Apples and Snakes X The Verb
This week on The Verb we’re celebrating the birthday of Apples and Snakes, who’ve been pioneering spoken word poetry for 40 years.
Helen Seymour
There’s no such thing as a ‘slow reader’, just read books in your own time and don’t feel like you’re ‘too slow.’ On a similar theme, running is over-rated. Describe yourself in 3 words… Worried little mole What inspires you? People who don’t take themselves too seriously and do their thing with a lot of…
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…
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…
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…
Iroro Azanuwha: Not a typical poet
Some people might say that I don’t look like a typical poet. I’m ok with that.
Not Feeling Like a Poet
“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…
Tahmina Ali – This is a Mother Poet
“…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…
2021 Round Up
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…
Zena Edwards
As a lover of live poetry readings as an audience member, I love to hear individual voices. You can give a chef a chicken and they can season and cook it 100 different ways. It’s the same with poetry, I like different seasonings in my poets. Describe yourself in 3 words… Playful, Serious, determined What…
Malaika Kegode
You can have respect for your craft, community and creativity while still embracing the ridiculousness of it all. 1. Describe yourself in 3 words… Generous, Determined, Introvert 2. What inspires you? The endurance and optimism of human beings. That we have all lived through our very worst days and just keep on going. That we’ve…
Reece Williams
Serious poets don’t find time to write, they make time. 1. Describe yourself in 3 words… Bearded bald brotha 2. What inspires you? Most of my poems are crafted in the moments that I’m not eating (or thinking about eating) plantin. I’m inspired by the way life moves around me and I’m inspired to tell…
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa
No one complains there are too many poems about the moon, but when it comes to poetics in the Black community, my people are pressured to question what they should write about. And when we are invited to write, we are usually asked to write on trauma as though 571 years (and counting) has just…
Neelam Saredia-Brayley
Remember to keep consuming good art rather than just outputting all the time and getting burnt out. Don’t ignore red flags. You can survive anything. Describe yourself in 3 words… Joyful Hopeful Queen What inspires you? Andrea Gibson’s poetry, Queer Eye, women supporting women, Jameela Jamil, strong people of colour, Aakash Odedra and his beautiful…
Jean “Binta” Breeze
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 –…
What’s SPINE Festival all about?
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 Edwards: Comfortable With the Uncomfortable
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…
Shaun Hill
If you are asking a participant to become something they have not been supported to be in society, how are you supporting them to do this? Describe yourself in 3 words @warmbloodedthing What inspires you? ‘god’, healing, critical theory. Tell us about your worst ever gig? A conference for the business sector where after the…
The Last Poets: Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan – Part 2
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…
The Last Poets: Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan – Part 1
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…
Joelle Taylor: Writing From Archives
Lesbian history is obscured by centuries of misogyny, homophobia and class difference. As a consequence, much of the material available refers to upper and middle-class women, in the form of diaries, artworks and analytical texts.
The Woman With The Wasted Face: Poets, Tread Carefully This Halloween
Please don’t call the police, but I was thirteen when I first watched the fifteen-rated, 2002 version of The Ring. I was at a sleepover with a girl who had once announced: ‘If you’re not wearing a bra by year nine, there’s something wrong with you’, and I was as desperate for her friendship as…
The Golden House by Ross Sutherland
A secretive tech company decides to launch a podcast, revealing themselves to the outside world for the first time in 11 years. On the surface, the podcast appears to be a standard PR exercise, but all is not what it seems. The podcast’s presenter is smuggling secret codes into each episode— clues to a bigger…
Beth Calverley: In Defence of Daydreams
Beth Calverley, founder of The Poetry Machine, has seen the positive effects of poetry through her work within health and wellbeing contexts, both before and during the pandemic. Yet she has found her own inspiration levels rising and falling unpredictably during the past five months. In this blog, Beth explores why poetry can be helpful…
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