Underone Festival
Apples and Snakes are at UnderOne Festival between 24-25 July as a supporting partner to inspire your creativity and enhance your well-being during the event.
Our poet-in-residence for the UnderOne festival is Kat François who is scheduled to perform on 24 July and run a Journalling workshop on the 25 July.
You can also hear TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor; emerging poets Bhumika Billa and Gafar Fashola; Apples and Snakes Artistic Director, Lisa Mead; and Chair of our Board, Amerah Saleh.
Catch us at these times:
Kat François
Spoken Word Performance
Wed 24 July: 10.20-10.30am
Journalling with Kat
Thu 25 July: 9.30-10.00am
Joelle Taylor
Panel Discussion F: Pride in Perspective: Voices of the LGBTQ+ Community
Wed 24 July: 3.25-4.05pm
Spokenword Performance
Thurs 25 July: 10.15-10.30am
Lisa Mead
Fireside Chat – Fostering Inclusivity: A Fireside Chat on Supporting Parents and Carers in the Workplace
Wed 24 July: 11.00-11.30am
Panel Discussion H: Artistic Voices Unite: Harnessing Diversity for Impactful Storytelling
Wed 24 July: 3.25-4.05pm
Lunchtime performances:
Bhumika Billa – Wed 24 July
Gafar Fashola – Thu 25 July
About the performers:
Kat François
Kat François is a Performance and Movement based Artist, Writer and Educator, Writing and Performance Coach, BBC TV and World Poetry Slam Champion.
Kat has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Saturday Live and Woman’s Hour, as well as BBC TV & Sky, and featured on BBC television’s Paul Whitehouse: Our Troubled Rivers. Kat has written and performed two solo plays and three solo comedy shows.
She recently won a short story competition, and her piece, INDIGO WATERS, is featured in HIDDEN REALMS, SHORT STORIES, published by Flame Tree Publishing. RAISING LAZARUS, her play about Caribbean soldiers in the First World War, has also just been published (TSL Publications.)
Joelle Taylor
Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection, C+NTO & Othered Poems, won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring. She is a co-curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre and tours her work nationally and internationally in a diverse range of venues from Australia to Brazil. She is also a Poetry Fellow of the University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023.
GAFAR FASHOLA
Gafar Fashola is a Nigerian born poet who grew up in the heart of South London.
Gafar is a contemporary poet who uses raw emotions and profound insights, with a gift for crafting elaborate verses that delve deep into the human experience. Gafar moved to the UK at the age of 5 , and throughout the years developed a keen sense of observation and a thirst for understanding the complexities of human relationships. This early exposure to both diversity and adversity served as the fertile ground upon which his poetic journey would take root.
Gafar’s poetry is characterized by its unapologetic honesty and its fearless exploration of topics often left unspoken. He uses his verses to shine a light on the pressing social issues of our time, exploring issues from systemic inequalities to mental health challenges. His words are a call to action, urging society to reflect and effect change.
Bhumika Billa
Bhumika Billa is an emerging poet based in Cambridge (UK) and Delhi (India). Her poetry engages with the themes of gender, mental health, heritage, climate justice, and dance. She has previously performed at the UK UniSlam, Toronto Poetry Slam, and Airplane Poetry Movement among others. Outside poetry, she is a Kathak dancer, an author, and a legal researcher at the University of Cambridge.