It’s all been a bit hectic here (in a good way). Had a brilliant night performing for the first time at ‘Unity Words’ in Wakefield. Was great to see Maria Ferguson for the first time, she’s an ace poet, so if you haven’t checked her out yet then do it!! Also enjoyed plenty of other great shows throughout June including my hometown launch of my book which I’m pleased to say was a rowdy and rammed event!!
In terms of the education stuff I’ve just started doing the summer course along with my good buddy Rhythmical Mike for Derby County Community Trust and NCS. I also held some brilliant workshops with the year 9’s from Noel Baker Academy as well as doing a motivational Speech for ex-offenders with the fantastic High-5 Recruitment. Plenty more work lined-up and some exciting times ahead. Get in touch if you need any creative workshops running.
I have some great gigs coming up this month including a headline slot @Word Life in Sheffield, Check the live section for more information. The awesome Raymond Antrobus also visits Word Wise in Derby this month along with Antony R. Owen and many other great poets.
Finally there’s a couple of nice new reviews of my collection ‘The Best Of A Bad Situation’ from the lovely people at ‘The Morning Star’ and ‘The Triumph of Now’ Head over to the reviews section to see more!
I also got commissioned to write a piece for the heritage Lottery funded THI (Townscape heritage initiative) in the Green Lane area of Derby. You can view the video here:
I’ll be doing plenty of live performances throughout June to celebrate the release including Spoken Weird in Halifax on June 1st, The Belper Goes Green Festival on June 4th, A Silhouette Press special with fellow Press mates Andrea Mbarushimana & Jonathan Pinnock @Hausman’s Radical Book Shop, Kings Cross, London on June 6th, My hometown Book Launch Party @ The Maypole Inn, Derby on June 16th & Speech Therapy in Nottingham on June 22nd & A Feature Slot @ Unity Words, Wakefield On June 28th. I’ll also be taking part in a Heritage Lottery funded show @ St.Peters Church in Derby on Friday June 23rd as part of The Green Lane Regeneration Project as well as June’s instalment of Word Wise (Which has now received an offer for Arts Council Funding) featuring the excellent Genevieve L. Walsh & Matt Mcateer. So Yes indeed it’s going to be a busy fun-packed month!
There’s also more dates planned for July onwards. I’ve also had a poem from my second collection (Currently being completed) in the latest edition of Glove: https://twitter.com/glovelitzine?lang=en There’s been some great reviews of “The Best Of A Bad Situation” Including this beauty right here by Storge: (there’s also more in the Press section of this site)
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:
It’s been a busy few weeks. I’ve another live video of my poem “ANYWHERE STREET DE1” which can be found below. I’ve also done interviews for both “Storge Music” and “Louder Than War” Which can be found in the Press section. There’s also a teaser poem from my forthcoming collection called “The Old Enemy” which was published on the “Hand Job Zine” Website, head over to the published section to take a look. I’ve loads of gigs booked in for the forthcoming months including a feature slot at “Howl” in Birmingham on March 8th. Head over to the Live section for more information.
So I finally have a bit of live footage from “Poetry is dead good” in Nottingham a few weeks back. The piece is called: You, me, the moon & the train yard. Give it a whirl.
Sorry I’ve been a bit slack with this of late. Life has simply gotten in the way.
I’ve had a busy few months which has included completing the first phase of the ‘Writing East Midlands: Write now sanctuary project’ which was has been an amazing project to be involved in.
I’ve also done a few shows here and there and had my first poetry collection accepted for publication (More news to follow on that).
I’ve hosted workshops at Sheffield Hallam university, Derby college, and Twenty-Twenty education so it’s been a very busy few months.
I’ve got loads coming up (and lots to be confirmed over the next few months) so keep checking back.
All the best and thanks to anyone who supported me in anyway last year!
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:
