Word Life - Music Special

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Poetry and music have always been strong bedfellows – Word Life's first instalment of 2016 celebrates that connection with a selection of artists exploring both art forms.

We're very happy to have South Yorkshire's own Helen Mort performing with her latest project 'Poeta' which sees her collaborating with celebrated flamenco guitarist Samuel Moore. Be Still My Beating Heart is a music/storytelling project from local performer

Madeline Shann – we caught her at Theatre Delicatessen's Christmas Party performing her Christmas Survival Guide and had to invite her to the next Word Life. We also have Word Life favourite Gevi Carver who will be bringing her electric piano, and another Sheffield based writer and musician Sarah Sharp. There will also be a handful of open mic slots on the night, open to both poets and/or musicians too.

'A fantastically entertaining evening' – The Yorkshire Post

'One of the purveyors of the new literary night out' – The Independent

Helen Mort and Samuel Moore

‘Effortlessly beautiful’ ­ The Guardian

‘The rising star of British poetry’ ­ The Telegraph

In this exceptionally original duet project, multi­award winning and TS Eliot Prize nominee Helen Mort is joined by the nationally acclaimed flamenco guitarist Samuel Moore. And together they present a unique performance compromising of original poetry set to flamenco music: from introspective poems accompanied by dark laments, to uplifting reflections accompanied by fiery dance forms.

Be Still My Beating Heart

Be Still My Beating Heart is an act forged in the Steel City. Fusing songwriting and storytelling, Madeline has played her songs of pirates and pyromaniacs, runaways and stowaways, sleep­walkers, sleep­talkers and Shakespearian murder victims to audiences across the UK, including at Sheffield's very own Tramlines Festival (2015).

Sarah Sharp

Sarah Sharp is a writer and musician based in Sheffield. She performs as one half of folk-pop duo Yellowcake and also with the synth band Mysteron. Her solo songs on piano incorporate bittersweet reflections on the loneliness of ornament collecting with melodramatic sound portraits of decaying seaside towns. Her style bears the imprint of classical training, as well as the storytelling influence of artists such as Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker. The oblique humour underpinning her lyrics has drawn comparisons with the Divine Comedy. With Yellowcake she has recorded in Amsterdam and supported international folk artists such as Ciaran Lavery and Rachel Ries. As a violinist she is developing work with Gevi Carver for an upcoming poetry project.

Gevi Carver

Gevi Carver is a locally renowned poet based in Sheffield, and has performed at festivals and events from the Edinburgh Fringe to the Off the Shelf Festival of Words. She writes about the realities of the everyday in a rhythmical, lively and thoughtful way, sometimes playing her own piano compositions along with her work. Gevi’s poems have appeared in Now Then magazine and a recent anthology of Sheffield Poets, and she was recently longlisted for the Poetry Society National Competition and shortlisted for the York

Literature Festival Poetry Competition.

+ OPEN MIC

Price: £5.00 / £4.00

Time: 7:30pm