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Forked at Sea Change Festival – A Review by Seren Kiremitcioglu

This year Totnes held their very first Sea Change Festival. Hosted by Drift Record Store, it was the first of its kind to bring a host of artists and musicians to the small town of Totnes, and of course we at Apples and Snakes just had to be a part of the small revolution. We headed over to the Birdwood House on Saturday 27th August to present Forked with Mama Tokus, Rose Cook, Rob Barratt, Jackie Juno and Londoner headliner, Kayo Chingonyi!

Making my way on the train to …

Home Cooking: Swimming Home by Megan Garrett-Jones

Performance artist and occasional poet Megan Garrett-Jones embarked to have people swim the shortest distance between the UK and mainland Europe in a continuous loop on a small stretch of the Kent coast. A mere 20.6 miles!

Here she shares her writing tracking the process of this project and her explorations of the waters of the English Channel through swimming.

www.meggj.com | facebook

This is the fourth season of Home Cooking podcasts commissioned by Apples and Snakes and shifts focus to Europe, hear from poets and collectives across England.…

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 …

Picture the Poet in Sunderland: Sky Hawkins

Continuing on from the success of the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Picture the Poet’ exhibition, we chatted with featured artist, Sky Hawkins, about her time facilitating student workshops at Sunderland College.

I was very excited when I was told I would be working with thirteen second year students from Sunderland College. They had all performed other people’s poetry but never their own. In six weeks, my job was to inspire them to write their own poetry for the first time and be ready to perform it and alongside …

Apples and Snakes POTM: Yomi ‘GREEds’ Sode

Apples and Snakes’ Poet of the Month and Jawdance host Yomi Sode (a.k.a. GREEdS) talks to us about the highs and lows of showcasing his one-man show COAT.

I am excited and in good spirits at the moment. The Re:Play programme finished on July 25^th. I had the amazing opportunity of showcasing COAT. Not sure if I prepared myself for how intense the programme would be. I laughed, cried and re-drafted over and over again. I fell ill two days before show day! A tad bit disappointing. …

Jordan – Land of Stories by Sally Pomme Clayton

In her blog for Apples and Snakes and the British Council, Sally Pomme Clayton tells of her journey as an Apples and Snakes representative to the 7th Hakaya Festival 2014…

‘There was, and there was not, but all the same there was …’ is one way an Arabic fairytale can start. Stories take us to fantastic lands, to: the moon; underworld; glass mountain; a girl living at the bottom of a well; a prince with one arm and one wing; a flying horse. I was honoured to travel to Jordan…

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 …

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?…