Slam Poetry/ Spoken Word Poetry - Seafest

Join us on Sunday 15^th September 2024, Firestone Arches 11am-2pm.

Dive into the world of spoken-word at Seafest's Poetry Stage. Whether you’re a poetry aficionado or a curious newcomer, enjoy evocative poetry readings with the gentle sea breeze as your soundtrack. Featuring up-and-coming spoken word artists, as well as established local poets, immerse yourself in creative writing while taking in stunning coastal views.

Performances include celebrated playwright and artistic director Jon Nash, award winning poet Samantha Carr, seasoned spoken word performer Laurie Page, Plymouth's Laureate of Words Rosemarie Corlett and more.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the diverse and exciting poetic voices our beautiful city has to offer!

Performance schedule includes:

• 11:00 -11:20 - Rosemarie Corlett
• 11:20-11:40 - David Rutherford
• 11:40-12:00 - Eloise Dunwell
• 12:00-12:20 - Rich Taylor
• 12:20-12:40 - Jo Walton
• 12:40-13:00 - Laurie Page
• 13:00-13:20 - Karen Robinson
• 13:20 - 13:40 - Samantha Carr
• 13:40 - 14:00 - Jon Nash

The event is free to attend and has been made possible through the support of Plymouth Sound National Marine Park.

The Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Horizons project has been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players with £11.6million of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Performer Details

Rosemarie Corlett

Dr Rosemarie Corlett is a bilingual author and associate lecturer in English and Creative Writing. A versatile professional writer, lecturer and project coordinator, Rosemarie was recently selected as Plymouth's Poet Laureate. Her collection Flightless Bird was released in 2022 with Shearsman Books, and her work has been published with several presses including Guardian Faber, Poetry Wales, Tears in the Fence and Iota. She works extensively in the community. Recent engagements include The Racial Equality Council, Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Children's University and The Box Museum and Gallery. She lives in a converted brewery mews in Plymouth with her daughter, Ella, and their cats, Marmite and Rhubarb.

David Rutherford

David Rutherford is a regular performer around the Plymouth poetry scene, having co-headlined events by Cross Country Writers and Poetry at the PPL. His poems have also featured in a vending machine in Drake Circus and on BBC Devon and Cornwall. His novella in prose poems, Notation, set in a fading seaside resort, was published in Big Fiction Magazine. He writes poems about – among other things – cities, toys, dancing, pilgrims and – of course – the sea. It is his firm belief that Plymouth is a city that would feel more at home in his native north-east England than its current location.

Eloise Dunwell

Eloise Dunwell is an Australian-British poet who started writing from the age of nine, deep in the guts of an ancient caldera in Northern New South Wales. Using writing as a both an escape, and a more direct way of percolating her thoughts, she consciously kept most of her work to herself until there came a time she felt comfortable to share. Now is that time! New to the mic, but not to the deep, dark waters of the soul, she aims to map all the creatures and trappings lurking there in order to share them with you.

Jo Walton

Jo has read her poetry and nonfiction work at Cross Country Writers’ Open Mic nights and at Plymouth Central Library; and she’s been published in Ink Journal (2024) and on the Poetry and Covid website (2021). She graduated from the University of Plymouth last year with a degree in Creative and Professional Writing and is awaiting the results of her MA in English Literature. Jo grew up in Southend-on-Sea in Essex – and has also lived in land-locked Bedfordshire, and Bucharest – where she missed the beach. She married a sailor and has lived and worked in Plymouth since July 2009. She is always happiest when she can read on the sand and look out across a seascape.

Lesley Curwen

Lesley Curwen is a poet, broadcaster and sailor who lives in Plymouth. She writes about loss and rescue, and about family traumas around coercive control and forced adoption. She has been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize. She won the Molecules Unlimited Poetry Prize and was a finalist in the Wales Poetry Award. Her pamphlet 'Rescue Lines' is published by Hedgehog Press and her eco-chapbook 'Sticky with Miles' is published by Dreich.

Laurie Page

Laurie is a Devon-based poet whose writing explores experiences of land, gender, and language in a shifting time. She has a background in music and often channels the melodic and rhythmical through her writing. She has been writing poetry regularly for almost a decade and has performed at various literary events, showcases, and open mics, including Plymouth’s Storyteller Festival, Tunes in the Park with SproutSpoken, and Pride in Plymouth Takeover: LGBTQIA+ History Month.

Karen Robinson

Karen is a Plymouth based writer, whose poetry is inspired by nature, environment and childhood. She reads regularly at open mic events, has been published in print and online and is working on her first collection.

Samantha Carr

Samantha is a PhD Creative Writing candidate at the University of Plymouth where she is also a Doctoral Teaching Assistant. Her work explores her past work experience as a nurse and her lived experiences of chronic illness and neurodiversity through poetry. Her poetry has been published in Arc, Acumen, Cephalopress, Causley International and was recently awarded second place in the inaugural Molecules Unlimited poetry competition.

Jon Nash

Jon is a poet and playwright based in Plymouth interested in how words and story can connect us to place and each other. Soon to be touring his one man show 'is anybody there?'