Hollie McNish started writing poetry at about age five with the exceptional lines ‘my dad is fat and hates cats, my mum is thin like a pin’ found years later scrumpled in the attic! After writing constant rhymes for the next 15 years she finally snook to the Poetry Café in London to read some out aloud at age 23...and managed it after about another year.
 
Since then, she’s been performing around the UK and Europe and running educational poetry days and workshops on topics from racism, homophobia and drug politics to cookery, riversides and bumblebees! She also works as poet in residence and event organisor with Shape East, an educational charity focused on sustainable and ecological urban planning and youth inclusion in decision-making, running workshops with ages 8+. 
 
Her poetry is mostly straight forward rhyming and in spokenform, inspired a lot by UK hiphop and grime, sixties protest lyrics and everything around her. It spans a number of languages including French, German, Spanish and French Creole, learnt during a year’s teaching in Guadeloupe, French West Indies. Having graduated in French and German and more recently specialising with an MSc in Agricultural and Political Economics, Hollie’s poetry career is a surprising but very welcome addition to her life, especially after spending so much lecture and work time secretly writing rhymes.

Her first album, Touch, a collection of both poetry and beats, is released in 2010, including production by Farma G of Taskforce, Dj Toe and fellow artist / singer Zayna Daze. 
 
Previous performances and highlights include: Glastonbury Festival, Cheltenham Literature and Science festivals, UK Farrago Slam Championships, performing at the Big Chill festival, Munich Substanz Slam and coming third in the World Slam Championships in Paris 2009, first female behind the US and Canada. She has appeared on BBC2, been commissioned by Radio 4 as part of the Glastonbury Poetry Diaries and recently been invited to participate in poetry projects in Argentina and at the Maison Folie Theatre in Belgium. As well as straight spoken word, she has also participated in a number of music nights, including playing the Junction Theatre with renowned drum-n-bass acts
Beardyman and Jungle Drummer and Inja.

To view Hollie's latest album release click here

http://raymondantrobus.blogspot.com/2010/06/q-with-camridge-and-london-based-spoken.html