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In this month's book club mini episode Hannah, Laurie and Rebecca chat about Warsan Shire's Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head. The book is available here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/bless-the-daughter-raised-by-a-voice-in-her-head/warsan-shire/9781784743703 The article Laurie references where Bernadette Evaristo interview Warsan Shire about the collection is available here https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/26/warsan-shire-bernardine-evaristo-suoperstar-poet-beyonce

This month, Laurie, Hannah and Rebecca chat to Bristol-based poet Sam J Grudgings about punk, writing a sequel to the Bible and his explosive performance style. Plus there's poem from Joss Affleck and a sneak preview of our book review episode on Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire, which will be out later this month. You can find out more about Sam, and buy his book, The Bible II, here https://www.samjgrudgings.co.uk/

In this month's book club mini-epsiode, Rebecca, Hannah and Laurie chat about Manorism by Yomi Sode. The book examines the lives of Black British men through the themes of family, survival, generational trauma and the complexities of belonging. You can find out more about the book, and where to buy it here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/445753/manorism-by-sode-yomi/9780141998572

This month, Hannah, Laurie and Rebecca chat to Kayla Martell Feldman about the differences between page and stage poetry, self-publishing and her new collection Same Story, out in November. There's also a preview of this month's book review episode on Yomi Sode's Manorism and a poem from Vron McIntyre. You can find out more about Kayla at her website https://www.kaylafeldman.com/

You've all been very good this year, so here is a Christmas Stocking stuffed with fabulous open mic poetry for you to enjoy. We've got brilliant poems from Trisha Bloomfield, Heather Moulson, George Parker, Robert Garnham, Amanda Nicholson & Andy N, Dan Webber, Tim Kiely and Ellen Clayton. Thank you to everyone who submitted to us. Wishing you all a happy and restful Christmas and New Year! Lots of love, Rebecca, Laurie and Hannah.

In this book club mini-episode Hannah, Laurie and Rebecca discuss Blue Horses by Mary Oliver. Plus there's information about how to take part in our Christmas Stocking open mic special episode. Blue Horses by Mary Oliver is available here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/little-brown-news/2020/03/20/blue-horses%E2%80%8B-by-mary-oliver/

In this book club mini-episode, Rebecca, Laurie and Hannah discuss Witch by Rebecca Tamas. Plus there are details of how to enter our Christmas Stocking open mic special. You can get your hands on a copy of Witch here: https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/products/witch-rebecca-tamas

This month we chat to the best dressed poem in any room, Kath Blair. There's also a poem from Matt Sowerby and a sneak preview of our book club mini-episode on Mary Oliver's Blue Horses. You can find out more about Kath here: https://www.kblair.co.uk/ You can find Matt on all social media as @sourbee_matt and his website is mattsowerby.co.uk

This month Rebecca, Laurie and Hannah chat to poet and novelist Dean Atta, about writing novels in verse, writing for young people and how to include hope in your work. We've also got a poem from Jake Nathan, and a sneak peek of this month's Book Club episode (out later this month) on Witch by Rebecca Tamás.

In this month's bookclub mini-espisode, Laurie, Hannah and Rebecca chat about All the Men I Never Married by Kim Moore. You can find out more about Kim Moore here: https://www.kimmoorepoet.co.uk/ The book is available from the publishers here: https://twitter.com/alibrady1860/status/1574417566432362498?s=46&t=JKNBoBL_8UcNQLoKcZUPXA

This month, Rebecca, Hannah and Laurie are joined by Anthony Anaxagorou to discuss empire, Paul Simon and really long poems. Plus there's a taster of our Book Club Mini Episode on All the Men I Never Married by Kim Moore - that episode will be out later this month. You can find out more about Anthony here: https://anthonyanaxagorou.com/

