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The Open Lab Pit Party
Poetry + Film / Hack
Straight after a screening of Walter Hill's stylised classic action film The Warriors, poets deliver lyrical meditations created in response to its themes of tribes and territory, poverty and struggle.
Featuring:
Bohdan Piasecki is a poet from Poland based in Birmingham. A committed performer, he has taken his poems from the upstairs room in an Eastbourne pub to the main stage of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from underground Tokyo clubs to tramways in Paris, from a bookshop in Beijing to an airfield in Germany, from niche podcasts to BBC Radio. In the UK, he regularly features at the country’s most exciting spoken word nights, festivals, and readings. He enjoys the creative chaos of big field festivals just as much as the composed concentration of literary events.
Caleb Femi was the first Young People's Laureate for London. He is also a director, photographer and English Literature teacher. Caleb is featured in the Dazed 100 list of the next generation shaping youth culture. He has written and directed short films commissioned by the BBC and Channel 4 and poems by the Tate Mordern, The Royal Society for Literature, and more. Caleb has also won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam and is currently working on a debut collection.
Ella Frears is a poet and visual artist based in London. She’s had poems published or forthcoming in the LRB, Poetry London, Ambit, The Rialto, Poetry Daily, POEM, and the Moth among others. She’s a trustee and editor for Magma poetry magazine, was a Jerwood/Arvon mentee and was shortlisted for the Manchester Poetry Prize. She’s completed residencies for Tate Britain, Tate St.Ives, the National Trust, Royal Holloway University and K6 Gallery. Her debut pamphlet, Passivity, Electricity, Acclivity is out with Goldsmiths Press.
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, a Complete Works poet alumni and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Across his work, Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in which he also tries to mix the old with the new: traditional African storytelling with contemporary poetry. His poetry is published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches & several plays by Oberon.
Caroline Bird is a poet and playwright. She has five collections of poetry published by Carcanet. Her most recent collection, In These Days of Prohibition, was shortlisted for the 2017 TS Eliot Prize and The Ted Hughes Award. A two time winner of the Foyles Young Poets Award, her first collection Looking Through Letterboxes was published in 2002 when she was 15. She won a major Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and was shortlisted for the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2001 and the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2008 and 2010. She was one of the five official poets at the 2012 London Olympics.
In this R.A.P Party – Rhythm And Poetry Party – a nostalgic, no-clutter, no fuss, straight up evening of hip hop inspired poems and hip hop songs, 10 poets will gather to celebrate the art form and the culture, reflecting on themes and narratives taken from cult classic movie, The Warriors following a screaming of the film; new poems and specially chosen songs.
Featuring:
Tobi Kyeremateng is a Theatre, poetry and festival producer. She has worked with organisations such as Apples and Snakes, Bush Theatre, Roundhouse, Brainchild Festival, and more She is founder of the Black Ticket Project, increasing access to theatre for black people.
Birmingham born Steven Camden (Polarbear) is one of the most respected spoken word artists in the UK. He was co-writer and script mentor on the Akram Khan Company's Olivier Award winning production DESH. He has written three novels for HarperCollins, TAPE (2013), It's About Love (2015) and Nobody Real (2018).
Laurie Ogden is a poet and playwright born in Liverpool – emerging from Roundhouse’s ‘Spit The Atom’ Collective to become an unforgettable young voice in UnFOLD. Her poetry is captivating, subtle and acutely observed. Laurie work has featured on Sofar Sounds and national TV campaigns.
Jeremiah ‘SugarJ’ Brown is a Black British-Jamaican writer and performer based in Croydon. He’s a Barbican Young Poet alumni and former Roundhouse resident artist. His debut show Likkle Rum with Grandma sold out at the Roundhouse as part of the Last Word festival, and at Bernie Grants Arts Centre as part of SKFEST.
Hibaq Osman is a Somali writer born and based in London. Her work largely centres women, identity and the healing process with a focus on the often hidden, nuanced aspects of our experiences. Her debut poetry collection A Silence You Can Carry was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2015. She is a member of OCTAVIA poetry collective.
Paul Cree is a storyteller, theatre maker, rapper and poet.. Paul’s performed at festivals and events such as The Edinburgh Fringe, Lattitude, and Bestival, as well as having his work showcased on BBC 1Xtra. He has an EP of stories entitled The 90 Sick E.P and In 2018 published his debut collection of poems and stories, entitled The Suburban with Burning Eye Books.
S.K. Perry’s debut Let Me Be Like Water was published in 2018 by Melville House. She has delivered creative writing workshops for PEN International in Honduras and Scotland, for the Roundhouse in Bulgaria, and all across the UK with different schools and organisations.
Bohdan Piasecki is a poet from Poland based in Birmingham. He has worked as Director of Education on the Spoken Word in Education MA course at Goldsmiths University, and was the Midlands Producer for Apples and Snakes between 2010 and 2017. He currently holds the post of General Manager at Free Radical, a Birmingham-based company creating opportunities for young artists with an activist practice.
Indigo Williams is a British Nigerian poet and Spoken Word Educator from South London. She uses her poetry to explore themes of race, gender and spirituality. She has performed at TedxBrixton, BBC Radio 4’s Bespoken Word, Glastonbury Festival and has spoken at Oxford and Cambridge University.
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, a Complete Works poet alumni and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Across his work, Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in which he also tries to mix the old with the new: traditional African storytelling with contemporary poetry. His poetry is published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches & several plays by Oberon.
Venue: The Barbican Centre
Time: 7pm
Address: Silk Street
Tickets: £15 / book Here