LGBT Poet Laureate

Although I won a poetry competition in the local paper (Blackburn Telegraph) aged 13, my professional background is mainly theatrical. After moving to London to attend drama school at 18, I worked extensively in theatre (National, Touring, TIE, Agitprop). 

Latterly, in my career as an actress, I appeared on film and TV, including “Coronation Street” (ITV), “Worlds End” (BBC), “Sacred Hearts” (Film4).

Consequently, I’m a confident and relaxed performer who loves her job and knows how to do it.

I can enhance your event with poetry that stimulates, challenges and amuses.

I’m happy performing in any kind of venue. Art galleries, pubs, clubs, boats, fields, buses, studios, halls, theatres, etc

I can devise or advise on a tailor-made show combining poetry, with music, drag, comedy or burlesque, that draws on my many years of experience and friendships within the entertainment industry.

An LGBT Life: How It Was, How It Is

As LGBT Poet Laureate, I explore through poetry and personal recollection the experience of the being LGBT in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s up to the present time.

Combining humour and gritty realism, my words and poems chronicle and bear witness to the LGBT. community’s struggle to gain acceptance, equality and respect within mainstream society.

I share my experience of what it actually feels like to be gay. What we do? Where we go?

I detail and discuss some of the organisations, movement and political campaigns that had an impact on the quality of the LGBT. community’s life, and the part I played within them.

It includes:

• Life, in a small Northern town. Being the only Gay in the village!
• London, the epicenter of gay life in the UK.
• The emergence of GLF. (Gay Liberation Front), CHE. (Campaign for Homosexual Equality) and Stonewall.
• Early and ongoing Gay Pride celebrations in London and the UK.
• The second wave of the WLM. (Women’s Liberation Movement) and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
• Section 28.
• Becoming the inaugural LGBT Poet Laureate
  

I Accept Poetry Commissions

Site Specific

For example:

• Save the Black Cap, written on the anniversary of the closure of the Black Cap pub in Camden NW1, performed in situ and on Soho Radio (Soho Society Hour)

Date Specific

For example:

• Schwule, written for International Holocaust Day (27th Jan), detailing the experiences of homosexuals during the Holocaust. Performed at Granary Square (N1C).
• International Women’s Day for Reel Rebel Radio.
• World AIDS Day December 2018). A candlelit vigil in WC2 and filmed by Sky TV live in London.

Event Specific

For example:

• Poem for London Pride (26th June), performed at Trafalgar Square stage
• Theme poem for National Hate Crime Awareness Week (working with St Paul’s Cathedral, national anti-hate crime organisations, and the Metropolitan Police)
• Love, Lust and Loathing amongst the Bloomsbury Literati for the Bloomsbury Festival
• Celebrating the Smallhythe Trio for the National Trust, June 2017
• Mapping the Network – mapping the organisations supporting the LGBT community and also performed at various conferences, e.g. NHS, ELOP
• Theme poem for the Clit Art Festival, working with organisations fighting female genital mutilation, and campaigning for better sex education in schools and textbooks
• Bang Bus for Worlds Aids Day

Commemorative Days:

For example:

• IDAHOT, written for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral and featured on local and national radio
• 100th year anniversary of women’s suffrage
• Celebrating the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality at the British Library

I offer interactive talks, workshops and shows on LGBT issues suitable for:

• Fundraisers, libraries and museums
• Community halls and heritage sites (e.g. ‘The Smallhythe Trio’ at National Trust properties)
• Conferences, galas and launches of initiatives, e.g. NHS Rainbow Lanyard, the Ball for the last night of LGBT History month
• Schools & Universities, e.g. discussion or film panels, anti-bullying events. I’ve also worked with school book publisher Pearsons
• Festivals, e.g. LFest, national Pride events (incl. London, Isle of Wight, Hastings, Stoke-on-Trent), Latitude
• Poetry and/or storytelling

I can offer bespoke site, event or topic-specific poetry sets for these shows.

My LGBTQ live interactive shows include:

• LGBT Poetry Past & Present
• An LGBT Life: How it was. How it is
• How, Why & When
• The Consequence of Kisses
• The ‘L’ Word
• Camp Confidential – an evening of poetry and cabaret
• Love, Lust and Loathing amongst the Bloomsbury Literati
• The Smallhythe Trio
• My Life as LGBT Poet Laureate
• Suffrage, Subversion & Sex

Hosting

I’ve organised and hosted a number of poetry events, including open mic. For example:

• INCITE@The Phoenix WC2: I’ve hosted and performed my poetry at this popular LGBT poetry evening for 4 years.
• ULTIMATE PLANET AWARDS: Hosted, introduced and compered this annual event celebrating LGBT excellence.
• AIDS Memorial Charity Fundraising at INCITE, July 2018, with the show: ‘Celebrate, Commemorate, Cabaret‘ and poem HIV/AIDS

Organisations with whom I have collaborated

BBC
AIDS Memorial Fund
Barking and Dagenham Council
Bethnal Green Library
Bloomsbury Festival
Bolton Museum
Bow Idea Store
Bristol MShed Museum
Camden LGBT Forum
Celebrate and Educate

De La Warr Pavilion
ELOP
G. Fest
Hastings Pride
Herts University
Kings College London
L.Fest
Leeds Museum
London and Southeast England
London Live

London Pride
Loudest Whispers
Manchester Gaydio
Metropolitan Police
MidKent College Medway
National Trust
Norwich Pride
Opening Doors London (ODL0
Oxford University
Pearson (for Pride in Education)

Pearson (for Pride in Education)
Phoenix Theatre
Planet Nation LGBT
Reel Rebel Radio
Reuters
San Francisco Pride
Schools Out
Sky TV
Soho Radio
St. Paul’s Cathedral

Stop Hate UK
The British Library
The Library Club
The Metropolitan Archive Museum
The NHS Trusts & NELFT
University College London
Winter Pride
Wise Words