As part of the ‘Disarm Hate x Poetry‘ project, we issued a public call-out for audio responses. These were linked to a couple of free virtual workshops, with the chosen submissions being released on a free digital album alongside ‘We Will Keep On‘ at the weekend.

The result was a seven-track album called ‘Sometimes, The Revolution is Small‘. We love this extra strand to our project and are excited to expand the number of LGBTQ poets who are responding to the project and its themes. The album is available free of charge, with an option to donate if you like. Any income will be split between Contigo Fund in the US and Stonewall UK.

Here’s an introduction to the poets on the album!

Sophie Sparham

Sophie Sparham is a poet and writer from Derby. She has written commissions for BBC Radio 4, The V&A and The People’s History Museum. She co-hosts the night Word Wise which won best spoken word night at the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Her latest collection ‘The Man Who Ate 50,000 Weetabix‘ came out in April via Verve Poetry Press. 

J. Daniel West

J. Daniel West lives in Manchester and writes poems to process his jumbled thoughts into manageable chunks and work his way through life, loss, love and mental health. After spending more time writing fiction, his poetry journey only really started in 2020 as part of therapy, and as a result is eager to explore the scene without a computer screen in the way.

Carla Mellor

Carla Mellor is an up and coming spoken word poet. Her poem ‘a kingdom united’ featured on BBC breakfast and she was guest poet for Louise Fazackerley at her recent book launch. Born and bred in Yorkshire she currently lives in Wigan, Lancashire and begun posting Instagram poems in 2018 as @poetryforthepeople, writing accessible, down to earth, relatable words for the everyday person.

Lee Campbell

Lee Campbell makes experimental films and performance poetry about being gay and working class using barbaric wit and humour. He trained in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London in 2005 and received his doctorate in 2016. He recently performed his poetry for events hosted by Write Out Loud Poetry, London Queer Writers and PoetryLGBT and in January 2021, he curated a set of queer poetry evenings for BBC Radio. Recent and forthcoming publications of his poetry and artwork include ‘You Are Here – The Journal of Creative Geography’, ‘Otherwise’ magazine. ‘Queerlings – A Literary Magazine for Queer Writing’ and the online magazine ‘Homosurrealism’.

Aoife Mannix

Aoife Mannix has published four collections of poetry, four libretti and a novel. She has been poet in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live amongst others.

Rick Dove

Rick Dove is a London-based poet whose work draws narratives from wide influences, always taking a keen interest in both societal and personal change, and how these cardinal forces interact as we grow. Rick has featured at Speak=, Incite (with Forum+), Lit Licks (at Fringe! 2020), and his debut collection ‘Tales From the Other Box‘ was published by Burning Eye in 2020.

Alba Frederick

Alba Frederick is a mixed-heritage poet and podcaster from London. She formed part of the Invisible Presence collective for British/LatinX writers in 2018. Her work has been featured in the anthology ‘Invisible Presence: A New Voice’ and aired on The Mind Over Matter show. She has performed in venues across London including The Roundhouse and The Albany.