Spoken Label

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry Podcast) features Zoe Mitchell.

Zoe Mitchell is a widely-published poet whose work has been featured in a number of magazines including The Rialto, The London Magazine and The Moth. She graduated from the University of Chichester with an MA in Creative Writing and was awarded a Distinction and the Kate Betts Memorial Prize. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, examining witches in women’s poetry. In 2018, she was joint winner of the Indigo-First Collection Competition and her first collection, Hag, is published by Indigo Dreams Publishing.

Her second collection 'Untold Fortunes' which the Podcast primarily discusses is published

by Animal Heart Press and is described as "Women have long been connected to mythology and witchcraft, often as cautionary tales. Untold Fortunes explores the experiences of women of the past, both mythological and real, giving voice to many who were so often silenced. In history both ancient and modern, these poems tug women from the footnotes. Some are heroines, some monsters...or are they products of the circumstances society forced on them? And how do these echoes shape womanhood even now? In this powerful collection, poet Zoe Mitchell examines what it means to be a woman in the world, through lenses of past, present, and future."

Latest up from Spoken Label, features making her debut is the wonderful Rachel Hammond.

Rachel Hammond is an actor-musician, writer and theatre maker based in Manchester. 

Rachel trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and since then has worked in theatre nationally and internationally, including: Climax: A Work in Progress (Close to Home), Underneath a Magical Moon (Tutti Frutti), Joy Unspeakable (Ordinary Glory), Firebird and Pulse (Bamboozle Theatre Company), Give it Back Mak! (Riding Lights), Twitchers and A Force to Be Reckoned With (Mikron Theatre Company), The True Adventures of Maid Marian and Robin Hood (Barn Theatre, Cirencester), A Christmas Carol (TNT Theatre), Swallows and Amazons (York Theatre Royal), Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Broadsides), Babe - The Sheep-Pig (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Macbeth (Wiltons Music Hall).

Rachel loves making new work, and is passionate about telling the untold stories in our society. Writing credits include: Joshua (and Me) (The Pleasance Theatre & International tour), Rising Tides (Small Disasters Theatre Company), and Dear Lilian (Northern Broadsides Young Writers). 

Latest up from Spoken Label features making her debut is the wonderful Saira Anwar (Saira the Poet).

Saira Anwar is an educator, poet, author, content creator, and spoken word artist. Her debut poetry collection, The Death of a Beautiful Dream, was released in January 2014 and went on to reach Amazon’s Top 20 Bestsellers list.Saira writes about the beauty and struggle of life with themes like marriage, divorce, healing, self-love, and emotional resilience, to help others heal through poetry.Her poetry has been published in twelve anthologies, and she’s performed at events including MACFEST with Professor John McAuliffe, Poetry Bonanza with North-West Poets, and Word Central. She’s also been featured twice on BBC Upload with BBC Radio Manchester.Her second book, Rising From Despair: A Journey to Hope, is a powerful and long-awaited follow-up, combining poetry, personal reflection, and space for readers to begin their own journey of healing.

Bonus Podcast today for Spoken Label (Poetry Podcast) with the return of Amanda Nicholson and Courtney Ward assisting me interviewing the return of Lee McShane talking about his debut poetry book 'The House built from Shadows'.

Lee McShane is a Neurodivergent actor, filmmaker, and published writer and poet from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. His work often blends psychological horror with themes of mental health, creating emotionally charged and thought-provoking narratives. His writing has appeared in All Your Stories, All Your Poems, and the PoeticEdge Fantasy Anthology. He will appear in the next anthology by Black Eye Publishing. He headlined Spoken Word Online in July 2025 and is set to headline an online AccessAbility Arts event.Lee's book 'The House built from Shadows' can be found on Amazon

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) making his debut is Steve Schlam.

Steve advises he first gained entry to the City of Words through the doors of the public library in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born and spent a good part of his childhood; and has maintained his residency ever since while living in cities and towns across the United States and in Mexico. An actor as well as an author, he has performed on stages in all the places he has called home, and earned a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and English under the tutelage of Joseph Heller, renowned author of "Catch-22." He lives currently in Southern California in a pretty little Craftsman bungalow with orange and lemon trees growing in the backyard, in the company of his wife, Liora. His debut novel, "The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane," was released in March 2024.

More about Steve can be found at:

https://www.steveschlam.com/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word Podcast) features making his debut, Ray Whitaker.

