WORD! Online - Episode II

  • This PAST event happened on: Thu, May 28, 2020

  • Venue:Premiering on Facebook
  • Time:7:30pm
  • Cost:FREE
  • Web Address:https://www.facebook.com/groups/3112820382/
  • Join us for this second (ever!) WORD! Online Special.

    Hosted and curated by Lydia Towsey.  Featuring the lush visuals of Andrew Lee.  With a host of poetic voices and an all star cast of - ROGER ROBINSON, JOHN HEGLEY AND JEAN BINTA BREEZE...

    DR JEAN BINTA BREEZE MBE

    is the patron of WORD! and a champion of the NHS. She is the award winning author of eight books of poems and stories. She has performed her work all over the world and been called "one of the most important, influential performance poets of recent years”.

    Living in Leicester for over a decade, she has contributed considerably to the cultural life of the city and region. In addition to her patronage of WORD!, Jean is the patron of Showcase Smoothie (an award winning NHS project designed to supportyoung black men experiencing mental health problems) and Soft Touch Arts.

    The first female dub-poet in the world, she has been the recipient of a NESTA Fellowship, and is an honorary Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Leicester’s School of English.

    She has just written a series called Love Poems to the NHS which will be included in her next book. 

    JOHN HEGLEY
    has been referred to as ‘Comedy’s Poet Laureate’ (The Independent), ’Scandlously talented’ (Sunday Times) and ‘An incurable entertainer’ (Guardian).

    A regular sell-out at The Edinburgh Festival, he has performed on TV, radio and internationally - at the Montreal Comedy Festival, the USA Comedy Festival in Aspen, with Ulrika Jonsson & Anita Dobson in The Pyjama Game and on BBC R4's Hearing With Hegley - as well as across the UK at countless festivals, venues and events. 

    He is widely known as one of the country's most innovative comic poets, and has authored ten books of verse, two CDs and one mug.

    ROGER ROBINSON 

    is a writer who has performed worldwide.  He is the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2019 and the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2020, currently shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2020 and was shortlisted for The OCM Bocas Poetry Prize , The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, highly commended by the Forward Poetry Prize.

    His latest collection ‘A Portable Paradise’ was a Newstatesman book of the year.  He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon.  He is an alumnus of The Complete Works and he has toured extensively with the British Council.

    ‘His poems are deep, mature, moving and inventive.’
                     - Bernadine Evaristo for New Statesman

    “One of the most important poetic voices in the UK right now”
                - Raymond Antrobus


    To get involved with the series this event links to - follow Every Brilliantly Worded Thing on Facebook - WORD!'s lockdown project and growing community. Alternatively, send us a 20 second poetry/spoken word filmed extract - responding to the theme of 'Every Brilliant Thing'...

    Film your extract in a landscape format - see our picture guide here for how! We'll social media share as many extracts as possible and include a part within a communal poem film, pieced together by Andrew Lee. Send extracts by Wetransfer or Dropbox to [email protected] - or drop a line for more info.

    Our second WORD! Online will premier on our Facebook 'WORD!' group at 7.30pm on May 28th, and be shared here asap afterwards! 

    Photo Creds: Jean Binta Breeze by Tehron Royes; John Hegley by Travis Elborough; Roger Robinson by Naomi Woddis. Event images by Andrew Lee for WORD!


  • With special thanks to the Leicestershire Community Fund (Leicestershire County Council) for making these broadcasts possible