Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist / Poet Podcast) features the wonderful Rebecca Phythian.

Rebecca is a actor, singer, poet and co-founder of Blue Balloon Theatre among other things.

She also has a collection of poetry due out from Bent Key Publishing 'Perfect Mess' at the start of 2023.

More about Rebecca can be found at the following links among other things:

linktr.ee/RebeccaPhythian?fbclid=IwAR2M7yJf59kok6T_v1OHPPTAq-QKMxrVlEL_ur3P8fse8z3PETZiU5HTWs4

www.spotlight.com/9813-5643-0220

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfz3l_K3VH2KorpnqYsfRJsSpHuKhu3nfKG8JCeN9wC_EBokg/viewform

www.blueballoontheatre.com

www.facebook.com/RebeccaPhythian16/

www.instagram.com/rebeccaphythian/

www.instagram.com/blueballoonmcr/

Rebecca Phythian (Spoken Label, June 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Our Poet/Artist/Writer Podcast) features our returning friend, Sarah James also known as Sarah Leavesley to talk about her latest poetry collection from Verve Poetry Press "Blood Sugar, Sex, Magic"

The book is described as "Blood Sugar, Sex, Magic is award-winning poet Sarah James’s exploration of 40 years living with type one diabetes, a life-threatening autoimmune condition that is now treatable, but remains incurable. The collection tracks her personal journey from diagnosis, age six, to adulthood, including the high and the low points, as well as the further long-term health risks lurking in the background. These are poems of pain, but also of love and beauty, taking in motherhood, aging and establishing self-identity in a constantly updating world. The route to some kind of acceptance and belonging may be troubled by ‘trying to escape’ but it also ‘holds | more light than your eye | will ever know’

‘Sarah James’ Blood Sugar, Sex, Magic compellingly conveys the journey of a life pervaded by type one diabetes and the myriad struggles of that hidden disability. It’s a world of sunlit fields and night sweats, “doorstep birdsong” and pricked fingertips, at once arduous and munificent. Always engaging and often moving, James’ poems deftly immerse as well as inform, urging a deep appreciation of life’s plenty, “breath[ing] in the sky.’ – Carrie Etter

“These poems speak with such urgency and humanity that we take the deeply researched science (and magic) in our stride, then get pulled up short by its failure to ‘make sense of unfairness’. It’s an exhilarating, poignant collection combining raw honesty with impressive craft. The way ‘the world shrinks’ in personal hardship and the sheer and constant work it takes to open it up again. I feel more awake and alive for reading it.” – Luke Kennard

“Sarah James’s fine poems are wonderfully abundant in experiment, energy, and expression. She has a remarkable sense for how the self-discipline of illness—like art—can release and shape the language of wonder, wisdom, and love.” – David Morley"

More about Sarah can be found at: https://www.sarah-james.co.uk/

NB. As a P.S. and recorded after the poetry session of the Podcast - there is a bonus poem recorded - "How to become your own worst friend".

Sarah James (Sarah Leavesley) (June 2022, Spoken Label)

Returning to Spoken Label after a long break are two dear friends (off) ours the wonderful Chelsea Tadeyeske and Edie Roberts who we met in Manchester years back (speaking to us from the Gamli Skoli Residency on Hrisey Island) in Iceland
Chelsea Tadeyeske is a poet, performer, and bookmaker from and currently based in Milwaukee, WI. She is the founding editor of pitymilk press where she publishes short-run chapbooks and edits both online and print journals. 
Edie Roberts is a multi-disciplinary genderqueer performer and curator living in Detroit, MI.
More about both can be found at:
https://edieroberts.wordpress.com/
https://chelseatadeyeske.wordpress.com/

Chelsea Tadeyeske and Edie Roberts (Spoken Label, June 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label features a special Podcast with Kimberley Goldie aka The Lancashire Wellness Witch.
In this very special Podcast we talk to Kimberley about her work in the NHS and how it has now led to her work as the Lancashire Wellness Witch where in her own words about the services she offers "to help people be happier, healthier and take charge of their own wellbeing. And I aim to do this as naturally as possible, with just a little sprinkle of Lancashire magic!"
More about the Lancashire Wellness Witch can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/lancashirewellnesswitch/

