Pics from the recent Hyperlexic showCurrent Projects;
I'm a poet, writer and performer based in the North East of England.Sometimes I'm funny, sometimes I'm not. I find humour interesting. In fact, it's a serious interest. I'm not as humorously interested in seriousness except when I'm being ironic. I like the sea.
Current Projects;
1."We are not Stone" Recently published pamphlet from Ek Zuban Press. This is a collaboration with Finnish poet Jenni Haukio and includes ten each of our poems.2."Hyperlexic"First gig under this project banner took place at Northern Stage in Newcastle on April 17th and was a night of stand up poetry. It sold out! Future Hyperlexic projects will involve me looking at ways that words cross boundaries. eg; poetry and comedy or poetry and theatre or stand up and knitting or something. Next show at Northern Stage; November 9th. Shows at the Arc in Stockton; November 8th and 22nd.4. "Killers", a collection of poems about serial killers, stand up comedians and dysfunctional families. I've been awarded Arts Council funding and the Andrew Waterhouse award from New Writing North to help me work on it. Sometimes this is a spur, sometimes a pressure.
5. The Hells Belles Women's Comedy Cabaret. Me and the comedian Claire Morgan are running a bi-monthly cabaret night and monthly workshops in Newcastle. There's alot fewer women in comedy than there could be I think. Don't agree with ghettoes, do agree with a bit of positive encouragement. Blokes are welcome in the audience.
6. "How I lost Margaret Thatcher and found Leonard Cohen". It's a play/documentary/comedy about the year I left home at 16 was commissioned by the Hydrogen Jukebox spoken word cabaret in Darlington. It mixes stand up, music and documentary reconstruction to tell a story of dysfunctional families and bad first boyfriends. It involves a gun runner, some swingers and the Conservative party conference of 1991. It was first performed at Darlington Arts Centre in April 2006 and I think I'd like to take it to Edinburgh in 2007. Sometimes I described my life story as a big poo that was blocking my writerly bowels. Now a laxative has been adminstered and it's all much better, hurrah.
7. Big Voice Training Me and my friend Julia who works at Tyne Tees telly run media and presentation training workshops. In an uncorporate manner. Check us out at www.bigvoicetraining.comI also run performance and writing workshops and projects and do occasional freelance radio journalism. Radio was my day job for most of my twenties. I read and wrote bulletins for commercial stations. This involved juxtaposing two line summaries of the war in Iraq and Brad and Angelina's love life. Mostly I enjoyed it. For two years I co directed New Word Order, spoken word project in Newcastle which ran monthly gigs and workshops. We got good audiences, Arts Council funding and knackered towards the end. I've also run spoken word workshops for; the Orange Young Writers Festival, Northumbria University, Frankland Prison, Styal Prison, Gateshead Libraries and many more.
About the songs; Small Girlfriends is one of my comic poems that people remember and comment on most. Whether they be a small girlfriend, or a fan of the breed. It has been turned into a song by Simma who can be found in my friends links and at www.simma.co.uk. The song at the end of "Heirloom", one of my most commented on non-comic poems is his "Blue Eyed Baby" and can be found on the album that accompanies my book "Why I" (published by Zebra Publishing and orderable via www.northernpublishers.co.uk) or Simma's album "Trouble Sleeping", available through his site.
Recently I've been booked to gig at;
Hammer and Tongue in Brighton and Oxford, The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh,Cheltenham Literature Festival, Express Excess in London, Shortfuse in London supporting John Hegley and Martin White, the Poetry Shack, the Poetry Cellar, Spitalfields Literary Festival for Apples and Snakes, Seconds Out for Apples and Snakes in Manchester, the Open Stanza in Amsterdam, the Writers Cafe in Stockton and many more. I've also recently reached the final of the UK National Slam Championships at Theatre Royal, Stratford East and the City of Culture Slam in Belfast. I have won two of Shortfuse's Poetry Idol competitions and the Cheltenham Science Festival Slam 2007. I was runner up in the final of Radio 4's Poetry Slam 2007, missing out on the championship by 0.1 point. Bookings are good. Feel free to give them to me. Chocolate is good too. And Dr Who.
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