From artist opinion pieces, to behind-the-scenes news, our blog offers insight into all things spoken word.
If you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see, please send suggestions to info[at]applesandsnakes[dot]org and watch this space for more articles.
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Some people might say that I don’t look like a typical poet. I’m ok with that.
“I’ve never really seen myself as a writer, more somebody who happens to write. I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a poet. I always saw my body as a more likely avenue to success than my brain.” I was good at football and running; I captained my Sunday League team and ran for my…
“…The only thing that helped me stay connected to who I was was my writing” Who am I? I am a poet who writes about things that matter to me, so I like to write about culture and identity. I am a North East poet and a British Bangladeshi. I am a new mum and…
Joseph Coelho has been a long-time friend of Apples and Snakes. With his latest release, Poems Aloud, what better way to celebrate it than on World Book Day. It’s full of beautiful illustrations and stand-up and read out loud poetry for children (or anyone really!). 3 March also marks the start of SPINE Festival, a…
“I speak here of poetry as a revelatory distillation of experience, not the sterile word play that, too often, the white fathers distorted the word poetry to mean – in order to cover a desperate wish for imagination without insight.” – Audre Lorde, Poetry is Not a Luxury It was the winter of 2020 when…
This is a Neurodivergent Poet… I know a lot of other poets feel, as I did, that whenever they first encountered the world of poetry, they had found their tribe. I had glimpsed my tribe before. I found them in the amateur drama groups I joined from being a teenager. They were in the green…
Hello from Apples and Snakes What to say about 2021, was it worse than 2020? Hard to choose! We kept ourselves busy making work and supporting artists through programmes such as Writing Room, Work from Home, Artists Gatherings and our bespoke Poetry in Performance development programme supported by Jerwood Arts. We collaborated again with the…
Open House has been running as part of the SPINE Festival since 2017. The project is specifically devised for refugee and migrant communities in London, allowing participants to creatively explore language through culture. This year (2021) was the last year Open House was part of SPINE festival and we thought it would be great to…
Subject, perspective, composition, medium, colour palette, framing, tools… these are some of the things that come to mind when I think about approaching the start of a painting. But if I said this was a list of considerations attached to creating a poem, I think it would still stand. For framing, read form; for colour…
In July this year Rick Dove became the oldest ever Hammer & Tongue National Slam Champion. Rick was a participant in our Red Sky Sessions and he was a huge part of the community of writers building around that program. We caught up with him to find out a bit more about his plans, his process and everything the future holds. He’s –…
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our great friend and most powerful poet, Jean Binta Breeze. Since 1986, Jean performed at nearly 90 Apples and Snakes events as well as mentored, encouraged and inspired generations of poets through our development programmes. A pioneer, a true inspiration and total poetry legend –…
Preparations for this year’s SPINE Festival are well underway and we can’t wait for it to start in June. The festival is for children, young people and families and takes place across libraries situated at the heart of London’s communities, both digitally and in-person. This year the festival’s theme is ‘EMPATHY’ and launches on 1…
Zena recently joined Apples and Snakes officially as a Consulting Artistic Associate. She has been a long time friend of ours so it is great to embark on this journey together. We will share more of our work with Zena over the next few months. For now, here’s an introduction interview so you can get…
In the second part of this blog, Artistic Director of Apples and Snakes, Lisa Mead, and Consulting Artistic Associate, Zena Edwards, delve a little deeper with our friends Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan from The Last Poets. They discuss how poetry has shaped them, what they think it means to be a poet, and…
Artistic Director of Apples and Snakes, Lisa Mead, interviewed our friends Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan from The Last Poets to discuss poetry as their chosen form of expression, the longevity of their careers and how it all began. In the first part of this blog, Abiodun and Umar share what kept them going…
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