Welcome Ty’Rone Haughton

Apples & Snakes announces its first Trainee Artistic Director as Poet and playwright Ty’rone Haughton

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A montage of photos next to Ioney Smallhorne. Reads 'My Journey into Writing for Children'

My Journey into Writing for Children

Only 11% of children’s books published in 2021 featured a character from a Global Majority background. Even more starkly, just 2% of U.K. children’s authors and illustrators come from these communities.

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Two young female poets in black and white on a dark background with multi coloured squares. It reads their names - Aamani and KJ

Scars – Red Room Poetry

Aamani Kanda and KJ Haywood in conversation about the joys and challenges of creating a poem together across two continents. Read their poem ‘Scars’.

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Cascadoo Festival

Poet and writer Shareefa Energy writes about her time in Trinidad and her experience at the Cascadoo Festival.

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Red Sky

With thanks…

Following 5 years dedicated to supporting poets in the Midlands and across the country, Owen’s role as Associate Producer has come to its end and he is now off pursuing his own exciting creative projects. During his time at Apples and Snakes, Owen led on the BBC Words First programme, developed our alumni Work From…

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Poet Shaniqua Benjamin stands at a microphone. She wears black glasses, has hooped earrings and has shoulder length black hair tied back. Shaniqua wears a navy cardigan with white piping. She smiles as she performs.

From baby poet to Croydon Poet Laureate

From baby poet to Croydon Poet Laureate By: Shaniqua Benjamin Although I’ve always loved writing, I stayed away from poetry until my early 20s. Fashion design had been my focus, so when I dropped out of university to pursue a career in writing and eventually discovered that poetry was the avenue for me, it was…

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Poetry under Occupation

By Shareefa Energy. I was invited to The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank in Palestine as lead facilitator for the 2022 ‘Through The Eyes of Women – Feminist Theatre Festival,’ to deliver poetry and creative writing workshops, alongside performing poetry in Jenin and Ramallah. I last facilitated poetry and public speaking…

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The Pause – Field Lab 

Early this year I was invited by Team London Bridge, in partnership Apples and Snakes, to put together a day of interactive exercises that would inspire a different spin on talking about the climate and ecological crisis as part of the epic In A Field by A Bridge Festival. Since 2018, I’ve had many conversations in climate and environmental…

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A yellow circle on a faded yellow crown on a purple background. The circle reads Word Cup 2023

WORDCUP : An Overview

Each poem owes gratitude to other poems and poets that went before it. Poetry is a communal, collaborative act. Sometimes we fall into the trap of spotlighting the individual, whoever’s creative genius steals our breath. And yet we know that everything exists in a continuum. Each poem owes gratitude to other poems and poets that…

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Tatenda Matsvai

Describe yourself in 3 words… Playful, Enthusiastic, Sporadic What inspires you? I am inspired by life the beauty the weight, the flow of it all through music movementbreath, it moves me, makes me feel present, real unreal at times and like magic, My family,my mother the story teller, my father the spokesperson, my sister and…

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Apples and Snakes changes lives. Apples and Snakes changed my life.

It’s a bold claim but it’s true, Apples and Snakes really did change my life. Reaching me just at the right time and showing me that poetry wasn’t/isn’t exclusively written in the drawing rooms of the privileged, that community work was not of lesser quality and that art really can change lives in a way…

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The Path from Shadow to Poet Coach

WORDCUP ’14 – ’23 The Woods of Writing As a poet who has reached a decade into this line of life (I’d call it work, but poetry is something lived, isn’t it?) I have found myself reflecting on the journey, the path from Shadow to Poet Coach.  Over this decade, I have facilitated poetry in…

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Apples and Snakes Takeover and All Stars Gig

Apples and Snakes Takeover & All Stars Gig On a sunny Saturday 3 June 2023, we hosted our special Takeover and All Stars gig at the Roundhouse in London. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apples and Snakes in style, the day featured live performances, creative workshops, podcast recordings and talks. This epic birthday bash was…

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Bits of a Poet

Bits of a Poet “Understanding comes in different forms, and poems are not riddles.” – Bohdan Piasecki We build poems out of bits of language. Words, and groups of words, and ways in which words interact. We each amass a different set of these bits, and even the ones we ostensibly share we imbue with…

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Edalia looks to the side and up, wearing her hair down, with hoop earrings.

The Animated Poet

A few years ago I realised if I draw while I listen, it tames my frantic mind and lets the poets’ words reach me. I have AHDH and I love poetry and drawing. My mind bounces all over the place when I create which is a joy for stringing together wild ideas, but my mind…

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Close up of table with gingerbread people biscuits, pine cones, fairy lights

Goodbye 2022

Hello from Apples and Snakes, and goodbye 2022! A momentous year for us as we turned 40 on 2nd October 2022.  Wahoooo!!! It’s amazing! What was started by a small collective of poets Mandy Williams, Pete Murry and Jane Addison in a room at the Adam’s Arms, on Saturday 2nd October 1982 is still here, going strong, 40 years later…

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A woman with long dark hair wearing a high necked, long sleeve white dress puts her arm behind her head, standing in front of a tall tower block

I Don’t Owe You a Trauma Poem

“i hate having to share trauma with white people to be taken seriously. as a writer but also just as a person. like, is that the only way whiteness recognises me as a person? through pain?” – Chen Chen The very first spoken word poem I ever wrote was on my experience of a lifetime…

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A woman with dark rimmed glasses and loosely tied up hair, with an open smile

Being A Disabled Poet

I’d love it if people could read the word ‘disabled,’ notice what feelings come up and then challenge them. Try it now. Disabled poet. I think I did have a sense that the village hall tea-party, in the middle of Norfolk, on a sunny afternoon, might not be ‘my audience’ but then, I didn’t want…

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A woman with red lips and dark hair looks straight on

Commission This – Shagufta K Iqbal

The world of commissioning can sometimes be a minefield, and it can be difficult to know where to start. I’ve been practising as a poet and workshop for over 10 years now, and alongside this work, I have also been commissioned to write for a variety of different projects. Each with its own trials, tribulations,…

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Portrait of Ioney standing with sun on her face

The Educational Poet

Its September. School bells are calling in students to begin a new academic year, and for many writer teachers like me, we’re trying to find the balance and earning a living and honouring their creative endeavours. I’m a part-time English lecturer working in Further Education (FE), teaching GCSE English Language resits to learners who didn’t…

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Black and white portrait of Shirley may looking ahead

The Beginning of Young Identity

Young Identity started life as Inna Voice. In 2006, we entered Apples and Snakes’ national poetry slam “Word Cup” at Warwickshire University. It was extremely exciting and we had no idea that we would end up with a project that has now become a micro charity. After Word Cup, we started running weekly workshops in…

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Image of Tom - a man with curly hair and glasses looking to the side

A Poet Walks Into a Bar

​​The first poem I ever performed in public was in the basement of a Starbucks. It was something sweet, innocent and poorly written about holding hands (we don’t all burst onto the scene masters of the Craft). As I compared notes with the other budding performers afterwards however, I slowly realised that my earnest poem…

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A woman with long dark hair, centre parted, wearing black rimmed glasses, smiling.

From Callout to Publication

How it Worked For me – Sundra Lawrence I love Apples and Snakes callouts – the news neatly folded in my inbox, a truthful subject header – Callouts, courses and mentoring opportunities – and the unlatched thrill of hope. A few years ago, I’d decided to take my writing practice more seriously. This included reading…

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Black and white picture of Iroro looking towards camera wearing sunglasses

Iroro Azanuwha: Not a typical poet

Some people might say that I don’t look like a typical poet. I’m ok with that.

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