White House Poetry Revival Wed 25th Feb 2009

White House Poetry Revival
Wed 25th Feb 2009 9.00pm

This weeks guest poet is Martin Daws.

Surrey-born Martin Daws is a performance poet who has combined spoken word with various forms of music including hip hop and free jazz. He has also played Kalimba as an accompanying instrument. Daws’ work has shown a willingness to deal with social issues through personal perspectives and their narratives; multi-culturalism, identity, personal integrity, and the evolution of culture are all important themes for him.

From 1987-1994 Daws was active as a DJ, based in London, playing nationally and internationally in music venues and on pirate radio. In 1994 he was inspired to start writing for performance after experiencing the New York slam poetry scene. His interest in writing led him to take an MA in Literature and Cultural History in Liverpool (1997). From Liverpool, it was a short step (geographically) to Snowdonia where he has been living and working since 2001. Daws has been lucky enough to collaborate with many talented artists, including; electro-acoustician Rob Mackay, hip hop producers Skeematic, G-Frequency and Mr Phormula, dancer Sarah Mumford, and the musicians in Martin Daws’ quintet. He was runner up in the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry 2007, and second in the Glastonbury Festival Grand Slam 2008. His work has been broadcast by BBC Radio, published in international journals, and been performed extensively around the UK and Ireland and more recently on mainland Europe, in the USA and Mexico.

Info: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 or Barney Sheehan 086 8657494 Blog http//:whitehousepoets.blogspot.com
The White House Poets acknowledge the continued support of the Arts Council, Foras na Gaeilge, Poetry Ireland.