Following last month’s controversial GCSE poetry row, Matt Abbott looks at the state of poetry in British schools, and how a well-needed change could be on the horizon. Click here to have a read.
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Matt’s TSOTA column: Poetry on vinyl
onThis month’s ‘LIVEwire’ column follows on from a discussion in Roaring 20s Radio episode two, and looks at the joy of listening to poetry on vinyl – which as you know features two massive Nymphs & Thugs releases. You can read it here.
Matt’s TSOTA column: Self-care in the roaring ’20s
onOn the back of a General Election disaster immediately followed by the festive period, his month’s ‘LIVEwire’ column looks at poetry’s power when it comes to self-care and mental well-being. You can read it here.
Matt’s TSOTA column: The political poets to take us through these dark days
onThis month’s spoken word poetry column for The State of the Arts looks at the political poets to take us through these dark days, and the importance of political poetry in general.
Matt looks at the work of Jess Green and Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, as well as sharing videos from our very own Kevin P. Gilday and Luke Wright. You can read it here.
Matt’s TSOTA column: Don’t Touch Me, I’m a Real LIVEwire
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New month, new column. Following last week’s announcement of our biggest series of ‘LIVEwire’ events to date, I’ve written in The State of The Arts to give an insight into why I’m so passionate about these events, and the sort of thing that you can expect from them.
The column is here – so please have a read and then share! Ta very much.
Matt Abbott’s brand new monthly The State of the Arts column
onYou may remember that a fair while back, I wrote a monthly spoken word round-up for The State of the Arts. Unfortunately the round-up simply became too time-consuming as projects developed behind the scenes, but my new monthly poetry column serves up a completely different flavour.

On the 1st of every month, the column will provide features, interviews, spotlights and more from the spoken word poetry scene, at home and abroad. One of the aims of Nymphs & Thugs has always been to showcase dynamic and alternative poets, regardless of where they are or how well we might know them directly.
The first column is online here. Ahead of our next big announcement, I’m using this column to provide a bit of a ‘story so far’ for Nymphs & Thugs as a spoken word poetry organisation, and to underline who we are and where we want to be in the future. It’s just over 4 years since the idea was first conceived, and it’s been a bloody good journey so far.
Anyway, I won’t keep you – have a read of the column, and stay tuned for a major announcement from Nymphs & Thugs HQ in a fortnight’s time. See ya then…