Free Poetry Celebration: North versus South Poets
Open to EVERYONE AND ANYONE – places FREE but booking essential: email Yvette Taylor: taylory@lsbu.ac.uk
A night of spoken word poetry to celebrate the differences and sameness of North and South England
Date: Friday 20th June
Time: 6-8pm
Location: Edric Hall, London South Bank University
On Friday 20th June, I’ll be running a free poetry event in celebration of the Southbank University’s Centre for Social and Policy Research‘s latest project: North versus South. The event will feature an amazing line up of some of England’s best Southern and Northern spoken word poets – Bridget Minamore, Dan Cockrill, Ali Gadema, Vanessa Kissule, Keisha Thompson and myself. They’ll be lined up together to explore what it means to them to live where they do.
From 4-5.30 I’ll also be taking a workshop, again free, for anyone interested in coming down and doing a bit of poetry – no previous poetry experience needed!
Entry is FREE but places must be booked to avoid disappointment. To book a place at the gig, the workshop or both, email Yvette Taylor: taylory@lsbu.ac.uk
Meet the Poets
Vanessa Kisuule
Vanessa Kisuule has won several slam titles including Farrago Schools Out Slam Champotion 2010, Bang Said The Gun Award, Poetry Rivals 2011, Next Generation Slam 2012, Slambassadors 2010 and South West Hammer and Tongue Slam Champion 2012.The likes of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Kate Tempest, Dizraeli and David J have invited her to support them, and her poetry has featured in Burning Eyes Rhyming Thunder anthology of Young Poets.
Keisha Thompson
Keisha Thompson has been writing since her primary school days. By age 16 she had been published in three anthologies and performed her work at various venues including Urbis, Contact and Bolton Octagon. In 2007, she joined Young identity poetry collective and went on to compete in international poetry festival Brave New Voices. In addition to poetry Keisha is been a member of Manchester Youth Soul Choir/Urban Voices and Contact Playback. She has worked as a workshop facilitator for Wordsmith Awards, Apples and Snakes Wordcup and Apples and Snakes Shake The Dust. She has also authored and featured in a short film (Selective).
Dan Cockrill
Daniel Cockrill delivers poignant and irreverent poetic anecdotes with an elegant simplicity. He is a founding member of the weekly stand up poetry event ‘Bang Said The Gun,’ described as ‘comprehensively the best poetry gig I have ever been to…’ (PopShot Magazine). Dan has appeared regularly on BBC Radio, been published in Australia, USA and Britain and was the 2006 Farrago London Poetry Slam Champion. He has contributed to numerous festivals and events nationally and internationally.
Ali Gadema
Originally from Venus, Ali “Pookatron” Gadema has been writing and performing since he could walk/hold a pen. His Hip Hop poetics are heavily influenced by day to day life as an extraterrestrial being. As a young Venusite visiting Earth, he started training young verbal acrobats, leading to work across the length and breadth of Mars and the inner regions of the solar system. He eventually settled down in Manchester, where he began working with the Earthling poetry group, Young Identity.
Bridget Minamore
Bridget Minamore is a 22-year-old writer and student from London who sometimes writes as part of the Poejazzi blog network. She loves books, ice-cream, American TV drama, 80s jumpers, Tennessee Williams, Classical mythology and hip hop. Also, lists. She enjoys working with kids, likes running creative writing and drama workshops, and her hair is purple – which someone told her is the ‘funny’ fact she should put at the end of all her bios.
Hollie McNish
Hollie McNish is a published UK poet and spoken word artist, based between London and Cambridge. She has released two poetry albums, Touch and Push Kick, both to critical acclaim, and a first collection of written poetry, Papers, published by Greenwich Exchange, London. She has had poems commissioned by Radio 4 Womans Hour, WOW festival, Tate Modern and Channel 4 Random Acts. Last year the video for her poem ‘Mathematics’ went viral and she joined the Campaign for No More Page Three.
Hollie McNish 
Reblogged this on Burning Eye Books and commented:
Get in people get in, this will book out any nano-second now: