It starts with a growl – sometimes soft, sometimes loud – and a feeling of coming together to share in the experiences of womxnhood in its various forms. She Grrrowls is a place to feel empowered and energised, whether in the pages of the book, or as the words come alive on stage.
The She Grrrowls anthology, edited by founder Carmina Masoliver, was published by Burning Eye Books in 2017, which tours in 2018 thanks to funding from Arts Council England. Now, She Grrrowls is back with an audiobook version and a fresh new tour with the aim of connecting to local artists in each region.
She Grrrowls gives voice to the experience of different womxn across England, collaborating with existing events across eight different dates and locations. Each night will feature a mixture of poets from the She Grrrowls alumni and a selection of new voices. Come growl with us!
WEDNESDAY 8TH JANUARY – STIRCHLEY SPEAKS – BIRMINGHAM
Rupinder Kaur & Jae Tallawah
Artefact, 1464 Pershore Road, Birmingham B30 2NT
https://www.facebook.com/events/2236026680023962/
THURSDAY 6TH FEBRUARY – VERSE MATTERS – SHEFFIELD
Sophie Shepherd & Rebecca Tamás
Sidney&Matilda’s, 46B Sidney Street, Sheffield, S1 4RH
https://www.facebook.com/events/1131794957181972/
TUESDAY 11TH FEBRUARY – WORD MAKERS – BOURNEMOUTH
Joelle Taylor & Nkech Nwokolo
Chaplin’s & The Cellar Bar, 529 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth BH1 4AG
Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/2513704658956325/
THURSDAY 13TH FEBRUARY – SYNTAX – PETERBOROUGH
Panya Banjoko & Clare Currie
The Undercroft, Serpentine Green, Hampton, PE7 8BE
Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/1072181279808103/
SUNDAY 16TH FEBRUARY – SHE SPEAKS UK –DERBY
Jasmine Gardosi & Leanne Moden
The Lord Nelson, 1 Curzon St, Derby DE1 1LH
Event: https://facebook.com/events/s/she-speaksshe-grrrowls-ft-jasm/605228210275540/?ti=icl (tickets OTD)
THURSDAY 20TH FEBRUARY – DEAR LISTENER – WORCESTER
Romalyn Ante & Nafeesa Hamid
Boston Tea Party, 18 Broad St, Worcester WR1 3NF
Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/520212201918041/
FRIDAY 28TH FEBRUARY – SAY OWT – YORK
Kaozara Oyalowo & Kate Fox
Platform @ Spark, 17-21 Piccadilly, York YO1 9PB
Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/2902944133083131/
THURSDAY 5TH MARCH – WORD! – LEICESTER
Jess Green & Shruti Chauhan
Bean Gaming, 22 Silver Street, Leicester LE1 5ET
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ABOUT THE POETS
WEDNESDAY 8TH JANUARY – STIRCHLEY SPEAKS – BIRMINGHAM
Rupinder Kaur & Jae Tallawah
Artefact, 1464 Pershore Road, Birmingham B30 2NT
RUPINDER KAUR
Rupinder Kaur is a Birmingham Panjabi poet, performer and creative curator. Her debut poetry book Rooh (2018) was published with Verve Poetry Press. She has also been featured in SPAKE Dialect and Voices from the West Midlands (2019) edited by Urszula Clark and Jonathan Davidson published by Ninearches press. Rupinder’s work explores language, culture, identity, history – often exploring gender narratives. Many of her poems are bilingual with Panjabi alongside English. She has featured at nights and festivals across the UK. Rupinder also works as workshop facilitator within the community and schools to create awareness about poetry. Rupinder also takes a great interest in theatre performance and playwrighting. She is also working on a new project Sada Chidiyan da chamba (our temporary nest of birds) – Exploring Panjabi Wedding folk songs through a female narrative supported by Creative Black Country and co-produced by Slanguages, with Creative Multingualism at Oxford University with the aims of an exhibition in summer 2020.