She also has a website at: https://the-lancashire-wellness-witch.sumup.link/
and a instragram page at: https://www.instagram.com/the_lancashire_wellness_witch/

Kimberley Goldie ((The Lancashire Wellness Witch) Spoken Label, June 2022))

Latest Spoken Label session (Spoken Word / Poetry / Author) session features the wonderful Nick Toczek.  Born in Yorkshire in 1950, Nick has been writing since he was a child, began getting his poetry published in his mid-teens, did his first public readings when he was nineteen, and had his first collection of poetry published when he was twenty-one.  Since then, he’s done more than fifty thousand performances and presentations, has worked in more than forty countries, has published more than forty books, and has never had a ‘proper job’.  
More about Nick can be found at: https://www.nicktoczek.com/

Nick Toczek (Spoken Label, June 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label features newcomer to the spoken word scene, previously from Stafford but now based Manchester, flash fiction writer Scott Hall.
More about Scott Hill can be found at: 
https://www.instagram.com/hozart_heron/

Scott Hill (Spoken Label, June 2022)

Latest Episode from Spoken Label (Author/Poet/Storyteller Podcast) features the storyteller Mark Jackson.
Mark's bio says "In 2010 Mark started writing.
After the initial euphoria of finding an outlet for that creative fire burning within since childhood, he  soon realised that the world wasn't quite ready for his tales of Ian Brown drinking piss, cocaine induced paranoia, The Stockholm Monsters, the inner workings of a massage parlor, of pretending to be Norman Whiteside in Las Vegas,  selling snide football programs outside the Nou Camp, of being arrested wearing someone else's jeans and one about an auntie who looks a bit like Clint Boon.
He’s written non-fiction pieces for Vice website (which were really fiction - but they don't know that), a regular contributor to United We Stand Fanzine and occasionallyy reads at spoken word events around Manchester and Liverpool"
His website is: https://www.keithsbrother.com/
His Pod Play 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' can be accessed via his website or found on Spotify, Itunes/Apple or Google Podcast. 

Mark Jackson (Spoken Label, May 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Poetry / Author / Artist) Podcast features Melissa Sussens (she/her).
Melissa is a queer South African veterinarian and poet. Her work has appeared in Capsule Stories, Horse Egg Literary, Kissing Dynamite, SFWP Quarterly and Anti-Heroin Chic, among others. She was runner up for the New Contrast National Poetry Prize. By day she works as a small animal veterinarian and whenever she’s not doctoring animals, she assists in teaching Megan Falley’s Poems That Don’t Suck international online writing course. Melissa lives in Cape Town with her wife and their two dogs. Find her on Instagram @melissasussens and on Twitter @girlstillwrites.

Melissa Sussens (Spoken Label, May 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Our Author / Poet / Artist Podcast) is a kinda bonus episode you could say before we bring her on for a full session in the Autumn is the wonderful Christina Alagaratnam.
Christina describes herself as "I'm a writer, author, playwright and podcaster. I've published my work on Amazon and work on the London theatre scene. Now, I run my own podcast called The Night Writer, creating content for the insomniacs."
In this episode we talk about the forthcoming production and performance of Christina's play for Peckham Fringe the 2nd and 3rd June 2022 called 'Playfight'. 
'Playfight' is a play where "Fifteen year old best friends Kai, TJ & Zara have been tight since, well, forever. Always together. Inseperable. But as they've grown older things have begun to change. Why did life start to get so complicated? When did the world stop seeing them as children and start demanding that they behave according to some script written in stone and carved decades before their birth? And when did the weight of that stone start to crush them - slowly and imperceptibly at first, until they could hardly breathe? 
Based on an idea by Shereener Browne and written by Christina Alagaratnam, PlayFight examines the corrosive way in which racism determines the direction young Black lives take. "
Tickets for the play can be purchased from: https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/show/playfight/

More about Christina can be found at: 
https://chrissysnotebook.com/
https://twitter.com/ChrissyA_92
https://www.instagram.com/xchristina.writer/

Christina Alagaratnam (Spoken Label, May 2022)

