This is a past event
The North-East's vibrant and lively grassroots poetry and spoken word scene plays an important role in the cultural life of the region.
The North-East’s vibrant and lively grassroots poetry and spoken word scene plays an important role in the cultural life of the region. Its members produce exciting and challenging work that speaks to important contemporary issues. This event presents talented local poets and spoken word artists Jo Gilbert, Mae Diansangu, Hannah Nicholson, Noon Salah Eldin, Fiona Robertson, and Kimberley Petrie, who will be performing new work commissioned by the festival on the theme of ‘Hame’ alongside their own work.
Jo Gilbert is a spoken word artist from Aberdeen, writing in Scots/Doric and English. Poetry commissions include Look Again Festival, StAnza Poetry Festival, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen Performing Arts and Loud Poets. Jo’s work has been featured on BBC Radio 4 show Tongue and Talk and has been published in anthologies and magazines, including Northwords Now, Causeway/Cabhsair and Beyond the Swelkie.
Mae Diansangu is a Black, queer poet from Aberdeen who writes to continue conversations started by people who are now long gone. These conversations are felt in the body before they are expressed on the page, making each poem a visceral response (to a question that will probably remain unanswered). Mae has been commissioned by The National Library of Scotland, Aberdeen Performing Arts and Fringe of Colour Films. Her work has been featured on BBC Big Scottish Book Club and BBC Radio Four's Tongue and Talk. Mae writes in both English and Scots/Doric.
Kimberley Petrie is an Aberdonian performance poet and writer in Scots/Doric and English. Her work has been published by Leopard Arts and Dreich Themes. Stage performances include Look Again Festival, Extinction Rebellion Rebel Rising Festival, Doric Poetry Slam, Speakin Weird, Like a Blot from the Blue and Seahorse Muse@Avant Garde (Glasgow). Her work has been featured in Aberdeen Art Gallery as part of the micro-commission exhibition and her debut poetry collection 'Granite Heart' was published in 2022.
Fiona Robertson is a performance poet and writer in the North-East of Scotland, alongside her political work. Her poetry explores her somewhat chaotic interests, from disability to physics, feminism to the landscapes she grew up in, science to cats. She has written a poetry and practical tips guide to adapting to new disability called "Your Life Is Not Over: A Book of Apocalypses and How to Survive Them".
Noon Salah Eldin is a poet and spoken word artist based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Born and raised in Sudan, she moved to the UK in 2015 to pursue postgraduate medical training in child health. Writing and performing poetry has become an increasingly important part of her life. It has empowered her to process and discuss experiences of childhood traumas, political upheaval, migration and motherhood. She believes that art can be a powerful tool for personal and social transformation.
Hannah Nicholson is originally from Shetland but has now lived in Aberdeen for six years. She is one of the 2021 Winners of the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. She graduated MLitt with Distinction in Creative Writing from the University of Aberdeen in 2017, and has had work published in Northwords Now, Gutter, Causeway, Silk & Smoke and Seaborne, amongst others.
FREE / Booking required
- Speaker
- Jo Gilbert, Mae Diansangu, Hannah Nicholson, Noon Salah Eldin, Fiona Robertson and Kimberley Petrie
- Venue
- King's Pavilion, University of Aberdeen
- Contact
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FREE / Booking required