T/F: @RupinderKW
JAE TALLAWAH
Jae Tallawah is a ferociously brummy, non-binary, neurodiverse music maker, poet, visual artist and space curator. Her work focuses on the ways that fusing colours and sounds can facilitate holistic 360 experiences. Jae is driven by a desire to curate spaces and experiences that make people feel seen, encouraged and heal. Jae describes their music style as the anxious love child of Erykah Badu, Lady Leshurr & Azealia Banks. Jae makes affirmation anthems & depression bops. They are inspired by the textures & harmonies of gospel music and the rhythm, form and flow of dub poetry.
songwhip.com/song/jae-tallawah/ashe
@unapologeticblackgirl
STIRCHLEY SPEAKS
Stirchley Speaks is a monthly spoken word event that began in June, 2015. A small and laid back event, Stirchley Speaks is open to all forms of poetry as well as music. There is always an open mic sign up at the start of the event, as well as a set of featured artists. Originally hosted and produced by Jess May Davies, it is now hosted by poet and workshop facilitator Callum Bate. Second Wednesday of the month, 7pm doors open and event takes place between 7:30-9:45pm. Entry is £3 but open mic performers get free entry (though these spaces are limited, so be sure to sign up on the door).
JESS MAY DAVIES
Jess May Davies is an artist from Redditch, and now a part of Birmingham’s poetry community. Jess is the founder of Stirchley Speaks – a monthly spoken word night in Stirchley, a writer and a workshop facilitator. As a self confessed introvert, Jess uses poetry to explore their own identity in relation to mental health, environment and their sexuality.
CALLUM BATE
Callum Bate is a spoken word artist from south Birmingham. He has been writing and performing since the age of 17, and in that time has worked on productions such as Level UP, Ten Letters, PoArtry and he currently co hosts and produces Stirchley Speaks at Artefact, which he claims is the best job in the world. He has an extreme fondness for crisps, dogs and strong coffee. His work ranges from politcal commentary to personal reflections, and anything else in between.
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THURSDAY 6TH FEBRUARY – VERSE MATTERS – SHEFFIELD
Sophie Shepherd & Rebecca Tamás
Sidney&Matilda’s, 46B Sidney Street, Sheffield, S1 4RH
SOPHIE SHEPHERD
Sophie Shepherd is a poet and performer who recently graduated with an MA in Poetic Practice at Royal Holloway. In September, she created her first pamphlet of work called, ‘People, places, things’ with a kind man in Rymans who stapled every page together after the staple machine stopped working. She recently competed in the Roundhouse Slam heats in the summer of 2019, and her work can be seen as part of the Crested Tit Collective Zineseries which is available in The National Poetry Library and Senate House, London.
T: @sophherdpoetry
I: @sophherdpoems
REBECCA TAMÁS
Rebecca Tamás works as a Lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University; and her poetry and criticism has been published in ‘The White Review,’ The London Review of Books, and ‘Granta’, amongst others. She is the editor, with Sarah Shin, of ‘Spells: Occult Poetry for the 21st Century’, published by Ignota Books. Her first full length collection of poetry, ‘WITCH’, came out from Penned in the Margins in March 2019. It is a Poetry Book Society Spring Recommendation, a Guardian ‘Poetry Choice,’ and a Paris Review Staff Pick.
@RebTamas
VERSE MATTERS
Verse Matters is an intersectional feminist arts collective based in Sheffield, founded by Rachel Bower. Verse Matters runs events at The Moor Theatre Deli in Sheffield and provides a supportive space for poetry, spoken word, storytelling, music and comedy, showcasing the work of talented people in a friendly, safe environment. Each event has a mix of experienced and new performers. Verse Matters was set up to attest to the structural inequalities in society and the arts. To remember that ‘women’s rights’ are diminished without racial equality and economic justice. To bring people together in solidarity. To create a forum for debate, challenge and pleasure.
