Featuring Boat Poets, Salena Godden, Toby Campion and Amerah Saleh.
Join us on 4 October 7:30pm for a special Tongue Fu for National Poetry Day at Arnolfini, where we will be delighted with performances from some of the hottest UK poets and spoken word artists performing with the Tongue Fu Band.
Tongue Fu is one of the UK’s leading spoken word and music shows. Poets, storytellers, rappers and comedians perform with jaw-dropping improvised soundtracks from a crack team of improvising musicians whose credits include Nostalgia 77, Jamie Cullum and Beardyman.
Created and hosted by poet and musician, Chris Redmond (Jonathon Ross’s Arts Show – BBC R2; Pick Of The Week – BBC R4), it is a riotous experiment in live literature, music and improvisation. Headliners for this show include;
Salena Godden – performer, essayist, radio presenter (BBC R4) and activist, she is one of the UK’s foremost poets. Featured regularly on BBC R3’s The Verb and BBC R4’s Saturday Live, she is regularly anthologised and headlines in festivals nationally and internationally.
Former Boat Poet participant Toby Campion – UK Slam Champion, award winning playwright, featured on BBC R2, ITV and Ch4. Born and raised in the Midlands, he is artistic director of Uni Slam and resident artist at London’s Roundhouse.
Amerah Saleh, one of Birmingham’s leading spoken word artists, recently performed at the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony. She is associate artist at MAC, resident artist at Birmingham Rep and co-founder of Verve Poetry Press.
In addition to this stellar crew Danny ‘Craft D’ Pandolfi from Bristol, Ruth Sutoyé from London and Chris White from Exeter will be performing new work inspired by the Boat Poets talent development project.
This event is part of the Boat Poets talent development programme for young poets, and will feature new work from CraftD, Chris White and Ruth Sutoyé who are participants in the project. Boat Poets is supported using public funding by Arts Council England. It is also supported by Apples and Snakes and produced by Hannah Nicholls in association with the Thames Festival Trust. Follow us @BoatPoets
This show will be BSL interpreted and the venue is wheelchair accessible. If you have access needs of any kind we would love to hear from you in advance at boatpoets@gmail.com so we can make your evening as enjoyable as possible.