I’m absolutely over the moon to announce that my work has been shortlisted in no less than 3 categories for the Saboteur 2019 UK Spoken Word Awards. I’ve been listed for Best Spoken Word Performer in the UK, Word Wise has been listed for ‘Best Regular Spoken Word Night’ and ‘Man Up’ by Restoke has been listed for ‘Best Collaborative Work’. We’d be wholeheartedly grateful if you could vote for these projects using this form: https://form.jotformeu.com/91033853215350
Reciting the We Are Derby poem to over 400 pupils @ Lawn Primary School
Ayup people!
So 2019 has definitely gotten off to a bang! I’ve been rushed off my boots with lots of education work. This includes my first ever requested encore in a school assembly to over 400 kids, who were chanting along to my We Are Derby Poem (See photo above). I’ve also enjoyed being one of the lead writers visiting schools on behalf of SLAMJAM in Lincolnshire. I’ve also recently been involved in the This Is Derby project on behalf of the wonderful team at Deda. I also held a series of workshops as a visiting lecturer at both Keele and Derby Universities.
The next instalment of last year’s ACE funded Travelling Band project (Constell8) is also off to a start! Keep checking back for more dates on that one! In March I put out a new live video for my poem COBWEBS from the February UNISLAM victory which has been getting some good reactions over social media, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKs596bNhU4&t=94s There’s also some footage of me reading some new material that was recorded live @ Side Gallery for the Small Town Inertia exhibition in Newcastle back in January, Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zExJzq05NGs&t=348s
I’m lucky enough to have had my new show accepted for a week-long run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the fantastic people at Laughing Horse. Our Man will feature from Monday 19th until Sunday 25th August at the aptly named Raging Bull from 6:00 PM each night. The show is made up of poems from my next collection of the same title that is due to be published through Burning Eye Books in July. The self-titled poem was published recently in the Morning Star newspaper and can be read here: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/poetry-picketline-our-man-1
Ayup folks. Loads more dates added in to the Live section.
My debut collection “The Best of A Bad Situation” will be released in May 2017 through the magnificent “Silhouette Press” who have been a joy to work with. This is an exciting moment for me and the result of a lot of hard graft. My book launch at Fire & Dust, Coventry will take place on this date alongside the awesome Steve Pottinger The Facebook event for this gig is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1573038666070312/
I’m also rather proud to announce that I got commissioned to write a piece for the award winning social photographer Jim Mortram’s rather amazing “Small Town Inertia” project through the excellent”bluecoat Press” so march really was some month for me! If you want to know more about this project hit the link below, Until next time folks take it easy and all that jazz…I’ll update with links to buy my collection when details are ready…All the best. J
March has been very kind to yours truly. I did a feature slot at the awesome ‘Howl’ in Moseley, Birmingham & also did a feature set at The Hand-Job-Zine Anthology launch. There’s a review of the event below by the one & only Leftlion of Nottingham which is rather complimentary yours truly, give it a gander:
Hi folks, Not long now until the first Word Wise! We have an excellent line-up for the first event featuring the excellent Andrew Mulletproof Graves, Joolz Denby, Matt Clegg, Sophie Sparham, Benjamin night plus many more! I’ll be hosting the night and there’ll be limited open-mic slots available on the door (First come, First served basis) for more info check out the Facebook event:
It’s been a very busy time: I’ve countless readings/performances coming up so head over to the live/readings page to find out when and where!
I’ve also secured a position as the shadow-writer-in-residence for the Writing East Midlands:Write here-Sanctuary Project. This is a project aiming to support refugees and Asylum seekers in the facilitation of their own stories written in English. I’m ultra-mega-proper happy to be involved in such a wonderful venture and I’m looking forward to doing my bit to make refugees welcome here in Derby!
I also have some other amazing news but I’m not allowed to tell you that yet….