* Bonus Episode *

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word Podcast / Poetry) features

the return of our friend, Kate Jenkinson.

Dr Kate Jenkinson is scientist and poet reconciled and is one of a handful of LinkedIN Business Poets. She likes hats, writes about the many ones she wears (Mother, Daughter, Friend, Coach, entrepreneur) and she enjoys performing at open mics and slams since the pandemic made the poetry community more accessible. In 2022 she performed her TEDx talk Poetry Never Abandons Us and she enjoys attending and headlining events internationally.

Her work can be found in EyeFlash, Good DadHood, Steel Jackdaw, Flight of the Dragonfly and Feral (their first Mother/Daughter poetry and art collaboration).

Kate recently realised she was neurodivergent so this and her aphantasia is a feature of her recent work.

This bonus episode talks directly about Kate's debut poetry book

'Unbroken'.

'Unbroken' is described as "Kate Jenkinson's debut collection is a tale of self-discovery. Delving into her past to analyse and embrace her neurodivergencies. Sometimes heart-wrenching and difficult, sometimes glorious and life-affirming, always about acceptance.

As an aphantasic poet, it is about much more than creating a visual image for Kate. Her poetry lies in the sounds, tastes and touch that she experiences; the emotions that come from all senses. With sublime natural lyricism, and joy in wordplay, rhyme and alliteration, her slam poetry comes to life on the page. Sitting alongside beautiful form and free verse poetry, it is a marriage of the soul.

Kate's poetry will have you looking inward, while she holds your hand, showing you how to accept yourself to ultimately become Un/Broken"

Kate can be found on both facebook and Linkedin:

https://www.facebook.com/kjenkinson1

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/katejenkinsonnextstephr

Her book is available either through Kate directly or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Broken-Kate-Jenkinson/dp/1917408005

Prickly Pear is on facebook

and eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/ashley-edge-66407590783?fbclid=IwY2xjawGUr4hleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHYtGgSJuHYzV_QAB2KHj-ZU95MoHGPj9F8sDXP9K0cHlMPwVgE1LICyZcA_aem_r8ORXCbezw7NzhkrYD7FZw

Latest up from Spoken Label features making his debut, the wonderful Edward Little.

Edward Little is a writer based in Liverpool who publishes fiction as well as performs spoken word poetry. His creative vent, Giz a Word: Creative Collective, runs once a month in the city.

More about Edward can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/edward.little.184

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry Podcast) features making her debut, the amazing Lesedi Letsoalo.

Lesedi Letsoalo is a 20-year-old South African writer, currently studying Accounting Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. My Grief - Booked is her first solo book and was written after her grandmother, who had been her primary caregiver/guardian since she was an infant, passed away very suddenly in 2021 due to COVID-19. The loss opened her eyes to how much stigma, shame and negativity surrounds the inevitable emotions that come with grief and loss, thus she not only wrote the book, but published it. She aims to raise more awareness to the impact of grief and loss on individuals, to educate society on how to be kinder to people going through it. Another goal of hers is to create a safe space for grievers to sit with and in their true and authentic emotions, however heavy they may be, and know that it's normal and okay to feel the way that they're feeling during whatever their time of their grief.Her debut full length collection "My Grief ~ Booked" can be found on Amazon.Her email address to contact for more details is lesediletsoalo02@gmail.com

Latest up from Spoken Label (Poetry Podcast) features making her debut, the amazing Linda Cosgriff.

Linda advises her poems have appeared in magazines, anthologies, textbooks, shops, galleries, ezines, and on BBC Radio. They have been set to music, turned into art, and sent to Mars and for several years, she edited a small church magazine.

She advises writes occasional articles for one website and once had a one-act play staged at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre.

She is a founder member and former chair of Stockport Writers, a not-for-profit group which aims to encourage newbies to writing.

She is an active member of Write Out Loud, the UK’s largest poetry organisation, which encourages poets to read their poems aloud to others and delivers readings and workshops to various community groups and charities in Stockport.

She is a writer-in-residence for two community groups and one charity.

To date she has published three collections, Wholly Man and Hormoanal and Tales from the Rainbow Nation (of which this Podcast covers).

