Hello all! A quick post today to share a new poetry video. It's a (hot and humid) nostalgia trip: a well-worn poem of mine based on my summers of farm work as a teen. Almost all of it is true (I nearly crashed a John Deere learning to drive), but some aspects are fictionalised (the … Continue reading New poem: “Farm Hand”
I'm so excited to share a brand new project! Today we at I Am Loud released the first episode of Loud Poets: Happy Hour, our new poetry podcast. Bex Sherwood is producing the show and I'm hosting, plus Kevin Mclean and Mark Gallie are along for the ride taking part in the challenges. What is … Continue reading Launching Loud Poets: Happy Hour!
April has rolled around again, which means it's time for NaPoWriMo! For the uninitiated, this is National Poetry Writing Month, a time when many people challenge themselves to write poetry on a daily basis. Traditionally, the challenge is to write 30 poems in 30 days: quite a feat! The project was started in 2003 by … Continue reading Come Write with Us! #NaPoWriMo 2021
At the start of January, you may remember that here I shared a workshop I'd created on how to write golden shovels. This was part of the Return to Form project we've been running at I Am Loud Productions, showcasing different forms of poetry. In this series we featured the golden shovel, the Shakespearean sonnet, … Continue reading Five Free Poetry Workshops!
Exciting news! Earlier this year, you may remember that I shared a poetry video from I Am Loud Productions featuring new erasure poems by myself and Mark Gallie, designed and edited by Perry Jonsson. I also shared an accompanying digital workshop that I created on composing erasure poetry. These resources were created as part of … Continue reading New project: Return to Form
Hello all! Quick post today: I wanted to share with you the latest episode of the I Am Loud Productions Loudcast. These are weekly video and audio podcasts which showcase spoken word poems and feature in-depth conversations about various facets of spoken word craft. For this week's episode I sat down with Kevin Mclean to … Continue reading New Loudcast Episode: Criticising Spoken Word
July is nearly through, which means it's almost time for the Edinburgh Fringe! I'm delighted to be performing again this year as part of the core cast of Loud Poets. We've worked hard to craft a brand new show featuring spoken word poetry in a range of styles accompanied by live music from our band … Continue reading Edinburgh Fringe 2017
Hello everyone! I'm writing to share some big news: this weekend Loud Poets launched a Patreon campaign! If you've not heard of Patreon, it's an excellent crowdfunding platform which allows supporters to pledge regular contributions to artists they appreciate. This gives these artists a more sustainable income (in oppose to one-off crowdfunding campaigns which are … Continue reading Loud Poets have a Patreon!
Hello everyone! One of my biggest joys this past year has been doing more teaching. One of the chief reasons I got into academia was to teach - I've found that there's no better way to learn than to share your knowledge with others. In the autumn I taught Intro to Creative Writing at Strathclyde, where … Continue reading Spring Workshops
Hello everyone! I'm just catching my breath after two whirlwind tours with Loud Poets in the past three weeks, first to the Brighton Fringe, then to the Prague Fringe. Both festivals were fantastic, and I'm so grateful to the team of poets, musicians, and our videographer Perry Jonsson for working so hard to make our shows the … Continue reading Vlog with Sam Small: Regional Differences in Spoken Word
Katie Ailes 