Latest Spoken Label session (Spoken Word / Poetry / Author / Artist Podcast) features the wonderful Charles Haffner.
Charles is from Florida. He describes himself as "I have a few passions, one being my love to express myself through Tanka and various other poetic forms. This passion started in my late teens when I read Edgar Allan Poe and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. After a 30 year hiatus I decided to actually write poetry to cope with taking care of my terminally ill mother. That is when I really discovered my passion for Japanese poetry. I have published 3 full paperbacks, "Orchids under the stars, Four colors of my life in Cinquain and If love was a Rose", a beautiful gift to leave behind for my children, to let them understand a little more about myself."
More about Charles can be found at: 
https://www.facebook.com/Fayjai1970
https://www.instagram.com/angryhobiepoetry/
https://charlesrhaffner.my.canva.site/

Charles Haffner (aka Chuck Haffner) (Spoken Label, May 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Author / Artist Podcast) is a interview with the wonderful Elisabeth Horan. Elisabeth  is a poet, mother, and small press publisher living in the wilds of Vermont. She is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks and collections, and the Editor-In-Chief of Animal Heart Press. Elisabeth is passionate about discovering new voices and mentoring emerging poets. She is also a fierce advocate for those impacted by mental illness. More about Elisabeth can be found at:  https://www.amazon.com/Elisabeth-Horan/e/B07QDPPMPZ%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share  OR https://ehoranpoet.net/

Elisabeth Horan (Spoken Label, May 2022)

Latest Spoken Label session features the wonderful Leonie Rowland.

Leonie Rowland is a writer living in Manchester, UK. She is currently doing her PhD with the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she researches commodity animism in the Japanese Gothic. Leonie is Editor-in-Chief of The Hungry Ghost Project and Assistant Reviews Editor at The British Society for Literature and Science. Her writing has been published widely, and she won Third Prize in the June 2021 Bath Flash Fiction Award. Her debut chapbook, In Bed with Melon Bread, is available from Dreich.

More about Leonie can be found at her website: www.leonierowland.com
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Leonie Rowland (Spoken Label, April 2022)

* Contains Pieces of a adult nature * 
New from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Author / Artist Podcast)
features the wonderful Rosie Rayworth, originally from Sheffield, now Manchester
poet and drummer for the country / folk band Millie Milner and The Deadnames.

Pieces read out in this session include:
1. Barbies 
2. The Tree
3. Wandering Hands

Rosie Rayworth (Spoken Label, April 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry) Podcast features newcomer the storyteller / short story writer Quigley CB.
More about Quigley can be found at: https://www.instagram.com/quigley_cb/

Quigley CB (Spoken Label, April 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Poetry/Spoken Word Podcast) is our returning friend who we first chatted all the way just after we first got going back in 2016, Ushiku Crisafulli
Ushiku is a chef, poet, playwright, actor, performance artist, comedian, musician, writer, spoken word and hip hop artist, and founder of the OpenMind Collective which curates community focused cross-genre creative collaborations through live events with a multi-disciplinary focus.
He runs the various Bards projects throughout the UK on behalf of Local Gems Poetry Press, and is currently honing his writing, directing, music and comedy skills as a recipient of an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant.
He’s currently working on his second solo show, Unmasked, which challenges language around autistic authenticity through comedy, hip hop, and theatrical monologues and an accompanying exhibition that uses visual arts and soundscapes to challenge the language around autistic enjoyment and environmentalism in collaboration with Filipino Artist Miel Timtiman and Nigerian artist Akilo Joseph. It will be previewing in a free and accessible event at The Peer Hat on Wednesday 13th April from 7pm.
Ushiku advises as a footnote the comedy night he couldn't remember the name off during the session is Comedy for Hot People.
His website is: https://ushikucrisafulli.com/about/

Ushiku Crisafulli (Spoken Label, April 2022)