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TUESDAY 11TH FEBRUARY – WORD MAKERS – BOURNEMOUTH
Joelle Taylor & Nkech Nwokolo
Chaplin’s & The Cellar Bar, 529 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth BH1 4AG
JOELLE TAYLOR
Joelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, playwright, author and editor who has recently completed touring Europe, Australia, Brazil and South East Asia 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 debut book of short stories The Night Alphabet.She has featured on radio and television, and founded SLAMbassadors in 2001 – the UK’s national youth slam championships remaining its Artistic Director until 2018. Her work is taught as part of the English GCSE syllabus, and she has received a Change Maker Award and a Fellowship of the RSA, as well as being longlisted for the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships. She is the host and co-curator of Out-Spoken, the UK’s Centre’s premier poetry and music club, currently resident at the Southbank Centre Purcell Room.
T: @JTaylorTrash
NKECH NWOKOLO
Nkech Nwokolo (also known as Kech Wo) is a hybrid; artist, film maker, writer, and performer. Across all mediums, she touches upon gender and identity, growing up as a child of the African diaspora, and the experiences that make us all human. She is in love with the concept of being “unfinished -“, because it promises there is more to come. Wo has performed at numerous events, including Cornbury Music Festival, Landed Festival, Wilkswood Roots and Reggae Festival, and for Bournemouth’s Emerging Arts Fringe. As a blogger and keen globetrotter, she is currently residing in Berlin, Germany, soaking up inspiration, painting, and writing her first poetry book.
@nkw_space
WORD MAKERS
Word Makers is a collection of wandering wordsmiths, vagabond verbalisers and rhyming rebels. Working as workshop facilitators, bards, fools and muses, they aim to break the silence with something at least equally profound. Hosted by Myriam San Marco, previously poet laureate for Bournemouth, her collection is Sakura, from Burning Eye Books.
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THURSDAY 13TH FEBRUARY – SYNTAX – PETERBOROUGH
Panya Banjoko & Clare Currie
The Undercroft, 529 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth BH1 4AG
PANYA BANJOKO
Panya Banjoko is a UK based writer, poet and PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University. Her debut collection, Some Things, was published by Burning Eye Books (2018). Her work is published in numerous anthologies, and her poem, They and Them, featured in Mic Drop, an exhibition by artist Keith Piper at Beaconsfield Gallery, London. She has been artist in residence at the International School, Stuttgart, Jaipur Literature Festival and for the National Trust’s 100 verses at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire. Panya is a multi-award winning poet, co-ordinates a Black Writers Network and is patron for Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature.
T: @PanyaThePoet
I: panyathepoet
F: @PanyaPoet
CLARE CURRIE
Clare was Peterborough Poet Laureate 2017-’19 and is associate artist of Jumped-Up-Theatre Her work ranges from writing for and performing at events to facilitating workshops and writing for the stage. She has written pieces for Eastern Angles and Jumped-Up-Theatre, in collaboration with Battersea Arts. Clare was awarded Arts Council funding to develop her creative practice, working on her solo theatre piece ‘Cold Snaps’, which centres around being a sports woman and a mother – recently performing it at Cambridge Junction. Her writing has been described as image-packed and lyrical and often centres on the visceral nature of being embodied as a female.
T: @ClareHCurrie
F: @clarecurriepoetry
SYNTAX
Syntax is Peterborough’s festival of poetry and spoken word, made up of the city’s poets and partners. They aim to celebrate and build on Peterborough’s community of writers and performers to create something special and locally grown by Peterborough poets. Hosted by Charley Genever, a former Peterborough Poet Laureate, vice chair of the Syntax Poetry Festival committee, manager of the Peterborough Poet Laureate and Young Poet Laureate programmes, she also produces her own quarterly spoken word night ‘Freak Speak’. Her debut collection, ‘Unsexed’ was published in 2017 by BX3. She has also been published in multiple anthologies including ‘The Great British Write Off’ (Bonacia), Poetry Rivals 2015 (Poetry Rivals), ‘Madder Than We Look’ (Write Minds), and ‘W O M A N’ Mud Press.
