Spoken Word in the UK

Lucy English is a reader in creative writing and head of the Creative Writing Research Centre at Bath Spa University, UK. Jack McGowan is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Worcester, UK.

Foreword by Luke Kennard; Introduction: Setting the Stage: An Introduction to Spoken Word in the UK - Jack McGowan and Lucy English (Editors); Section 1: Background to Spoken Word in the UK; Chapter 1: Biting Back Against the Fascist Octopus: The Story of Apples and Snakes - Russell Thompson; Chapter 2: Suffering Fools: The survival and adaptation of British absurd, comic, and satirical traditions in the era of poetry slams - Steve Larkin; Chapter 3: Black Country, Ay We – Voices from Post-Industrial Britain - Emma Purshouse and R. M. Francis; Chapter 4: The New October Poets - Adrian Johnson; Chapter 5: Glasgow, Scotland and Spoken Word from 1986 to 2018 - Jim Ferguson; Chapter 6: A critical account of the development of Spoken Word events and settings in Wales in collaboration with partners in Sweden and Ireland - Mel Perry and Dominic Williams; Chapter 7: The Democracy of Poetry: The Bristol Spoken Word Scene - Lucy English; Section 2: Audience and Performer; Chapter 8: The Spoken Word Experience: affect transmission in contemporary performance poetry - Jack McGowan; Chapter 9: The Limitations of the Page/Stage Dichotomy: Examining the page/stage divide - Niall O’Sullivan; Chapter 10: Exploring the relationship between audience and performer, the implications of the affective turn in reader-response and the emancipation of the passive spectator - Scott Martingell; Chapter 11: ‘Speak Your Truth’: Authenticity in UK Spoken Word Poetry - Katie Ailes; Chapter 12: Audience as Co-Author: Poet-Audience Relationship in Performance Poetry - Lauren McNamara; Chapter 13: Listen to me! The moral value of the poetry performance space - Karen Simecek; Chapter 14: Audience and performer responses to performing 1-2-1 and intimate poetry - Debra Watson; Section 3: Cultural Exchange; Chapter 15: Poetic Orality in Working-Class Culture 1840-70 - Simon Rennie; Chapter 16: She Grrrowls: Feminism in Contemporary Spoken Word - Carmina Masoliver; Chapter 17: Playing for Affect in Counterpublics: An Interdisciplinary Investigation into the Transformative Potential of Spoken Word Hybridity - Katy Wareham Morris; Chapter 18: The Metic Experience of the Black British Writer: Challenging the Margins - Nick Makoha; Chapter 19: Overthrowing Societal Norms Through the Spoken Word: Benjamin Zephaniah’s Dub Poetry in City Psalms - Ian Hickey; Chapter 20: The Impact of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen on the UK Poetry Scene - Sundra Lawrence; Section 4: Styles and Techniques; Chapter 21: Fish Out of Water or Creative Chameleon?: Spoken Word as a form of Social Mobility - Kate Fox; Chapter 22: Style and Technique in Spoken Word - David Hubble; Chapter 23: British Spoken Word Voice - Hannah Silva; Chapter 24: I thought I was just coming to watch: Audience Participation in Spoken Word Performance - Rose Condo; Section 5: Pedagogy of Spoken Word; Chapter 25: How can developing an Overarching Pedagogical Metaphor defining my own poetics, aid my teaching of creative writing and ‘Spoken Word Education’? - Amy Neilson; Chapter 26: Spoken Word Education: The Role of a Spoken Word Educator: Pitfalls and Possibilities - Sara Hirsch; Chapter 27: Searching for Consistency: Applying Reflective Equilibrium to Performance Poetry Criticism - Ross McFarlane and Bibi June Schwithal; Chapter 28: Spoken Word as Therapy and Power - Jhilmil Breckenridge; Chapter 29: Intersections Between Spoken Word in the UK and US: A Nexus in Dialogue - Helen Johnson and Jacob Sam La Rose; Section 6: Publicity and Distribution; Chapter 30: Speaking with Machines & Machines that Speak: Spoken Word & Digital Performance Poetry - David Devanny; Chapter 31: The Capital of Culture and the Culture of Capital: The Controversy of Commerce in Spoken Word - Peter Bearder; Chapter 32: Poetry Slam in the UK - Toby Campion; Chapter 33: More Show, Less Tell?: How do we talk about spoken word now that it is working on a theatre stage? - Sharon Clark and Ruth Stacey; Chapter 34: Spoken Word in Print. Instant Coffee: A conversation with Clive Birnie from Burning Eye Books -Clive Birnie (interviewed by Lucy English)