Urban poets takeover Channel 4, E4 and More 4
Category: News Release
7 October 2015
UK television first showcases new and emerging talent in celebration of National Poetry Day
Urban and emerging poets from all over Britain are taking over from Channel 4’s on-air continuity announcers on Thursday 8th October in celebration of National Poetry Day.
In an industry first, Channel 4, E4 and More 4 viewers will be treated to bite-size performances from a diverse range of artists throughout the day.
Many of the poets have never been heard on TV before and each will be performing their very own, original material in between programmes.
Viewers will be able to find out more about the day’s performers and National Poetry Day by visiting www.channel4.com/poetry and following #nationalpoetryday.
James Walker, Head of Marketing, Channel 4 said: “Our new brand identity reflects our remit to be diverse, challenging and innovative. We are very excited to be able to use it to give a platform to these fantastic new and emerging urban poets.”
Channel 4 unveiled a brand new identity for its main channel last week, as well as an updated corporate brand to reflect the whole network and services it delivers.
Ends.
About the poets:
CHANNEL 4
Louis Antwi
East London writer who has worked with the likes of Nike, Louis Vuitton and the Wellcome Fellowship. Louis started writing in 2003 through the London Teenage Poetry Slam and has gone on to run a monthly youth poetry event at the Roundhouse. His debut short collection will be published in 2016.
Find him at:
Aisling Fahey
London’s Young Poet Laureate for 2014, Aisling has performed in locations across England - from the Barbican to Glastonbury to the Houses of Parliament - America and India. She is a member of the Burn After Reading collective (a community of young and emerging poets and writers) and Barbican Young Poets.
Find her at:
twitter: @_AislingF
blog: https://getyourheadtogether.wordpress.com
MORE 4
Andrew McMillan
Andrew was born in South Yorkshire in 1988; his debut collection physical was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, Shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and long listed for The Guardian First Book Award. He lectures in Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.
Find him at:
Twitter: @AndrewPoetry
Website: www.andrewmcmillanpoet.co.uk
Sarah Howe
Sarah’s debut book of poems, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Born in Hong Kong in 1983, she currently spends her time between London and Boston.
Find her at:
Twitter: @luckyflowerhowe
Website: www.sarahhowepoetry.com
Tyrone Lewis
A former Roundhouse Slam Champion, Tyrone is currently a member of the Burn After Reading Poetry Collective. As well as performing poetry for half his life, Tyrone also spends a lot of his time behind a camera, taking pictures, filming and editing.
Find him at:
Hank Osasuna
A no-holds-barred a cappella punk-rock poet who will take a side order of chicken coleslaw, if you’re asking. He's an urban raconteur for the ready meal generation.
Find him at:
https://www.facebook.com/madpaulkeithlemon
www.soundcloud.com/spinmaster-plantpot
Joseph Coelho
Performance Poet and Playwright. Winner of the 2015 CLPE CLiPPA Childrens Poetry Award, with his Debut collection "Werewolf Club Rules". Has written plays for Polka, Soho and The Unicorn Theatres.
Find him at:
Twitter: @poetryjoe
Website: www.joseph-coelho.com
Shareefa Energy
Shareefa is a spoken word artist, performance poet, writer and workshop facilitator. She received the UK Unsigned Hype Best Spoken Word Artist 2014 Award and released her debut spoken word EP 'Reasoning With Self' produced by Meandou in July 2015. Her poetry delves into a journey of self and mental growth. Shareefa is the director of the 2014 storytelling spoken word play 'Wombs Cry'.
Find her at:
Twitter: @ShareefaEnergy
Website: http://www.shareefaenergy.com
E4
Yomi ‘GREEdS’ Sode
Once long-listed as one of MTV’s Brand New Artists, Writer/ Poet Yomi aka GREEdS, has been performing for the past 8 years. Highlights include opening for Saul Williams and The Last Poets, performing at various festivals including Yahoo! Wireless Festival, Latitude and starting a poetry night in Shoreditch. His work fuses culture, music, humour and harsh realities. He is currently working on his one-man show with The Southbank Centre.
https://twitter.com/iamGREEdS
https://instagram.com/iamGREEdS
http://www.iamGREEdS.com/
Jess Green
Midlands based performance poet who has performed at Glastonbury, Bestival, Latitude and the Edinburgh Fringe. After her poem, Dear Mr Gove received over 300,000 hits on Youtube in 2014 she was featured in the Guardian, The Independent and The Huffington Post. Jess delivers poetry and creative writing workshops around the UK and she is currently on a national tour with her poetry and live music show, Burning Books.
Find her at:
@jessgreenpoet
Toby Campion
Writer and performer Toby placed second in the UK at the National Poetry Slam Championships 2014 represented the home nations at the Capturing Fire International Poetry Summit 2015 in Washington, DC. Organizer of UniSlam 2015 and co-host of East Midlands' spoken word night, Find the Right Words, Toby has performed on stages across the UK and America (including St. Anza International Poetry Festival, Lovebox, Bestival & BBC Main Stage) and recently won the Fifth Word Theatre award for Most Promising Playwright 2015.
Find him at:
https://twitter.com/tobycampion
https://www.facebook.com/toby.campion.77
Erin Bolens
Yorkshire born Poet Erin started writing and performing poetry when she moved to London two years ago. She was the Glastonbury Festival Poetry Slam Champion in 2014 and came 2nd in the Roundhouse Poetry Slam this year. She runs workshops for children and co-runs Culture Cake - a night in New Cross for emerging talent in comedy, music and poetry.
Find her at:
Aaron Grant-Booker
Aaron is a twenty something North London poet from Tottenham, who in the last year has done a Ted Talk, produced a poetry book and worked with the BBC. He is currently writing his first ever children's poetry book and uses his words to inspire and motivate young people. This coincides with Aaron's day job where he works as a mentor to young people.
Find him at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cckmTXZGMo0 - Ted Talk
Twitter: @aaronjamespoet
Laurie Ogden
Originally from Merseyside, Laurie is now based in South-East London. A 24:7 Theatre Festival Young Playwright, Laurie went on to write 'Staircases' which received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015. A member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective (Spare The Poets), she has performed at events and festivals across the country and is the co-founder of 'Human Gloop', an evening of spoken word and improvised music.
Twitter: @ogdenlaurie and @sparethepoets
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