News From Yemisi Blake 30.06.09
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 14:52 NEWS FROM YEMISI BLAKE 30.06.09
Hello,
Long time since my last update. Over the last few months, I've taken some time off work, made some plans and although it's almost July, I feel like the year is just beginning.
So here are a few updates on what's been going on and what's to come.
1. Southbank Centre. Still here.
My time as an Emerging Artist in Residence came to an end in February. Myself and the fifteen over artists closed that chapter with a week long series of collaborative workshops and a performance in the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall (Thank you to everyone to came!). Early in March I was offered another year at the Southbank Centre. The role is as an Artist in Residence, working closely with the Learning & Participation department. We're in early stages, so more info to come. Until then, check out the blog posts from some young people I've been mentoring for the London Literature Festival.
2. A little book about chairs.
A little while ago I blogged about a residency I had at The Barking Learning Centre. The project doing called Barking Metamorphosis and was run by Sarah Butler of Urban Words . It was one of those projects with lots of components and people, workshops, conversations and random encounters. During the residency I worked with MA design students from the RCA , who each designed a chair for writer's chair for me. Thinking it would be an interesting idea, I decided that I'd write a narrative joining the nine chairs. It turned out to be very interesting, and hard, but I feel like I learnt a lot. And the difficulty forced me to write out of my comfort zone. So if you're into exhibition booklets, send me your address and I'll send you one wrote :)
3. Two Poems on Radio 4
About a year ago, I recorded two poems for a show called Bespoken Word on Radio 4. The show, hosted by poet Mr Gee, puts and spoken word artists before a live audience for performance and a few questions about their work. However geeky this might sound, having my poetry on Radio 4 had been a dream of mine for a while. So I'm nervous about listening to it, but excited. Tune in if you can, Wed 1st July 11:02 - 11:15PM (It'll be on BBC iplayer for seven days too).
4. Check the blog.
I recently bought a Nikon D40. Post pictures here.
Karen McCarthy's Open Notebooks project is now live. I'll be one of the poetry featured on the blog.
On Sept 29th, I'll be speaking on blogging at The Havant Literary Festival.
Earlier this month, some young bloggers and curators I'm working with spoke to Benjamin Zephaniah on Skype. Listen here.
4. Send me your news. What have you been up to?
All the best,
Yemisi
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Reader Comments (2)
Hey, Yem.
'twas good to see on Saturday. Congrats about the residency. Looking forward to seeing the events and work that comes out of it.
The Barking project sounds really interesting. I'd love a copy of the booklet.
As to what I've been up to...I've just blogged about that very subject.
Damn fine poems on Bespoken Word, man.
Peace
Kayo
How do I find your Bespoken words poems online? Been trying.