Stand Up & Spit

Open Mic Event

Contact: hello@afirmofpoets.com

A Firm Of Poets and Speaking Volumes present
STAND UP AND SPIT
'Northern Accent' tour
http://www.speaking-volumes.org.uk/sus

WORKSHOP: 3-5pm
EVENING SHOW: 7.30-10pm

Line-up: Kate Fox, Tim Wells, Nick Toczek

Back before hip hop made its way from across the pond, young, angry, working-class youths took to poetry to address politics, fascism and boredom.

Accessible, protesting, diverse, inclusive, political, working-class, humorous yet also deadly serious, Ranting poetry appeared in the late 1970s and early '80s. Platforming young rowdy writers with something to shout about, it was closely allied with punk and reggae and was the vibrant precursor of today’s spoken word.

Far from the literary establishment, Ranting was beer-soaked, spit-stained and real...and Stand Up and Spit is bringing it back. Inspired by poet and original ranter Tim Wells it toured across the UK in 2016 and will continue to do so in 2017.

KATE FOX

Kate Fox is a stand-up poet who's originally from Bradford and was inspired by punk poets like Wild Willi Beckett in her late teens. She has been a Poet in Residence on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, Glastonbury Festival (official) and the Great North Run. Her solo shows include "Poet in Residence", "The Starting Line", "Kate Fox News" and “Good Breeding” which was made into a Radio 4 show.

She has been commissioned to write and perform poems for BBCone (including 2014's "Great North Passion" in South Shields and the Great North Run, 2011 and 2015), BBC Two's Daily Politics, BBC Radio 3's The Verb, BBC Radio 6 Music and many Radio 4 shows and has performed at venues from Latitude to the Stand Comedy Club, the Soho Theatre to Oakland University, USA and Turku Literature Festival in Finland.

Publications include "Fox Populi" from Smokestack Books (2013), pieces in Bloodaxes’s “Funny Peculiar, Funny Ha Ha” and the “Iron Book of Humorous Verse” and she has edited several anthologies of young writers work.

Radio 4 broadcast her two half hour comedy shows "The Price of Happiness" in June 2015 and another two have been commissioned to air in 2017.

She is currently halfway through a studentship-funded full time PhD in solo stand up performance, class, gender and Northernness at Leeds University | www.katefox.co.uk

TIM WELLS

Tim Wells is made of reggae, lager top, pie and mash, and Leyton Orient FC.

As 'Teething Wells' he was an original teenage ranting poet. Since long trousers he has published several poetry collections; 'Everything Crash' published by Penned in the Margins being the most recent | https://standupandspit.wordpress.com/

'London poetry landmark' Times Literary Supplement
'Suedehead bard of N16' The Guardian
'Bizarre character from the East End' The Times and The Sunday Times
'A neatly twisted line in rhetoric' NME
'Working class hero' The Morning Star

NICK TOCZEK

Nick Toczek is a writer and performer working variously as poet (and one of the original ranters), journalist, magician, vocalist, lyricist and radio broadcaster. He is a best-selling children's author who has worked as a visiting writer in thousands of schools.

His book on anti-Semitism, 'Haters, Baiters and Would-Be Dictators', was published by Routledge last year and a collection of his best dragon poems 'Dragons are Back!' has just been published by Caboodle Books.

'TALKING LOUD & SAYING SUMMAT' WORKSHOP

Do you like to rant and rave? Do you want to stand up and spit? Do you have a poem or two that you want to get off your chest and perform? If so, come and join A Firm of Poets founders Matt Abbott Poet and Ralph Dartford for a free two-hour 'pre show' workshop that will set your words free.

Participants will work with A Firm Of Poets to hone their performance poetry skills and will be invited to perform them on stage in the bar at the evening's performance of 'Stand Up and Spit'.

Additionally, participants will be invited to submit one of their poems to an online document 'Talking Loud and Saying Summat', which will grow after each performance. This is strictly limited to 5 participants - please reserve via the venue.

Price: £7.00 / £9.00

Time: 8:00pm