spoken word record label & events
Our second regional ‘LIVEwire’ event saw us team up with Raise The Bar to put on a storming night at Arnolfini. Sets from Salena Godden, Jess Green and Kevin P. Gilday made a truly amazing night, as captured by Alex Sheppard in these photos.
We’ve also got this brilliant highlights video, courtesy of Raise The Bar! The video is available to view on our YouTube channel (embedded below) as well as our Facebook page, IGTV channel and Twitter account, so please give it a share. Ta.
The first of our ‘LIVEwire’ Leeds residency nights took place at Hyde Park Book Club on 2 October, with Salena Godden and Nafeesa Hamid going down a storm in West Yorkshire. The start of the event was delayed as we had to bring about 20 extra chairs down to accommodate everybody, and Matt Abbott was on hosting duties, including open mic.
As well as the video highlights from Idle Work Factory, they’ve also taken some ace photos (below). Huge thanks to our open mic performers: Lence, Sally Anne Earl, Claire Crossdale, Tahira Alia Rehman, Joe Williams, Natalie Davies and Camille McCawley.
Our next ‘LIVEwire’ Leeds event stars Joelle Taylor and Ollie O’Neill on Wednesday 4 December, and tickets are on sale here.
After a raucous launch event starring Salena Godden and Nafeesa Hamid, we return to Hyde Park Book Club on 4 December with internationally-renowned icon Joelle Taylor, plus fellow Out-Spoken Press poet Ollie O’Neill. Tickets are on sale here.
Joelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, playwright, author and editor who has recently completed a world tour with her latest collection ‘Songs My Enemy Taught Me’. She is widely anthologised, the author of 3 full poetry collections and 3 plays and is currently completing her début book of short stories ‘The Night Alphabet’.
Joelle will be the editor of Out-Spoken Press from September 2020 – September 2021, commissioning five new titles with a focus on women’s writing.
Ollie O’Neill is a London based poet and writer. She is a former UK Youth Slam Champion, and current Barbican Young Poet. In March 2019, her debut pamphlet ‘Ways of Coping’ was published by Out-Spoken Press. Her work explores themes of female sexuality, desire, and psychiatry.
She has previously read in venues such as The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Soho Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, and The 100 Club, as well as at Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Verve Poetry Festival, and Wilderness Festival.
As usual, there are 6 open mic slots up for grabs – each of which is 5 minutes in length, and can be reserved on a first come, first served basis by emailing Matt at eyup@mattabbottpoet.com. Please feel free to share the Facebook event here!
The 11th instalment of ‘Chelping’ at The Leeds Library and the final event of 2019 takes place on Wednesday 20 November, with guest slots from Molly Naylor and Joe Williams.
Our September event had a fantastic review in Leeds Living, with guest slots from Hannah Lowe and John Darwin, plus the open mic acts. Click here to book tickets for November’s event.
Continue reading “Chelping #11 | Molly Naylor & Joe Williams on 20 Nov”The second of our regional events takes place in Bristol on Wednesday 13 November. We’re teaming up with Raise The Bar to bring Salena Godden, Jess Green and Kevin P. Gilday to Arnolfini.
Our first regional event saw a packed crowd enjoy sets from Luke Wright, Louise Fazackerley and Kirsty Taylor at The Edge in Manchester, and we can’t wait for another really special event in Bristol.