More about Linda can be found at her website: https://poetryfluff.wordpress.com/

Seven Arches Publishing who publish the book can be found here: https://www.sevenarchespublishing.co.uk/Book_Details/Tales_From_The%20Rainbow_Nation.html

Next up from Spoken Label (Poetry Podcast) making his debut features the wonderful Chris Platt.

Chris Platt advises he has been writing stories ever since he can remember and has written hundreds of stories and two novels.

Alongside this, he has been writing poetry since 2023.

He lives in Manchester with his wife and his black Labrador.

His stories can be found on the following websites,

Storystar, under the name CPlatt,

Writers Club / Grey Thoughts, as Chris Platt.

His poems can be found on My Poetic Side, under the pen name Tom Dylan.

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Chat Podcast) making her debut is Hannah Parry.

Hannah Parry trained as a paediatric nurse in the UK.
Her first novel Winter's Bite, won first prize in the 12+ section at the Winchester Writers' Festival in June 2012. Fever Quest, the sequel, won the Write Historical Fiction Monthly Masterpiece and was longlisted for the MSLexia Children's Novel prize in 2016.
The Mechanics' Institute Review, Halfway Down the Stairs, The Doubleback Review and The Junction published her short fiction. In 2021 she was longlisted for the BBC Short Story Award.
Her latest book is an adult thriller, Breathing for Both of Us, published in September 2023.
The Baby Exchange, a book club fiction novel for adults will be published in the summer of 2024.
The third in the Isabella Rockwell trilogy will be published in 2025.
Her website can be found at https://www.hannahparry.com/

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist / Poetry Podcast) features the amazing Peter Topping. Peter is a local artist in the Chorlton Area and has worked on several books with historian Andrew Simpson. He has also written his own book entitled “Smile Dammit Smile!!! – Chorlton”. He has created many “History Walls” and art installations around Chorlton together with Manchester historian Andrew Simpson. Together with Andrew he has created 14 books on the history of Chorlton and Manchester He was The Chorlton Arts Festival Director for 4 years. At the present, he is working as Virtual Arts Festival Director for Chorlton Arts and also is putting together artwork by local artists to be displayed on hoardings around Chorlton-cum-Hardy. In 2023, at the age of 74, he started collating the poems he had already written and started to write new poems reflecting on his life so far. He then worked on a project with Lindy Newns, which came about while he was working on The Virtual Chorlton Arts Festival for 2024. Peter was curating the Literary Arts section and was creating the exhibition panel that carried Lindy’s entry. As he read the poem, he began to think that perhaps he could enliven the panel by painting a picture of the scene. He then decided that it would be fun to have a collection of Lindy’s poems illustrated in the same way, mixing the two arts together, literary and visual, in what would be an exciting book to read, and to view. The rest is revealed in this feature length podcast More about Peter can be found at: https://pubbooks.co.uk/ #poetrypodcast #art #artpodcast #poetry #chorlton The video for this is here - https://youtu.be/mAELVAmq0fo

Latest up from Spoken Label, features the return of our friend, Jo Somerset.

Jo Somerset is based in Manchester. She completed a MA in Creative Writing in May 2020 at the University of Salford, where she received the Leanne Bridgewater Award for Innovation and Experiment. Like Isla, Jo grew up in Birmingham with an unspoken Celtic heritage. A love of the Hebrides and her experience with a blended family underlie Isla’s heartfelt

journey towards finding her origins and a new self-belief.

In this Podcast, we primarily talk about Jo's new book "Mission: Find Mum"

This book is described as "Isla and Lac's mum is missing, but has left clues, and an emergency credit card. The children travel from Birmingham to Mora, a Scottish island, camping and tracking their mum. Hampered by challenges and unsure of who to trust, can Isla and Lac succeed in their mission? What else will they find... and lose? For ages 10 and up."

The book can be bought directly from Stairwell books:

https://www.stairwellbooks.co.uk/product/mission-find-mum/

Jo Somerset can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/jo.somerset

https://x.com/josomerset

https://www.instagram.com/jo.somerset/