To excuse my radio silence, I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve been returning to my spoken word roots.
I started performing with the Roundhouse Collective (with the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden, London) since 2009 and had done open mics in 2010, taking a break (a long one, admittedly) once I started my PhD. What is interesting about Performance Poetry and playwriting is that there isn’t much difference between the two. They are both designed to be spoken – and exist within oral and written mediums.
So what I’ve been doing lately is a form of Spoken Word with the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy, culminating in two main outputs: my new Youtube Channel (where I make new videos every Thursday inspired by a recent Science related news item) and Spoken Worlds, a new Spoken word night on the topics of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I’m hoping that these will be become a regular night, and that we can have an open mic segment later on.
Science Fiction poetry, like SF plays, aren’t really that visible – compared to the novel, the TV serial or the film. However, there is plenty of it around, much like Theatre. There is the Science Fiction Poetry Association with its own set of awards, although Theatre has a way to go before it can branch off into having Genre Focused Awards, I feel.
There’s also a great article on the subject, linked from the SFPA website, by Suzette Haden Elgin, found here.
Are you a fan of writing/reading/performing SF/F poetry?