Latest episode from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Writer / Poet Podcast) heads over to South Africa to speak to our returning friend Alta H Mabin.
Alta is a South African writer, poet and publisher. She has published many e-books and over 20 full paperbacks.
She is also the editor and publisher of Poets Unlimited & Haiku for your soul - both international poetry magazines.
She advises she writes in all poetic genres but lean fully and wholeheartedly towards haiku. 
She also hosts a poetry podcast on Spotify and Anchor. Alta H Mabin.
Email: alta@altamabin.co.za
Instagram: alta.h.mabin

Alta H Mabin (Spoken Label, March 2022)

Latest Spoken Label (Poetry / Author Podcast) features the wonderful Culain Wood from Salford. 
Culain Wood is also the host off 'Rhyming Words' which is a new spoken word night at the Globe, Glossop. More details of which (1st event) is at: https://www.facebook.com/events/488963932948540/
Poems read out in this session include:
1. Stop watching the news
2. I was watching the news
3. There's a dog barking
4. Just on what on Earth

Culain Wood (Spoken Label, March 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label features the wonderful Moshe Mikanovsky.
Moshe is the author The Resurrector (New Degree Press).
The book is described as "Can someone be brought back from the dead? Could it change the life of the living?

The Levi family is in their darkest hour. The sudden death of Nir, the middle child, launches a dark journey filled with moments of light and hope. An estranged father and son, a loving older brother, and a religiously devout but sad younger sister, are threaded together by family ties, in a religious enclave in Israel and the greater unknown. The traditions of Judaism, grief, loss, and mysticism come to life through their eyes.

At the Jewish week-long mourning period—the shiva, a mysterious stranger arrives and sets into motion a series of events that are both tangible and otherworldly. It is a journey to discover the bonds that have both broken and healed this family. It is up to the reader to decide what power the Resurrector has, but one thing is certain—it is important to heal relationships with loved ones before it is too late.
His website is: https://author.mikanovsky.com/

Moshe Mikanovsky (Spoken Label, March 2022)

Latest up from Spoken Label (Poet/Artist Podcast) features Andrea Carter Brown, author of 'September 12'.
Poet and editor Andrea Carter Brown is the author of three previous poetry collections: The Disheveled Bed (CavanKerry Press, 2006) and two chapbooks, Brook & Rainbow (winner of the 2001 Sow's Ear Poetry Review chapbook contest) and Domestic Karma, (Finishing Line Press, 2018).
This session talks about her new collection 'September 12'.
This book has being described as "“A more haunting memorial to 9/11 than this book will be hard to find," writes Martha Collins. "Reading September 12 is a wrenching but restorative experience you won't soon forget". In the words of New York State Poet Laureate Alicia Ostriker, "In Andrea Carter Brown's September 12, detail by detail, we watch the process of innocence captured by absolutely unpredicted trauma, and how the experience lives on and on, through shock and terror, through the kindness of strangers, through the heart of a beloved, through grief and elegy, through normality that will never again be normal." And Cynthia Hogue writes, "This brave book documents great loss, but also hard-won psychic resilience in poems of astonishing beauty and wisdom. September 12 is necessary poetry."
More about Andrea can be found at:
https://www.andreacarterbrown.com/

Andrea Carter Brown (Spoken Label, March 2022)

Latest Spoken Label session features the amazing Rebecca Kenny talking about her debut poetry collection 'Crash and Burn'.

'Crash and Burn' covers the events off "At 7.21am on October 1st 2021, Rebecca Kenny was driving to work when she lost control of her car. Skidding on oil and into the path of an oncoming vehicle, she was directly hit, breaking her back, neck, pelvis and sternum - a grand and somewhat impressive total of eleven bones. Following a week in a Major Trauma Centre and extensive physiotherapy, she was able to return home to recover. It was here she decided to document her journey.

Crash & Learn is a collection of poetry written between October 1st and New Year's Day 2022, as Rebecca recovered from her injuries and learned to live with the massive changes the accident had made to her life. It explores the complex process of recovery, both physical and mental, and how a person learns to adjust to a new normal following a traumatic and life-changing event.

Rebecca also runs the publishing house 'Bent Key Publishing' and more details about that and her book can be found at: 

https://www.bentkeypublishing.co.uk/

Pieces read out in this session include: 

1. String Theory
2. The body I used to have
3. Elephant Juice 
4. Lads

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