson.
Last weekend I took part in the Festival of Ideas as part of Open Generation, a project which saw spoken word artists, photographers and film makers come together to having our say on migration, in partnership with the Migrants’ Rights Network.Ā I’d been mentored by Joelle Taylor, who has helped push me to practice and memorise my poems more, as well as help with confidence and performance preparation techniques. The day started with an early morning meeting, which meant I was able to stay for the two hours of TEDx Salon about free movement and saw some great talks with discussion at the end.
I went to oneĀ of the talks during the rest of the dayĀ called ‘Redefining Britishness’, IĀ went to a workshop by Adam Kammerling, and got a bit of rehearsal time with fellow poet Melissa McDonald (who’s only done six performances and is already making waves!) There was so much inspiring stuff going on – too much to regurgitate here, but hopefully some videos will go up and I can share them another time.
We all got a plaque for taking part; there were prizes for each category, and I was lucky enough to win one. I was very pleased to purchase a tripod and some other bits from The Flash Centre, with some very generous vouchers. I will also be headed to The Dorchester’s China Tang for a birthday meal with my boyfriend, thanks to this. I admit, I initially felt uneasy about it being a competition, but it is nice to get this kind of recognition.Ā I put the tripod to use this week at She GrrrowlsĀ and it made it so much easier… once I’d figured out with a couple of others how to put it up! Plus, having a luxury dim sum meal on my birthday makes up for all the soups and sandwiches you end up eating to find something cheap as a poet.
My poem itself was based on a Congolese woman who was raped,Ā used as a sex slave, and then came to the UK to be detained at Yarl’s Wood. It was inspired by this Guardian articleĀ by Natasha Walter. I have known about these atrocities for a while and it was hard to write a poem without acknowledgingĀ the frustration that I too have a part to play in them, but thankfully more is being done to source conflict-free minerals (see Intel), yetĀ we must still raise awareness. Poetry Meets Art is an event that does this, hostedĀ by a wonderful woman called Emma Ako. I asked Emma for some places to share with people around this topic, so here’s where she suggested:
Save The Congo
Fairphone
Paniz Hospital
Congolese Action Youth Platform
Mothers of Congo
Enough
Carmina is performing at the sold out ‘Open Generation’ event.
After mentorship by Joelle Taylor, she will be performing a new piece connected to Migrants’ Rights and will be involved in a Q&A related issues brought up in her poem.
It will be hosted by Adam Kammerling.
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 