Farewell 2024

Hey Folks, It’s that time of year where we do a ‘quick’ round-up of all things Apples!!  We thought 2024 might have been a bit of quieter following our 40th anniversary season but it seems to have been busier than ever. Big news this year has been our merger with Poet in the City, not…

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Welcome Ty’Rone Haughton

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

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Jo Eades

Our latest Artist Spotlight features poet Jo Eades, Jo performs regularly on the Bristol spoken word scene and was selected as one of eight emerging poets from the South West to be part of Apple and Snakes Future Voices project.

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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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Francis-Xavier Mukiibi

Francis-Xavier Mukiibi is a poet and spoken word performer of Ugandan heritage from North London. He is an alumnus of the Barbican Young Poets, Roundhouse Poetry Collective and Obsidian Foundation.

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Beth Kelly

Beth is a multi-disciplinary artist who explores concepts of identity, femininity, and grief in her work. Predominantly a page poet, Beth was recently part of the Apple and Snakes Words A Stage 2024 cohort and is now building a collection of work based around performance that she hopes to take to the stage next year.

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David Woolcott

David Woolcott is a multi-disciplinary artist specialising in spoken word, facilitation and directing. As a working class creative he creates socially conscious art to inspire social change and hold important conversations.

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A photo of poet Jerome Scott performing. he wears a white t-shirt and is positioned in the left hand corner of the image. The rest of the image is filled with the dark black of the unlit stage.

Jerome Scott

Jerome is a multi disciplinary artist who explores stories through writing and movement. He writes through a poetic lens exploring identity, intimacy, masculinity (not limited to).

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Nathalia Khawand

Nathalia Khawand is a Lebanese spoken word artist and storyteller. Her work speaks widely of culture and heritage within the context of the Arab diaspora.

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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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Noor Iman

Noor Iman is a spoken-word artist, singer and writer. She has performed all over the UK from Scotland to Brixton. She has performed on esteemed platforms like Sofar Sounds and is a part of the Flovortex Collective of poets.

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Poet Zakariye is standing at a microphone reading a book. He wears a black t-shirt and has short black hair.

Zakariye

Zakariye is a poet, performer, playwright and filmmaker from Birmingham. His work often explores masculinity, faith and identity.

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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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An image of Poet Miss Jacqui, She has long black hair and wears an orange hoodie, she also has a brown, orange and white coat on, she wears brown trousers. She smiles at the camera, her left hand rests on the blue controls of her wheelchair.

Miss Jacqui

Miss Jacqui is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Respectfully honest, Goofball, passionate. What inspires you?  Family and the communities I come from. Tell us about your worst…

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An image of poet Adam Kammerling. He wears a blue shirt and black trousers, he wears black trainers. His arms are outstretched to each side of his body as he smiles at the camera. He has long shoulder length brown hair and a brown beard.

Adam Kammerling

Adam is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Playful, messy, grumpy  What inspires you? Heavy metal. And heavy metal flavours wherever I can find them. Any sense of awe…

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An image of artist Nancy Ellis, she stand in a green park next to aa tree an holds an orange book and a blue book. She wears a blue hoodie with some white writing on the form and blu jeans. She has shoulder length hair and smiles at the camera.

Nancy Ellis

Nancy Ellis is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of creatives they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… No Frills Genuine Understanding What inspires you? Everyone with something genuinely meaningful to share or express, across all professions…

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An image of poet Justin Coe, he has short brown hair and wears a blue jacket with an organ shirt underneath. He holds a book in front of him and looks at it. He is wearing black trousers and black shoes.

Justin Coe

Justin is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Not Mr Tumble  What inspires you? There’s a poem in anything. Today is all about biscuits and bicycles –…

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An image of poet Linden McMahon, Linden has short brown hair and wears glasses. They have a flowery shirt and black dungarees. The sit on a white pedestal and were black boots.

Linden McMahon

Linden is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Just a hopepunk hobbit What inspires you? At the moment I write a lot about the ecosystems we’re part of;…

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Artist Alim Kamara, he is squatted on his haunches, he wears a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. He wears black headphones over his ears and has short black hair. He holds a small instrument in his hands called an Mbira. You can pluck the metal prongs to make a sound.

Alim Kamara

Alim is is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Alim (means scholar), ‘quiet extrovert’  What inspires you? It can feel like inspiration comes out of thin air, but I…

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An image if artist Gunes Given, she holds a green book. She has brown shoulder length hair and wears a blue sleeveless cardigan with a black and white stripy top underneath. She wears blue jeans and yellow sneakers. She smiles at the camera.

Günes Güven

Güneş is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Introspective Discerning Versatile or Force of Nature What inspires you? Nature has always been my inspiration, however, nowadays my…

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An image of poet Rachel Lewis. She has shoulder length brown hair. She smiles at the camera and holds a blue book covered in stickers. She wears a brown jumper and black trousers.

Rachel Lewis

Rachel is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Hard to summarise.  What inspires you? There’s a Terry Pratchett novel where he describes inspiration particles sleeting through the…

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An image of poet Ehireme Omoaka. He has long black hair and wears a black hoodie and Green trousers. He is smiling in the image.

Ehireme Omoaka

Ehireme is part of SPINE Festival 2024, along with an incredible team of poets they’ll be leading workshops and arts activities for children in Libraries and schools across London this Spring. Describe yourself in 3 words… Observant chilled playful What inspires you? Other artists that push boundaries. Music that has meaningful messages. My children.  Tell…

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