Ray advises he has been writing both prose and poetry since he was seventeen. What Ray is writing now is very different from what he wrote those so many years ago. All writers and poets are writing out of "the Self" however there are directions that the self speaks into, that change. Now Ray is attempting to put foremost in his work, just who he is writing for. He intends on writing for the everyday man and woman. He firmly believes that poems need to reach into the everyday person's pictures in their minds, and engage with those. This is where he aims to make a difference in his creative writing. Ray does readings around the state of North Carolina [USA], and is a member or the North Carolina Poetry Society, the Winston-Salem Writers, and The North Carolina Writer’s Network. He has thrice been a ‘Writer-in-Residence” at the North Carolina Center For The Arts and Humanities, at Weymouth, in Southern Pines,NC. He is the father of two daughters. Originally from the South, he now lives in Colorado, where he is seeking venues.

More details can be found at:

https://raywhitakerblog.wordpress.com/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) features making her debut, Catherine Holland Bax.

Catherine is the Author of Little Viking House and the Badger Resistance Army.

Catherine lives in Shropshire with two cats, several chickens, and three Icelandic horses. She created EponaWise to support her writing and her desire for better leadership in the world.

Catherine has always loved telling stories and has never stopped believing that she can talk to animals. So when she began to write her stories down, they had animals at their heart.

A graduate of the prestigious Golden Egg Academy, Catherine published her first novel, Little Viking Horse, in October 2021.

Little Viking Horse is based on the character of Catherine’s Icelandic horse, Fleygur, her detailed observations of her horses, and the horse-human interactions she has witnessed, which, sadly, are notalways positive. Inspired by Black Beauty, Catherine hopes that LittleViking Horse will promote greater understanding and empathy towardshorses, and hopefully people too!

Catherine’s second book, The Badger Resistance Army, was published in June 2025. Badgers are an iconic but often controversial animal. In The Badger Resistance Army, Catherine explores the threat to our wild habitats through the eyes of a badger, lives her fantasy of being able to talk to animals, and imagines a world where space is made for all to live.

More details at: https://eponawise.com/

Crossing with the Writing Way Podcast, Andy N and Amanda Nicholson fresh off the release of their books 'Threads and other stories of isolation (Andy N under his real name A.E. Nicholson) and 'Under the Manchester Skies (Amanda as Alicia Nicholls), the pair of them invite Courtney Ward, author of the forthcoming poetry book (Out Spring 2026) 'Nights like this' to talk about all of their books, what lend to writing this and so much more.

Courtney is on:

https://www.instagram.com/courts_ward/

https://substack.com/@courtneywardpoet

Amanda is on:

https://iamnotcalm.substack.com/

https://nowriteway.substack.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaNicholsonAuthor

Andy N is on:

https://www.facebook.com/andynstorytellerpoet

https://andynartist.substack.com/

https://www.instagram.com/andynpoet/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author Chat Podcast) features Deborah Weitzman making her debut to talk about her debut novel ‘The Sinking of the Leonardo Da Vinci’.

“The Sinking of the Leonardo Da Vinci’ is described as “Itis 1976, in New York. Joanna, a dreamy and sensitive young woman, suffers deep loneliness and a sense of never belonging. The world of music, of songwriting,draws her toward something deeper, if only she had permission to enter that world.

When she meets Luca, onboard The Leonardo da Vinci, her wildest dreams come true. He-the young navigator of the ship, rebellious and passionate-gives her that permission. They fall hopelessly in love, and against all odds, shetravels to Rome to be with him. When she arrives, he has drastically changed.

Never knowing what turned him so callous, this dark seed contaminates the rest of her life.

Back in NY, she runs into her former professor, Stuart, avisionary environmentalist, and they marry. Older than Joanna, he is her anchor and benevolent father figure. To never be burned again, she vows to stay far from the rocky shoals of passion. To keep that vow, she buries her creativesoul, her real voice, and her music. When Stuart unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, her unlived self awakens with a vengeance. Hoping to heal, she travels to the walking trails of Cinque Terre, where she unexpectedly reawakens bothpassion and comfort in her relationships, finding herself along the way.

Her book is on Amazon etc

Substack link: 

https://open.substack.com/pub/deborahjeanneweitzman

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/deborahjeanneweitzman

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/deborahjeannew/

Her website is:

https://deborahjeanne.com/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author Podcast) features making his debut is Craig Snelgrove.

Craig Snelgrove is a writer from Manchester and a PhD in Creative Writing. Craig is author of the short story cycle Young Mancunians, and the creator of The Existential Reader and The Subtext: The Art of Storytelling. (Both available on Substack).