Aoife Mannix

Biography

“A lady who made a big impact was Irish poet Aoife Mannix. She has just published her first collection of poetry, The Elephant in the Corner, and she was a clear crowd favourite, with her rendition of My Revolution ended in thunderous applause.” – Charlotte Riches, BBC Radio Manchester “Aoife Mannix is a sparkling performer of her own work, and it's well worth attending her readings if you get the opportunity. Her collection the elephant in the corner poetry combines lyrical intensity with gentle, self-deprecating humour” – Catherine Smith, The New Writer “Lyrical and admirably free of clutter, Aoife’s poems make a direct appeal to the emotions. This is a poet with a fresh, clear voice” - Maurice Riordan “The Elephant in the Corner by Aoife Mannix (p/back, Tall Lighthouse, £7) [FIVE STARS] is vivid, rich and eclectic. To that I’ll add funny (Karma Settee), touching (A Promise), insightful (I will survive). These are readable, relevant poems and emotionally diverse, moving from the hurt of a child not invited to a party to the rollicking good humour in ‘I’d make my home/ in the cave/ of your belly button.” - VG Lee, Diva Accents On Words – a two woman poetry and music show featuring Aoife Mannix and Heather Taylor. “Mannix and Taylor’s repertoire is aurally gorgeous; their voices perfectly matched as they inter-splice their respective poetry. Visually it’s arresting too; sometimes it’s formal and dramatic, with fragments of verse spoken in syncopation and graceful, choreographed movement. Other times it’s like having your two big sisters having a comfortable conversation, maybe even winding each other up a bit. They bounce words and ideas off each other incessantly, a fabulous repartee of wisecracks that leavens the underlying pathos of memory and loss” – Sean Merrigan, Spoiled Ink Aoife Mannix was born in Sweden in 1972 of Irish parents. She grew up in Dublin and New York and is currently based in London. Her first collection of poetry 'The Elephant In The Corner' was published by Tall Lighthouse (www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk) in July 2005. Her chapbook ‘The Trick of Foreign Words’ was published in 2002 by Tall Lighthouse. She was the 2001 Farrago London Slam champion. She won first prize in the Arts Angels Poetry Competition 2002 and the 1998 Dr Marten's New Writers Competition. In 2003 she recorded a spoken word CD 'Did You Forget To Take Your Tablets?' with musician Richard Lewis and she is featured on 'Voices From The Lighthouse', a CD of poetry and music produced by Tall Lighthouse. Her poetry has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, London Live, Resonance FM, and the BBC World Service. She is currently performing in ‘Accents on Words,’ a poetry and music show with Canadian poet Heather Taylor. In 2003/4 she performed as part of Renaissance One's Kin national spoken word tour. She performed in Norway at the Kapittel 3 Stavanger Literature Festival with saxophone player Raymond MacDonald. She wrote and performed in the Apples and Snakes ‘Writers on The Storm’ tour in 2002/3. She took part in a tour of Austria supported by the British Council in 2003. She performed and ran workshops as part of both the 2004 and 2003 Spit-Lit Festivals (Celebrating Women’s Writing). She has extensive experience as a workshop leader in poetry and creative writing for both adults and young people. She was poet in residence at the Central Foundation School for Girls in Mile End for 2005/6. In 2005, she ran workshops with the African Youth League as part of the Molten Arts Festival. She also worked on a poetry and rap summer project at Feltham Young Offenders Institute. In 2003, she ran a performance poetry course for young poets with Apples and Snakes and Spread The Word. Her poetry has been published in the anthologies Velocity (the best of Apples and Snakes), Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry, Kin, The Message Within, Inclement Anthology, Twilight Road, The Book of Hope, In Our Own Words, 100 Poets Against The War and Gargoyle as well as numerous magazines including Citizen 32 (www.citizen32.co.uk), Cadenza, X-magazine, The Magpie's Nest, Dogma, Chroma, Aesthetica, The Ugly Tree, Feline, Bolz, Keystone, ImageNation, Ascent Aspirations, The Salzburg Review, Agenda, The New Writer, The Wolf, The Penniless Press, Vigil, Orbis, Rain Dog, Lexicon, The Affectionate Punch, and Poetry Nottingham International. . Her short story 'Roses' won the Spoiled Ink Writers' Choice Award for July 2005 (www.spoiledink.com). She also won the APG Time Quarterly Short Story Anthology Competition in 2004. Her short stories are included in the anthology ‘Westside Stories’ published by the Xpress in 2004. Her TV sitcom 'Since Dad Left' was short listed for the BBC's Two Timing competition in 2004. She has written two drama documentaries for BBC Radio 4. Places she has performed include the Copenhagen International Slam at the Ideal Club, the British Library, the Karamel Club, Battersea Arts Centre, the Poetry Cafe, York Lesbian Arts Festival, Cuirt Festival, EMMA Festival, Manchester Poetry Festival, Stavenger Literary Festival, RADA, Soho Theatre, Contact Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, the ICA, Cherry Jam, The Broadway, Drill Hall, the Spitz, Greenwich Playhouse, the Albany Theatre, Stark Gallery, Hammersmith Irish Centre, the Rhythm Factory, the Tabernacle, the Pharmacy, Borders Bookshop and Brixton Town Hall.

Samples

Sample poems from ‘The Elephant In The Corner’ (www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk) I will survive As long as I know how to love, course it’s tacky, heartbreak is a tacky, messy business and if you never sat on the edge of a sink, in a ladies’ loo, in some dodgy night club bawling your eyes out while your best mates and total strangers put their arm round you saying he’s a bastard, don’t worry about it love then you haven’t lived. And real friends are the ones who are still there at four in the morning holding your hair out of your eyes as you crouch over the toilet bowl, puking your guts up in-between long complicated tales of Michael or Sean or David or whatever his name is whose the reason you haven’t bothered to ring them for the past three months. And they listen to you with the patience of all the saints put together until this song comes on, when they haul you on to the dance floor, pouring still more vodka and Red Bull down your throat, and no matter how sophisticated you think you are, you will discover you know all the words and that maybe you won’t slit your wrists over him after all because as long as there are glitter balls and pumping music and friends to put you comatose into the taxi home you’ll be all right. A Promise It was that kind of perfect afternoon they only have in America, years ago, with the sunshine so hot you could drink it, and the trees big and green and lush. You sat on the swing, your legs too short to touch the ground. It was a yellow swing and you wore yellow shorts, a Superman t-shirt, and you were singing ‘these are the things we can do without’ and clapping. I wished you would hold on tighter as I placed my hand in the small of your back and pushed, you wanted to go higher and higher, but I just kept it steady, marvelling at your absolute lack of fear, your total conviction that nothing could break our rhythm. It seemed to me your trust was the one true thing I could call my own, and I promised you there, without a cloud in the sky, that I’d never let anything bad happen to you. A small boy on a swing on a summer’s day. It came back to me when I had to tell you she had died, and the way your face collapsed as if I had pushed you clear out into nothingness.

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.