books | applesandsnakesblog.org

A Week in Arvon: Cecilia Knapp

In our second entry from one of our Writing Room participants, Cecilia Knapp talks about her time at Arvon, accessing old memories as part of a week’s writing retreat.

I’ve just got back from Arvon to a grey, busy and loud London where quite frankly there aren’t enough open fires, communal dinners and writing sessions.

Arvon is a charity that runs residential creative writing courses and retreats. I was lucky enough to go to their Hebden Bridge centre, which is Ted Hughes’ old house. A big stone cottage looking out …

A Week in Arvon: Erin Bolens

At the start of the year, we teamed up with Arvon to give a group of our budding writers from Apples and Snakes’ The Writing Room the opportunity to take part in a week’s writing residency. The Writing Room offers a safe environment for young poets to write and share work with peers under the guidance of some of the UK’s top professional spoken word artists. Erin Bolens guest-blogs about her time at Arvon, Lumb Bank.

I am writing this after three days of reacclimatising myself into the ways of …

Our Friends, the Enemy.

Our Friends, The Enemy is an acclaimed one-man show combining theatre and spoken word to tell the story of the Christmas truce from the First World War. Here, writer Alex Gwyther explains the development of the piece from initial idea to finished production…

The First World War has always held a particular fascination for me. Perhaps I fought in it during a past life. There is something about it which strikes a chord in me, as I’m sure it does with many others. I can’t pinpoint it myself, but in …

October Snakebasket Extracts

Apples and Snakes’ Snakebaskets are monthly newsletters tailored for each region we work in. Here you will find lots of exciting spoken word stuff and more about what we are up to in your area. Sign up here to receive our monthly Snakebaskets!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From London co-ordinator Russell

The fallen leaves that jewel the ground,
they know the art of dying
and leave with joy their glad gold hearts
in the scarlet shadows lying.

Incredible String Band there with ‘October Song’, pop-pickers.

Hey, now that’s poetry. And October, of …

SPOKE: Earth

Our year began with a great second season here at SPOKE, a series of varied and engaging community events culminating in the opening of the south part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 5 April. As 2014 hurtles on and our third season comes to an end, we take a moment to reflect on how our year kicked off.

SPOKE: Earth brought together top UK poets to engage with enthusiastic, inspiring young people through four ambitious spoken word projects across East London in and around the Olympic Park.…

My experience of The Writing Room, by Carmina Masoliver.

I described my Writing Room experience as a dysfunctional family on my own blog (well, aren’t they the best types of family?). This was because the consistency of everyone being able to make each workshop was less than ideal. I know this is being changed in the new writing room, as to do the final showcase you need to be able to make enough to develop a piece throughout the process. I think this is a positive change, but that lack of consistency didn’t stop each workshop being something extremely …

Megan Beech

What is your first memory of poetry?

I’ve loved words for as long as I can remember. I can’t really remember when the penny dropped exactly but I loved writing. I enjoyed sitting in the corner of the primary school playground and scribbling words into a tatty notebook and that still hasn’t changed. I’m happiest with a notebook in my hand and an incomprehensible scrawl across the page.

When and why did you start considering you could be a poet?

I’ve always written and I particularly enjoyed …

Public Address II: Q&A with the class of 2010 – Hannah Silva

Before our upcoming Public Address II tour, we catch up with those who went on the original tour. Here’s 2010’s South West representative, Hannah Silva!

1. Looking back, what impact did Public Address have on your work/development at the time?

It was great to visit the different regions, and meet the Apples and Snakes coordinators there. I really enjoy travelling and getting a sense of different places and audiences. I liked the fact that we were five very different poets, and it’s always good to watch other poets and their …

Poet of the Month: Roger Robinson on The Butterfly Hotel

Apples and Snakes’ Poet of the Month Roger Robinson tells us about the inspiration and origins of his latest collection ‘The Butterfly Hotel’.

I can’t mark the moment when I felt liked I lived in England, and I can’t mark the moment I felt I no longer belonged in Trinidad. Perhaps this is how a butterfly must feel as it criss-crosses the Atlantic.

I had just started travelling around the world on tour with my band King Midas Sound. Spending time in different countries each night – often where …

My experience of The Writing Room, by Rachel Long

I started going to The Writing Room in February 2013, after seeing a workshop advertised on Apples and Snakes monthly e-newsletter, that I had subscribed to. After finishing my degree in Creative Writing and American Literature, I found myself in a creative slump. The only thing I wrote in the months after leaving Uni were cover letters, applications and editing the C.V for jobs I never heard back from. For someone who is miserable when they are not writing, I needed a creative outlet and a new space to write …