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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!
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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 …

Richard Purnell is having a bath.

In anticipation of the scratch night for Bathtime – his new, darkly comic poetry show about love, death and bubble baths – Richard Purnell shares his experiences during the creation and development of the show…

Standing at the top of the Royal Mile, at the fag-end of the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, limply flyering alongside a serially glum Gary From Leeds, surrounded by fire-breathers and beatboxers blithely rinsing tourists of their hard-earned, we realised

we are surrounded by gimmickry. Gimmickry. Not even disguised. The kind of gimmickry that …

Goodbye, Matt Jones!

For the last six months, Matt Jones has been interning with the digital department at SPOKE, providing help and support to the team and gaining new experiences and skills along the way. Here are a few of his thoughts on the internship and his time at SPOKE.

Hi I’m Matt, the digital intern here at SPOKE, saying my final goodbyes and explaining my experience throughout the 6 month internship.

Summing up this internship is going to be difficult, simply for the sheer mass of knowledge, work experience, and …

WORDCUP2014

Coinciding with the football World Cup, WORDCUP2014 was a celebration of spoken word for young people, helping them to hone their writing and performance skills and gain confidence in their voices through a series of workshops with professional poets, culminating in a giant WORDCUP slam championship at Stratford Circus.

Over April-July, the WORDCUP teams were selected from 10 schools across East London. Each school was appointed their own professional poet, like Raymond Antrobus, Indigo Williams and Joelle Taylor, to come in as their team mentor and help …

Taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe

Apples and Snakes’ poet Dan Simpson shares his five top tips on ‘Taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe’.

1. Do your research! Ideally, go to the Fringe as a punter first (and do a few open mics whilst you’re there!). The Fringe is HUGE: 3,000+ shows in 300 odd venues all happening in three and a bit weeks. It’s useful to know a bit about how it all works: what Festival do you want your show to be part of (PBH Free Fringe? Big Four? Laughing Horse? C-Venues?…

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.…

Unheard Voices: Making Graphic Narratives from Children’s Stories

During February and March 2014, leading Apples and Snakes artists worked with young people in secondary schools across Islington as part of a project called Unheard Voices. The graphic designer, comic creator and illustrator Richy K. Chandler wrote about his experience with Unheard Voices in his blog Tempolush. Here’s what he had to say.

Earlier in the year I got the chance to take part in Islington Council’s Unheard Voices project where children collaborated with poets and other creators, through the fantastic performance poetry organisation Apples and Snakes.…

June 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. These are extracts – sign up here to receive the whole message!

“just wanted to say thanks for one of the best poetry-info emails I’ve ever received. Hope to attend at least a couple of the events – brilliant!” London Snakebasket reader.

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From London Coordinator Russell

And the main news: no Jawdance at …

The Cool Hand and the Listening Ear

The Cool Hand and the Listening Ear: Rosemary Harris tells us about the writing process behind One Way Ticket…

In case you’ve missed previous blogs on the subject, One Way Ticket is a new polyvocal show written and performed by me with Justin Coe and Sophie Rose, based on the British child migrants’ scandal of the 1950s. Funded by ACE Grants for the Arts, and produced in partnership with Apples and Snakes and Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, it is about to open its London season at …

March 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. These are extracts – sign up here to receive the whole message!

“just wanted to say thanks for one of the best poetry-info emails I’ve ever received. Hope to attend at least a couple of the events – brilliant!” London Snakebasket reader.

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From London Coordinator Russell

There, I knew it was a mistake …