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
One of my hopes for the new year was to try out new ways of writing and performing, and the start of 2016 has happily involved just that: I've been composing and performing lots of collaborative poems! Before this year I'd never written collaboratively before. Writing poetry had always been an intensely solitary event for me, involving … Continue reading Writing Collaborative Performance Poems
This site has been rather quiet for the past couple weeks, but for a good reason: I've been touring with the Loud Poets in London and at the Brighton Fringe Festival! They had me along as a guest poet on their show, a techie, flyerer, and social media manager, among other roles everyone played as … Continue reading Touring with Loud Poets: Reflections
This week I'm handing over the pen (keyboard?). We have an exciting guest post from Halah Mohammed, a spoken word poet from Brooklyn, New York who has been traveling the world on a Watson fellowship this year researching autobiographical narratives shared through spoken word poetry. She blogs about her experiences and posts interviews with poets … Continue reading Guest Post: Halah Mohammed
Katie Ailes 