“This pamphlet pinches the skin of woman, of lust, of politics.”
“Phoebe Wagner’s poetry is filled with subtlety and wit. She’s able to see the humour in our bodies while also hold how precious, delicate and meaningful they are to us. The relationships are glimpses into intimate moments, that reshape the way we see ourselves”
“An unflinching look at mind and body, and the many betrayals they can endure. As the body is covered by clothes, the mind is clothed in the body. These poems reveal a mind breaking through multiple layers of silencing, stigma and shame.”
Phoebe Wagner’s poetry is a kind of undressing. Offering up the social and sexual uncertainties of our time, she forges these into a bolder understanding of contemporary angst. Language heady as Plath melts into a precise, Carson-like wit. Wagner’s voice is a reflexive one, referencing therapists, care plans, bingo tickets, pick-up lines, familial myths: ‘Abuela knew I was the devil when I came out like that. / That all of Spain had bled out of me.’ Formally inventive, highly visual, these poems ripple through the mind, at once cleansing and intoxicating.
GABRIEL AKAMO - a Nigerian-British poet, actor, facilitator, and creative producer based in London. He is a Barbican Young Poets alumnus, member of the National Youth Theatre, and a former Roundhouse Resident Artist (2016-17) with Spit the Atom Poetry Collective. He has taken his work to numerous spaces throughout London and across the UK, and worked with numerous organisations including the Rich Mix, Roundhouse and WIRED Next Generation. He is soon to be published with Bad Betty Press.
LAURIE OGDEN - writer & performer from Merseyside. She is a Roundhouse Resident Artist, Barbican Young Poet alumni, and Jerwood/Arvon playwriting mentee. She has created work for organisations including The Roundhouse, Nationwide, Barnardos, Lyrix Organix, Sky Arts 50/Sage Gateshead and the Barbican.
ALICE FRECKNALL - a writer and visual artist based in South East London. A Roundhouse Poetry Collective alumna, she has read her work at venues and festivals across the country, and regularly writes with The Poetry Takeaway. Her work has appeared in print in publications including The Stinging Fly and Lightship Anthology, and was most recently shortlisted for the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry 2019. Alice is part of the UniSlam Post-Emerging Cohort 2019. Image credit to Suzi Corker.
GBOYEGA ODUBANJO - a British-Nigerian poet born and raised in East London. He completed an MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of East Anglia in 2018. His debut pamphlet, While I Yet Live, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2019. He is a Roundhouse Resident Artist.
KAT HEAD - a performance poet, songwriter and playwright based in Brighton. Her half rapped, half conversational style of storytelling aims to both warm and surprise audiences. Kat facilitates workshops with a focus on lyricism and Spoken word poetry. Her latest project has been working on a play with Brighton's Theatre Royal and New Writing South on their young play-writers scheme. Kat is also writing her second children's musical and first collection of poetry.
ANTONIA JADE KING - Devon born London based poet Antonia Jade King has featured at 'Poetry and Shaah', 'Heaux Noire' and is a recent Hammer and Tongue finalist. She currently hosts Boomerang Club and when she isn't poet-ing or enjoying a bath bomb she is tackling her Masters, researching the role of Black Women in Civil Rights Organisations.