Rosa Fernandez, "Bite Me"

Rosa Fernandez, photograph by Kulvir Bhambra

Rosa Fernandez is a spoken word artist, musician and and two-time Word! Slam winner who has performed at venues and festivals across the UK and been published in the UK (various anthologies, Bite Me pamphlet by Bookishly) and Canada (Untethered magazine). With a degree from Goldsmiths College in English Literature, followed by a few years of nearly being famous as a pop star, Rosa has at least fifteen years of experience in editing, proofreading and publishing every kind of art form, running a blog of reviews of films, Netflix series, art exhibitions and poetry collections.

Rosa has performed in various guises at numerous venues nationwide, from singing songs from films in a burlesque showcase to writing and performing monologues, from headlining festivals and starring in a music video to performing stand up and hosting poetry nights dressed in ridiculous costumes; she brings her unique perspective, gentle whimsy and firm sense of socialist feminist justice to every performance. Otherwise, she can often be found wearing a hat and thinking about biscuits. Her poems have toured the nation in the back of a transit van, and it sometimes sounds like it.

Rosa’s upcoming poetry performances include co-hosting RunYour Tongue at the Exchange on Wednesday 23 November, a feature performance at Word! Slam at the Attenborough Arts Centre on Thursday 24 November and a feature performance at a fundraising event for Save Weekley Hall Wood on Friday 25 November at Kettering Arts Centre. Rosa will also be performing poetry and songs at the Clarendon Park Christmas Fair on Queen’s Road on Sunday 4 December, and would be delighted to see you at any of these events, particularly if you want to buy her pamphlet or haiku zines as excellent Christmas gifts!

 

About Bite Me, by Rosa Fernandez

Food is so much more than just fuel; it is opinion, memory, trigger, treat, and is at times just funny all by itself.

In this tasty selection box, Rosa Fernandez celebrates all the things we might consume and why, whether toast will actually kill you, and why the kitchen is the best place in the house. Crumbs!

You can read more about Bite Me on the publisher's website here. Below, you can read  a sample poem from the collection.  

From Bite Me

Choke

I left all your words in.
You piled them all up
Into the imaginary;
You needed somewhere
Where they could disappear.
 
Shoved under the stairs
The words are dusty,
Fading, crumbling;
I put one in my mouth
Occasionally, for fun.

Loz Anstey, "Orange from Grey"

 

Loz Anstey is a spoken word artist, a speaker of life, humour, identity, mental health and connection.

Writing became her go-to solace from around the age of 10 years old and she has been scribbling and tapping away ever since. After obtaining a dual honours degree in English Language and Creative Writing, she was exposed to the spoken word scene at her local pub and was launched into the world of performance. The buzz of a stage has now taken her to perform across the country.

In recent years, Loz had her audio piece Boxes released on BBC Sounds and she performed a piece dedicated to her late sister, Emma, on the TEDx stage - a performance that reached out to those in need of some bravery to reach out themselves.

From the heart-warming advocacy of mental health to the downright silly and ridiculous, Loz’s writing has the ability to take you through an emotional and uplifting journey of life’s truths, giggles and battles.

About Orange from Grey

Orange from Grey is a collection of poetry that has been stacking up over the last few years. Many are popular performance poems that have been following Loz from gig to gig. From the very early ‘Pam’s Pants’ to the more recent of ‘Come at me,’ Orange from Grey has gathered them all in one place. There are also poems much more suited to the page, that have never been performed. Orange from Grey is wave of emotions from silly to loss, to hard hitting and humorous. Loz’s publisher said it best with: ‘This is the book of the film.’

Below, you can read two poems from the collection. 

From Orange from Grey, by Loz Anstey