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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 –…
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;…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Zohab Zee Khan
Zohab 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… Globetrotting Poetic Adventurer. What inspires you? Those in my family that came before me. The last four generations of my…
Eileen Gbagbo
Eileen 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… Nerdy, introverted, auntie. What inspires you? The community of Black British poets, writers and creatives that came before my…
Paul Lyalls
Zohab 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… Go Go Go What inspires you? Hearing and reading many of the poets I am blessed to come into contact…
Alice Frecknall
Alice 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… Awkward lil’ geek. What inspires you? People and art. And people making art. In a living, breathing, needful way….
Jasmin Thien
Jasmin 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… Socially anxious extrovert What inspires you? Disabled people being badass, women being badass, people of colour being badass, immigrants…
Desree
Desree 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… Passionate, awkward, and silly! What inspires you? Everything and everyone. Daily, I get to meet people who are trying…
Lesley Hayes
Describe yourself in 3 words… Resilient, playful, thinker. Rebel. What inspires you? Misunderstandings and all the words that cannot or have not been said. Writing is like setting the hamsters of rage loose on the travelator of creativity. I am learning to harness the hamsters, without hurting them… More specifically, I write about illness, abuse,…
Amy Brangwyn
Describe yourself in 3 words… wend / weft / weave What inspires you? The fluidity of possibility for change. The way injustice builds a fire in our belly so that flames froth from our mouths in a fierce torrent. The paradox of being human and bearing witness to so much beauty and so much suffering….
Eryn McDonald
Describe yourself in 3 words… Anxious, angry, gentle. What inspires you? Emotions and observations. I am outwardly not the angriest of people but I channel a lot of my rage into my work. I am inspired by the people around me, by kindness, resilience, and weird interactions. More recently I’ve been inspired by the seasonal…
Lauren Temple
Describe yourself in 3 words… Eccentric. Honest. Passionate. What inspires you? Whatever makes me feel really excited! People, places, things… as long as they give me those pins and needles of excitement, it’s like lemonade fizzing through me. Often I feel inspired by the residents at the care home where I work and by the…
Valentina Huxley
Describe yourself in 3 words… Curious, dream-oriented and my housemate just said ‘spunky’ haha What inspires you? REVOLUTION! When I chat to people about changing the world, I zoom out of myself and into collective consciousness- this is such an authentic sweet spot to create from. I am also obsessed with queer ecology and mythology….
Dan Loops
Describe yourself in 3 words… Humorous, Versatile, Insatiable What inspires you? The cliche, yet true answer is life. I find moments inspiring, from insurmountable sadness to boundless love. Tell us about your worst ever gig? I once played a gig in a pub to just the sound man, not a single punter entered during the…
Bhumika Billa
Describe yourself in 3 words… ‘Alive’, I think. Close friends call me a ‘hustler’ (I asked only the ones that like me these days!). My aspirational description would be ‘kind’. What inspires you? Anger on most days, at how unjust the world is. On better ones, beauty of all kinds—in places and people. Tell us…
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