This month we hand the mic over and invite our listeners to take to the audio stage for our Open Mic Special! Featuring poetry from Amanda Nicholson, Andy N, Ellen Clayton, Fiona Broadhurst, Daniel Flenley, Tim Kiely and Christopher Kraken. Thank you to everyone who took part! For more information about the open mic poets, visit: Amanda Nicholson: https://amandasteelwriter.wordpress.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaSteelWriter Twitter: https://twitter.com/Amanda_S_Writer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandasteel37/ Andy Nicholson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andynpoet/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/aen1mpo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andynstorytellerpoet Ellen Clayton, whose chapbook can be found here: https://www.bentkeypublishing.co.uk/product-page/home-baked-ellen-clayton Instagram: @ellen_writes_poems Fiona Broadhurst: Linker.ee/fionabroadhurst Daniel Flenley: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/danny-flenley https://chipmunkkalahari.wordpress.com/ Tim Kiely Twitter & Instagram: @timkiley1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timkielypoetry His pamphlet is available here: https://timkielybooks.bigcartel.com/ Christopher Kraken: Instagram: @christopherkraken Website: christopherkraken.com

Welcome to the Vogon Slam, the poetry slam which goes looking for the worst poetry in the galaxy! Inspired by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Vogon Slam is an annual poetry competition where the worst poet wins. This year's event took place virtually on 25 May - and Dead Darlings is proud to present the audio of the event here for your disgust and delectation. So, grab your towel, pop your babelfish in your ear and prepare for some gut-wrenchingly terrible poetry from poets including: Alexander 'Woody' Woodward Temple Robert Garnham Robin Lamboll Shannon 'Shenanigan' Burns Tom Juniper Helen Robinson and featured poet (and 2021 Vogon Champion) Tim Kiely.

An announcement from the DD team: Hello Darlings! August’s episode is going to be one of our open mic special episodes, so that means we’d like you to get involved. If you’d like to take part, simply make a recording of yourself reading your poem on your phone’s voice memo app, or using a computer, and email it to deaddarlingspodcast@gmail.com before midnight on the 29th of July.  Your message should include (in this order): your name, any introduction to your poem you want to make and your poem. You can also include anything you’d like to plug such as your social media details, your website and anywhere your work is published. We’d also love it if you finished off with a recommendation or piece of advice for our listeners.  There is 5 minute time limit, and normal open mic rules apply, so no kicking down, or simply put, don’t be a dick.  A couple of quick tips for best sound quality: try to record somewhere quiet, where there are some soft furnishings around to reduce echo. If you’re recording on your phone, try and hold your phone as though you were having a phone conversation.  We’ll exercise discretion on whether something is appropriate, and we may not be able to fit everyone in. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop us an email, or message us on Facebook, where you’ll find us as Dead Darlings Podcast, or on Twitter and Instagram, where we’re @deaddarlingspod.

This month's interview is with Dr Katie Ailes, whose PhD explored authenticity in spoken word and performance poetry. We've also got a poem from Jake Wild Hall, and a taster of our Book Club, featuring Amnion by Stephanie Sy-Quia. The full book club epsiode will be out later this month.

In the latest Bookclub episode, Laurie, Hannah and Rebecca chat about Rebel Without Applause by Lemn Sissay. Copies of the book are available here: https://canongate.co.uk/books/201-rebel-without-applause/

This month's interview is with the Birmingham-based poet and beatbox extraordinaire Jasmine Gardosi. There's also poetry from Ken Cumberlidge and a sneak preview of our Book Club episode (full episode out later this month), looking at Rebel Without Applause by Lemn Sissay.

In this month's Book Club episode, Laurie, Hannah and Rebecca chat about All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus. The book is available here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/raymond-antrobus/all-the-names-given/9781529059496

This month Rebecca, Hannah and Laurie chat to the poet Matthias 'Munkey' Ediger about writing in translation, dance and his impressive range of personalised t-shirts. And they discuss All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus in the sneak preview of our book club mini-epsiode, out later this month. (Sorry this episode has been delayed, Rebecca caught Covid!)

In this month's Book Club mini-episode, Hannah, Laurie and Rebecca chat about Surge by Jay Bernard. The book is available to purchase here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1116412/surge/9781784742614.html