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SUNDAY 16TH FEBRUARY – SHE SPEAKS UK –DERBY
Jasmine Gardosi & Leanne Moden
The Lord Nelson, 1 Curzon St, Derby DE1 1LH
JASMINE GARDOSI
Jasmine Gardosi is a multiple slam champion and Birmingham Poet Laureate finalist. A previous BBC Arts Young Creative and Poet in Residence for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, she has appeared across BBC radio, at Glastonbury Festival, the Tate Modern and on Button Poetry. A Ledbury Poetry Festival Trustee, she leads West Midlands Poets’ Place, the Hippodrome Young Poets and other school and community workshops. Her debut pamphlet Hurtz was released in May by the award-winning Verve Poetry Press.
https://www.jasminegardosi.com/
T/I: @jasminegardosi
F: @jasminegardosipoet
LEANNE MODEN
Leanne Moden is a poet from Norfolk, now living the East Midlands. She’s shared her poems at events across the UK and around Europe, including recent sets in Estonia and Spain. She has been a national finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam, the Hammer and TongueSlam, the Poetry Rivals Slam, and the Camden Roundhouse Slam, and has also performed at WOMAD, Bestival, the Fourth Wave Feminist Festival, Cambridge Festival of Ideas, and TED UCL WOMEN. Leanne is currently working on Skip Skip Skip, her first full-length spoken word show, which she took to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019, as well as a pamphlet of poetry with Burning Eye Books (due for publication in May 2020).
T/F:@LeanneModenPoet
I: @leanneymu
SHESPEAKS UK
Monthly performance space promoting female/non-binary/femme identifying artists, hosted by Aoife O’Connor, Emerciana Desouza & Josephine Lewis. She Speaks is a female-led performance night, but not female exclusive. They aim to promote women in the arts whilst being trans inclusive and non-binary inclusive. They have an Open Mic for all genders and we have an open audience. They prioritise these specific genders or groups because we feel like they’re typically oppressed or under-represented. The night is for everybody and has opportunities for everyone. It’s about the Artist’s voice and they are completely for the arts.
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THURSDAY 20TH FERBRUARY – DEAR LISTENER – WORCESTER
Romalyn Ante & Nafeesa Hamid
Boston Tea Party, 18 Broad St, Worcester WR1 3NF
ROMALYN ANTE
Romalyn Ante was born during her hometown’s fiesta of San Sebastian. She grew up and lived in the Philippines until she migrated to the UK when she was 16 years old. She is a Wolverhampton-based poet and co-founding editor of harana poetry. Her debut collection, Antiemetic for Homesickness, will come out with Chatto & Windus in 2020. Romalyn is a Hosking Houses Trust and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Fest 2019 specially-commissioned Poet-in-Residence. She is the winner of Poetry London Prize 2018 and joint-winner of the Manchester Poetry Prize 2017. She was also in the list of ‘9 Poets to Know this World Poetry Day’ in Vogue and one of ‘10 Poets Bound to Shift UK Page Poetry’ in fourhubs magazine.
T: @RomalynAnte
NAFEESA HAMID
Nafeesa Hamid is a writer and creative producer. Nafeesa has performed nationally and internationally and was a BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam finalist (2018). She is published in The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write, a (2017, Saqi Books) anthology edited by Sabrina Mahfouz. Her debut collection ‘Besharam’ (2018, Verve Poetry Press) was highly commended for the Forward Prize 2020 and is published in the Forward Book of Poetry 2020.
T/F: @NafeesaHamid
DEAR LISTENER
Dear Listener is Worcester’s newest spoken word event, taking place each month at Boston Tea Party, Worcester. Hosted by Charley Barnes, a Worcester-based author, poet and academic. She is the current Worcestershire Poet Laureate and in this role she does her utmost to represent poetry and literature around the county. Charley also lectures at the University of Worcester and Newman University; she writes crime fiction under the moniker C.S. Barnes; and she has been running and hosting Dear Listener, Worcester, for two years.
