One to Watch | EVENT: Poetry Gazebo

Endorsed by ONiT!

Poetry Gazebo - a FREE Spoken Word festival!

Come and here some stunning performers FREE at this beautiful community garden in the heart of London.

Date: Sunday, 13 June 2010

Time: 13:00 - 19:00

Venue: Culpeper Community Garden, 1 Cloudesley Road Islington London N1 0EG

Featuring:

Raymond Antrobus

Dean Atta

Dzifa Benson

Denrele

Cath Drake

Aisling Fahey

Abe Gibson

Miriam Halahmy

Sabrina Mahfouz

Karen McCarthy

Katrina Naomi

Courttia Newland

Esther Poyer

Baden Prince

Jacqueline Saphra

Heather Taylor

and Culpeper's Writer in Residence, Naomi Woddis

Raymond Antrobus is a photographer, performance poet and writer born and bred in East London.

Dean Atta Award-winning Poet, Presenter, Producer & Director, much of his success is down to the amazing company he keeps, Dean is Associate Artist at The Broadway Theatre in Barking, Creative Director of Silence Is Not Golden, a member of Point Blank Poets, Roundhouse Poetry Collective and Plain Janes Arts Collective. http://www.deanatta.co.uk/ deanatta@hotmail.com

Dzifa Benson is a well-established performer on the London poetry, literature and cabaret circuits. She has performed at Tate Britain, ICA and Glastonbury Festival among a host of other venues and been published in the Guardian, Evening Standard and Philosophy Now. Her work embraces cross-artforms and she was recently artist-in-residence at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Denrele writes preposterous stories and a good few poems. Sometimes she performs them, sometimes she sings. She blogs at http://braincandy.tumblr.com/ and awaits the next big adventure.

Cath Drake has been published in Australia, UK and America, writing everything from poetry, stories, radio scripts, nature trails, newspaper and magazines articles and columns, books and oral histories. She runs writing workshops specialising in poetry and life story

Aisling Fahey is fast becoming known for standout, passionate performances and finely crafted verse. She won the Teenage Poetry Senior Slam in May 2009 and was also a recent winner of the Slambassadors competition which was run by the Poetry Society and BBC Blast.

Abe Gibson is a London-born poet, storyteller and fulltime caretaker with Hackney Council. He is the winner of The Voice Poet of the Year Award and performed at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 2002. He has been writer in residence at Feltham Young Offenders Institution. Abe was a member of the Brothaman Poetry Collective and his poetry collection Violently Tender has recently been republished.

Miriam Halahmy is an author, poet and freelance journalist. She has published a novel, two poetry collections and short fiction for children and adults. Her cycle of three teen novels will be published by Meadowside Books, first title, HIDDEN, March 2011.

Sabrina Mahfouz was awarded the Westminster Prize for her first short play, That Boy, which was performed at Soho Theatre. She is currently on commission to Contact Theatre, Manchester and working on an exciting project called REMIX, to be showcased at BAC in May. Her appearances include BBC Radio 1; 1xtra; Apples & Snakes and Book Club Boutique.

Karen McCarthy was born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father. Her poetry pamphlet The Worshipful Company of Pomegranate Slicers was selected as a New Statesman Book of the Year. She is also an editor.

Katrina Naomi is the Bronte Parsonage Museum’s first writer-in-residence; a short collection, ‘Charlotte Bronte’s Corset’ will be published in 2010 by the Bronte Society. Her first full collection, ‘The Girl with the Cactus Handshake’ received an Arts Council England writer’s award, was published in November 2009 (Templar Poetry). www.katrinanaomi.co.uk

Courttia Newland published his first novel, The Scholar, in 1997. Further critically acclaimed work followed, including Society Within (1999) and Snakeskin (2002). He is the co-editor of the anthology IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain (2000), his latest books include The Dying Wish (2006), and a collection of macabre short stories, Music for the Off-Key (2006). His latest anthology, which he co-edited with Monique Roffey, is Tell Tales 4: The Global Village (2009)

Esther Poyer has performed at The Albany Theatre, Millfields Theatre, The Gallery at Foyles and the London Barbican. Published work in (selected publications) include: The World According to Goldfish: Vol I Looking Past and Vol II Sight (2009); Blank Pages, Issue 4 (August 2008); A Bedtime Poem for Every Day of the Year, Annabel Cook, Ed (2006); and Within My World, Heather Killingray, Ed (2005) She is currently an MA Creative Writing student at Birkbeck University.

Baden Prince, writer, poet and performer; “Speakeasy” promoter and host. Baden’s chapbook, “Shadow Dancer,” is available from the tall-lighthouse press.

Deanna Rodger has performed all over London, including RADA Theatre, BAC and Lyric Theatre, Soho Theatre, Roundhouse and various artists launch parties. She has been writing for just under three years and has achieved the title of Farrago UK Poetry Slam Champion, toured Germany and competed in Paris coming 5th in the world championships (despite being drunk..) She was a finalist in the BBC Radio 4 Poetry slam and has featured on the nokia N96

Jacqueline Saphra’s pamphlet, ‘Rock’n’Roll Mamma’ was published by Flarestack. She won first prize in the Ledbury Poetry Competition and recently received Arts Council funding for first full collection, ‘The Kitchen of Lovely Contraptions’, which will be published by flipped eye later this year

Heather Taylor is a Canadian writer, performer and filmmaker. She tries as hard as possible to be on the go at any given moment but often stops for good coffee & vegan cake. www.heathertaylor.co.uk

and Culpeper's Writer in Residence, Naomi Woddis whose pamphlet “Life is Music” was published in 2007. Amongst other venues she has performed at the London Literature Festival - Southbank Centre, Courtauld Institute of Art, O2 Wireless Festival and Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Music from Thabani

British Zimbabwean singer songwriter Thabani Nyoni second album "Child of Independence" will be out soon. Debut album "Mind is a rebel" available on itunes, amazon...etc. Record Collector said that THABANI produce a classic 'Soulful Wall Of Sound', with TIME OUT magazine saying 'Thabani Nyoni brings the energy of a young 'James Brown' the voice of 'Marvin Gaye' and the songwriting influences of Curtis Mayfield and Fela Kuti'. http://www.thabani.com/

Words:

Writer in Residence at Culpeper Community Garden http://culpepercommunitygardenwriter.wordpress.com/

Poetry Mosaic, an online Poetry invention - http://poetrymosaic.wordpress.com

Moments of Chaos and Nostalgia - Photography by Dan Wesker and Poetry by Naomi Woddis http://momentsofchaosandnostalgia.wordpress.com/

Photography:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naomiwoddis/show/

Contact:

Naomi.Woddis@btinternet.com

07852 553 534