Health Beat Poets

In this episode Helen chats with Hazel Hammond about being 'Not the Same Poet, Always An Artist' exhibition 

Hazel Hammond has been a poet and an artist for over 40 years. In 2018 she had a stroke and now lives with Aphasia, a condition shared by over 350,000 people in the UK and affecting their ability to speak, write and read.

Join artist Hazel Hammond as she shares the creativity that became an important part of her regaining her speech and wellbeing following a stroke in 2018. In the associated exhibition Not the Same Poet, Always an Artist  Hazel depicts her journey through drawing, watercolour and knitted hats, which are often macabre, witty and anatomical. In this workshop Hazel will share short films made in collaboration with BiggerHouse Film and Liz Clarke & Company, and creative exercises inspired by the process.

Suitable for adults living with stroke, their families and carers, and anyone interested in the power of arts in recovery.

Learning to use words again is tricky for a poet! This project explores the effects of Aphasia on Hazel’s work as she rediscovers her artistic practice through drawings, film making and other artforms.

Drawing and artistic expression have been vital to her recovery. This work tells Hazel’s story visually and she hopes it will support other people living with Aphasia and their families, raising  awareness of the vital role that arts can play in recovery.

Not the Same Poet, But Always an Artist consists of exhibitions of drawings and photographs at partner venues: Arnolfini and Southmead Hospital, workshops for people living with Aphasia, their families and the medical staff involved in their care, as well as public film screenings and exhibitions.

Southmead Hospital, Bristol: 7 September to 18 December 2021

Arnolfini, Bristol: 1 to 31 October 2021

Not the Same Poet, But Always an Artist film screenings will take place in the Dark Studio at Arnolfini throughout the day during the weekend of Friday 29 to Sunday 31 October. Again, admission is free.

https://arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/not-the-same-poet/

https://professorofwhimsy.com/tag/hazel-hammond/

In this episode Helen talks with Beth Calverley - Poetry Machine. exploring collaboration poetry in places of work including: learning, care and play, helping to express what matters.  

Bio: 

Beth Calverley is a poet, creative coach and founder of The Poetry Machine. Her poetry lives and breathes, holding your hand through crisp emotional landscapes.

Beth co-creates poems with people via her supportive practice, The Poetry Machine. She collaborates with places of work, learning, care and play, helping people to express what matters to them most.

She collaborates with places of work, learning, care and play, helping people to express their thoughts and feelings.

One of Rife Magazine’s 2018 influential young people in Bristol, Beth was a Roundhouse Slam Finalist 2018 and a Bristol Life Awards Arts Finalist 2020. She is Poet in Residence at UH Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust and was published in These Are The Hands, the NHS anthology endorsed by Stephen Fry and Michael Rosen.

Beth has performed at iconic venues such as Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Old Vic and London Roundhouse. She has worked with the BBC, Sky, Oh Magazine and The Prince’s Trust, among many other brilliant local and national organisations.

Beth is also part of House of Figs, a music and poetry duo, and co-produces Milk Poetry, a nurturing platform for spoken word.

She is Poet in Residence at University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS FT and was published in These Are The Hands, the NHS anthology. She was the Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival Poet 2021 and a 2020 Bristol Life Awards Arts Finalist.

Beth has worked with BBC, ITV, Sky and many more. Her collection, Brave Faces & Other Smiles, launched in 2020 with Verve Poetry Press.

Social Media:

www.ThePoetryMachine.live

Instagram: Poetry Machine

Twitter: @BethCalverley

Facebook: ThePoetryMachineUK

Episode photo - Chris Vox 

Podcast Interview and editing - Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen talks with T.S. Idiot. Exploring creative poetry production and our writing through journeys in mental health. Recorded outdoors with background sounds of the city.  