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FRIDAY 28TH FEBRUARY – SAY OWT – YORK
Kaozara Oyalowo & Kate Fox
Platform @ Spark, 17-21 Piccadilly, YO1 9PB York
KAOZARA OYALOWO
Kaozara is a writer and poet from Leicester. She is a Roundhouse Poetry Slam finalist and has competed for the Leeds University slam team, and also coached/mentored and co-facilitated workshops for team Leeds, taking them to the final of the National University Slam. She is also a CUPSI award recipient and a member of BBC New Creatives. Kaozara explores themes such as femininity, race, religion, diaspora and immigration in her work.
I: @disaporamagic
KATE FOX
Kate Fox works mainly as a stand-up poet and as a broadcaster and speaker. Her current show “Where There’s Muck There’s Bras” is about notable Northern women. She is a familiar radio voice, having presented Pick of the Week on Radio 4 and been a regular contributor to Radio 3’s The Verb, among many other broadcasts. She has been Poet in Residence for the Great North Run, Glastonbury Festival and Radio 4’s Saturday Live. She has also performed her poetry on BBC1 and BBC2. She has supported acts including Linton Kwesi Johnson, Hollie McNish, John Cooper Clarke and John Hegley and is a headline act in her own right. She’s also a gentle activist and campaigner for the voices of Northerners, the working class, women and the neurodiverse to be heard; mainly by teaching and running workshops in schools and community groups -and by speaking, writing, raising awareness and tutting at injustice and inequality.
https://katefoxwriter.wordpress.com/
T/F: @katefoxwriter
SAY OWT
Say Owt is York’s most raucous poetry night celebrating the finest of gobby word-weavers. Associate Artist Hannah Davies will be co-hosting this special collaboration with She Grrrowls. Hannah is a slam-winning poet, play-wright and musician.
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THURSDAY 5TH MARCH – WORD! – LEICESTER
Jess Green & Shruti Chauhan
Bean Gaming, 22 Silver Street, Leicester LE1 5ET
JESS GREEN
BBC Slam Champion, Jess Green is a performance poet and playwright. Her first collection, Burning Books (2015, Burning Eye Books) was shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award and as a live show received 5* reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and on its national tour. The theatre adaptation of Burning Books was longlisted for the Bread & Roses Theatre Award and toured nationally including to NUT National Conference. Her second show, A Self Help Guide To Being In Love With Jeremy Corbyn based around her second collection of the same name (2018, Burning Eye Books) received critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe and an endorsement from Corbyn himself who described it as ‘fantastic’. A Self Help Guide tours nationally throughout 2019. Jess was recently longlisted for the BBC Drama Award 2019 and her second play, Three Chairs was shortlisted down to the final three for New Perspective’s Open Pitch Award. Jess also runs Leicester poetry night, Find The Right Words which was shortlisted for Best Regular UK Poetry Event in the Saboteur Awards 2018.
https://www.jessgreenpoet.com/
F/I: @jessgreenpoet
SHRUTI CHAUHAN
Shruti Chauhan is a British Indian poet, performer and BBC radio presenter from Leicester. She has performed both nationally and internationally, and in 2015, she toured Three the Hard Way – Part 2 with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze MBE and Lydia Towsey. Shruti was voted Best Spoken Word Performer at the 2018 Saboteur Awards and won the National Poetry Library’s Instapoetry competition the same year. Shruti wrote the song lyrics for the BBC Four documentary, My Asian Family – The Musical (2018), directed by BAFTA award-winning Brian Hill as part of the BBC’s Big British Asian Summer season. Her pamphlet, That Which Can Be Heard, is published with Burning Eye Books.
https://www.shrutichauhan.com/
T/F/I: @shrutinotes
WORD!
WORD! Is a Leicester-based poetry and spoken word organisation, delivering one of the longest running poetry and spoken word nights in the UK, alongside a broader regionally active programme of activity, including: an annual slam, poetry festival, a Beeston based regular night, ongoing programmes of workshops and a publishing imprint, ‘Word Poetry’.