Cynthia Miller © 2018
Another incredible evening in Waterstones. I am as excited as ever seeing National poetry friends making their way to the city. It is going to be a great weekend! Although the flip-side of that is being invited to go and socialise when you were intending on staying for the whole night of Verve. I needed to be able to split myself into 4 versions of me this evening.
There will be time for food come Monday, for the next few days poetry is my breakfast, dinner and tea!
I will share the link to the official blog once it is live, in the meantime here are some soundbites from me and harvested material from those in possession of better phones!
Verve Team © 2018
Tonight started with Karen McCarthy Woolf, Sasha Dugdale and Mir Mahfuz Ali talking to Jo Bell and sharing poetry from their collections. A moving experience.
Cynthia Miller © 2018
Louise Palfreyman © 2018
Louise Palfreyman © 2018
Hannah Swings © 2018
Louise Palfreyman © 2018
Book signings.
Verve Team © 2018
Tonight’s addition was a sweet shop! This is Nellie setting up.
Then after a short break/book signing came the Dead or Alive Slam produced by Bohdan Piasecki and hosted by Amerah Saleh.
Two poetic worlds will collide at Dead or Alive Slam at Verve, only the second time this format has ever been done. Witness a battle of words and wit as three of the UK’s leading contemporary slam poets challenge three dead poets in three epic slam rounds, judged by a panel of audience members. Who will be the victor?
A preposterous, reason defying spoken word competition, pitting living poets against their dead predecessors, re-animated for this one night just for your entertainment. Watch Team Life, comprised of Genevieve Carver, Isiah Hull and Caroline Teague, take on Team Death, featuring Christina Rossetti, Forough Farrokhzad, and Djuna Barnes (brought to life by Tembi Xena, Lorna Nickson Brown, and Zeddie Lawal). Judges from the audience will determine who wins, assigning numerical values to poems in an entirely meaningless attempt to instill reason into an event challenging the order of things.
In other words, this is your chance to hear poetry from six incredible poets, interpreted by brilliant performers, all in an exciting and accessible format, as part of the altogether brilliant Verve poetry festival. Do yourself a favour and do not miss this.
The night will be hosted by the all-powerful Amerah Saleh.
– Events Page
Cynthia Miller © 2018
Cynthia Miller © 2018
It was a fabulous concept and a great night… I cannot reveal who won yet, but I can tell you there was dancing.
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