'Sadness and joys are congealed in the cracks of life' - T.S. Idiot

Tom Stockley (AKA T.S. IDIOT) is a queer artist, writer, performer and producer, working across the South West. Informed by a century of counter-culture, their practice flirts with the humour, beauty and sadness of every day life by any means necessary. After graduating from a Fine Art BA in 2016, they have expanded their practice to include collage, photography, short films, theatre and live performance, often created collaboratively with other artists and in community settings. They are interested in our human experience, collectively and as individuals, creating conversations around identity, culture, mental health and the places we call home. They are also a qualified youth worker and have been working in youth and community roles since 2011, and believe in the value of all people who feel othered and abandoned. They are an alumni of several UK Young Artists residency programmes and a Cultural Secretary for Tate St Ives, as well as writing for BBC Arts and performing across the UK at nights hosted by the likes of Apples & Snakes and Raise The Bar. Their poetry zine SPIT & MARGARINE was self-published in 2020, and their short story Lipstick Traces is due to be published by Bitchin' Kitsch. Through 2021, they have been producing poems and images for their #pandemicpoems collaborative project, writing stories and short films, developing live performances and making DIY theatre for communities and young people. They are also the host of IDIOT TALK, a monthly show on 1020 Radio.

Social Media:

Website - https://tomstockley.weebly.com/

Instagram/Twitter: @tstheidiot

Facebook: /tstheidiot

Interview and editing by Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen discusses storytelling and menopause with storyteller poet and performer Kat Lyons. They explore the craft of storytelling and putting on a show 'Dry Season' exploring perimenopause. 

Kat is a Bristol-based poet, storyteller, writer and performer. They won both the 2019 Milk Poetry Superslam and the 2019 Lyra: Bristol Poetry Festival Slam, supported Joelle Taylor at Lyra: Bristol Poetry Festival 2020, and have performed at poetry events and festivals across the UK, including WOMAD, Shambala and the Eden Project. Kat’s poetry has been published in Under the Radar, Ink Sweat & Tears and Bath Magg, with a full collection forthcoming in 2022 from Verve Poetry Press. They are currently working on Dry Season – a spoken word theatre show/project exploring age, identity and menopause. A UK tour of the show is in production, though currently suspended due to Covid-19 restrictions.

As well as co-hosting Raise the Bar, Kat is the creator, producer and host of SpitFire, an online spoken word event curated to highlight the voices and talent of older women.

Kat was artist in residence with Artspace Lifespace (2019), and the Shoebox Theatre (2020). In March 2020 they were commissioned by The Cemetary Club to research and create a performance based on Bristol’s hidden queer history. In July 2020 they were one of 5 artists chosen for  The Arts Institute Covid-19 commission .

Kat has told stories for adults and children, worked with an ecologist to create site-specific explorations of myth and science, created mushroom-themed cabaret and explored fungal folklore, and presented at the University of South Wales’ annual Storytelling Symposium on Storytelling and the Environment. They occasionally dress up as a space explorer and ride around harassing the public from the back of an electric stegosaurus. They still can’t believe they actually get paid to do that.

Twitter - @words_and_weeds

Facebook - @words_and_weeds

Instagram - @words_and_weeds

Interview and editing Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen is delighted to talk with poet, librettist Claire Williamson about creative writing and health. Claire generously shares a masterclass on writing through and writing slant to express our words for therapeutic purposes. 

These times tough times of sharing sorrow in our words can be insightful and uncover joy. 

Claire Williamson has an MA in Literary Studies, (UWE), and is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy and was Programme Leader for the Msc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at the Metanoia Institute in London for ten years. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at Cardiff University. Claire has worked closely with Welsh National Opera since 2003, writing the words for Cradle, Cardiff City Songs, Billy and the Dragon and The Merman King.. She is also involved in musical collaborations including ‘Home by Christmas’ which was performed by 350 singers at Colston Hall to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of WW1, and she was nominated for the British Composer Awards in 2015. Claire has written chapters in academic books on themes of creative writing and health. She is the author of four collections: Visiting the Miotaur, Split Ends, Ride On, The Soulwater Pool. Individual poems have appeared widely in magazines. Claire is also a member of ‘The Spoke’ poetry group, well known for their electric readings, with Bob Walton, Abeer Ameer, and Elizabeth Parker.

Interview and editing - Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen discusses with performance and slam poet Callum Wensley about writing and performing the many characters of grief and mental health.

