Wednesday, November 24, 2010

BIRMINGHAM: Hit the Ode

Thursday, 25th November, 7.30 pm, £5
The Victoria
48 John Bright Street
Birmingham
B1 1BN

Brought to you by Apples & Snakes, "Hit the Ode" is the newest addition to the brummie spoken word scene. Each night will feature three hand-picked poets: one from the West Midlands, one from elsewhere in the UK, and one international spoken word star. Open mic slots available too!

This inaugural edition brings three amazing poets (and one musician) to the Victoria:

Kim Trusty - a Birmingham-based poet from beyond the Atlantic, Kim entices audiences with her on-stage charisma and masterful wordplay. Kim has toured England with the spoken word shows Word Temple and Temptation, and has appeared as a guest artist at many venues nationwide, including the Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, Ways with Words Festival, Latitude Festival, and the Big Chill.

Tony Walsh - a true giant of the Manchester scene, Tony Walsh takes audiences on a rock and rollercoaster ride from comedy to tragedy, from the deadly serious to the seriously deadly. Tony has shared a stage with many top UK and international performance poets and has been published in magazines and anthologies alongside works from Simon Armitage, Benjamin Zephaniah, Roger McGough and Adrian Mitchell.

Ian Keteku & Brad Morden - straight from Canada comes poet & MC Ian Keteku, the reigning poetry slam World Champion! Ian uses his voice to speak for the voiceless, and inspire messages of critical thought. He has shared the stage with artists such as Ursula Rucker, members of the Wu Tang Clan, and Saul Williams. Ian is joined on his European tour by his compatriot, Brad Morden, a ukulele-wielding bard whose musical and poetic travels have taken him from Sarajevo to Little Corn Island in the Caribbean.

Note: if you write and perform poetry yourself - there will be a (very) few open mic slots available. Get there early on the day to sign up!

Info: bohdan@applesandsnakes.org / 0121 3332428

2 comments:

JRS1 said...

Photographer Pogus Caesar launches new UK book. The foreword has been specially written by poet and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah.

'Sparkbrook Pride' features photographs of Sparkbrook residents and will being launched this spring in the UK.

Specially commissioned with funding from Be Birmingham’s Neighbourhood Management Programme it contains 70 black and white photographs of people in community settings by leading British photographer Pogus Caesar.

Residents from the West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan and India feature alongside the newer communities from Sudan, Afghanistan and Malawi.

What’s of interest, Caesar still uses an antique 1980s Canon Sureshot film camera, remarkable results.

http://www.fusedmagazine.com/?s=pogus+caesar

Anonymous said...

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK UNVEILS A DIFFERENT SIDE TO THE SECOND CITY

Birmingham photographer and film maker Pogus Caesar launches a new book during The Birmingham Book Festival this October.

The publication was specially commissioned by Be Birmingham and published by OOM Gallery Archive and Punch.

‘Sparkbrook Pride’ consists of 70 black and white photographs featuring residents of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, UK – where Pogus grew up, all taken with his trademark Canon Sureshot 35mm camera.


The book also has a foreword written by poet, author and playright Benjamin Zephaniah and an introduction by Paris based photographer Nigel Dickinson.

In the foreword Zephaniah says “I love the ‘rawness’ of these photos, they have a sense of place, yet nothing is staged, and the only information Pogus gives us about those featured is how they define themselves, nothing more. We need no more. So people, it is down to us to piece together the rest of this multicultural puzzle”.

Last autumn Caesar regularly visited Sparkbrook, and the striking images in ‘Sparkbrook Pride’ are the result. Documenting the diverse individuals who live and work in the area, the book features both the long standing residents from the West Indies, Ireland, India and Pakistan and the more recent additions to the community from Somalia, Sudan, Malawi and Afghanistan, celebrating the rich cultural mix that defines the area.

Pogus Caesar is a leading social documentary photographer. He has recorded key moments in Birmingham’s recent history including the Bullring regeneration, Birmingham tornado and the Handsworth riots. According to Caesar “Simplicity is best when working with diverse communities; I prefer to photograph the changing world as it unfolds around me”.

Made in association with OOM Gallery Archive and Punch will launch Sparkbrook Pride on 10th October 2011 during The Birmingham Book Festival.

http://www.birminghambookfestival.org/?s=pogus+caesar