Bio: Callum is a non-binary poet and performer. They are representing Bristol in the next Hammer and Tongue National Slam Finals alongside Jemma Hathaway, and later this year they will be working on a poetry and music collaboration with their friend Tom Robertson. Their candid and emotive poetry performances are available on-line including BBCUpload - What to Do When Your Child is Hurting Themselves. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07vsc9c , Sunshine - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07vsbhj

Callum is a performance and spoken word event host. 

Social media - 

Instagram - @callumthepoet

Twitter - CallumThePoet

Interviewer and editing - Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen is in conversation with J T Lewis, poet, conservationist, spoken word artist and NHS worker dog borrower and tea-drinker. 

They discuss Jessi's 'Take' on Poetry and Health... What inspires our writing, 'Creativity is the last rope to hang onto, not just in the times we can 'write well' but those bruised, desperate times when much else in life has fallen away...yet our creativity lives within.' . - J T Lewis

'Poetry with Goats is a project I started a few days after I got my first diagnosis back in March 2020. I volunteer to help look after goats in a woodland and, in the first lockdown, it seemed the, erm, obvious thing to do to read poetry to them. I may have just had a cancer diagnosis and the world may have been seemingly falling apart, but there's always the woods, and goats and poetry.' 

Her Blog - Cancer in the Time of Covid - Writings about life, illness and adventure https://jtlewiswriter.com

Interviewer and editing Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen is talking with poet Pauline Sewards about writing about people in our care without appropriating their stories. they also discuss the linguistics of work. 

Pauline currently lives between Lincolnshire and Bristol. She founded Satellite of Love Spoken Word events. 

Her two published poetry collections are This is the Band published by Hearing Eye Press and Spirograph with Burning Eye Books 2020. Pauline is currently one of the leading writers on women's working lives - she co-edited Magma 74 The Word Edition. Recent publications include a poem in Messing Up the Paintwork - a tribute to Mark E. Smith with Penguin Random House and a poem in Witches, Warriors and Workers an anthology of working class women's poetry in Culture Matters. 

Social Media links - 

Instagram - @Paulinesewards

psewards.cigcartel.com

Interviewer and editing Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode frenetic poet Sam J Grudgings talks with Helen about finding poetry through fairy tales, horror, punk and addiction... Listen in to a lively discussion on performing tales and truth. 

"Sam J Grudgings is a  queer poet from Bristol, England. His debut collection “The Bible II” is due out with Verve Poetry Press in November 2021. Until then he can be booked for boardroom meetings, pyramid scheme recruitment drives, satanic rituals and children's birthday parties." In the meantime his work can be found in Riggwelter Press, Nine Arches and Cipher Press.  

Sam runs workshops on performance as well as campaigning for the recognition of lived experience in professional & academic circles. He endeavours to bring poetry to everyone, by collaboration efforts with musicians, dancers, artists & initiatives in local communities.

@storygiverpoet for twitter  

@samjgrudgings for instagram

Interviewer and editing Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud

In this episode Helen is talking with Stephen Lightbown about poets shifting access to online events, and writing authentic human endurance stories.

Stephen Lightbown is a Bristol based poet who writes extensively but not exclusively about his life as a wheelchair user. His debut collection, Only Air, was published in 2019 and his follow up collection The Last Custodian, will be published in June 2021.

Stephen was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. In 1996, aged 16, he experienced a life changing accident whilst sledging in the snow and is now paralysed from below the waist. Stephen writes extensively but not exclusively about life as a wheelchair user.

He has spoken at events across the UK and at festivals such as Shambala, Womad, Verve Poetry Festival and Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival. In addition, Stephen has read internationally in San Antonio, Texas.

In March 2019 Stephen’s first poetry collection, Only Air, was published by Burning Eye Books and his second collection The Last Custodian, a dystopian novella in poetry form, will be published again by Burning Eye Books in June 2021. His poems have been anthologised by Verve Poetry Press, Hachette Children’s Group, The Poetry Business and Squares & Rebels.

Social media link @spokeandpencil

Interviewer and editing Helen Sheppard | Write Out Loud