Poetry at Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge, November 2: Guest Poet Birdspeed

Trowbridge Stanza is looking forward to welcoming  poet and performance artist Safiya Kinshasa, AKA Birdspeed, to share her work at Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge on Saturday, 2 November 2019 (2-4pm).  There will also be the opportunity for the audience to perform their own poems at the open-mic.  Tickets are £5 on the door.  More details about Birdspeed on her website and below and more information about Trowbridge Stanza, a monthly poetry group, here.

British born Barbadian raised artist Birdspeed incorporates poetry, storytelling, satirical humour and movement into her performances.  Her writing is often a combination of social commentary and auto- biographical tales including themes on: Caribbean culture and folklore, afrofuturism, black feminism, and mental health (especially in black working class communities).

 Birdspeed is the Edinburgh Fringe Slam Champion 2019 and the 2019 Hammer and Tongue UK National Slam Champion. In addition to the UK, Birdspeed has also performed in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and headlined at significant US venues such as the Bowery Poetry Club (NYC) and The African American Centre (Philadelphia).  She is currently the Manhattan Arts Festival Poet Laureate. Birdspeed performed her first play, ‘The Firebird’ at the Salisbury Theatre Playhouse and has facilitated workshops in a variety of organisations including a men’s prison.

 Birdspeed is published in the following anthologies: Alter Egos Anthology (Bad Betty Press, 2019), Use Words First (Own It, 2019) and Words on Windrush (Empoword, 2019).  Birdspeed has also self-published her first pamphlet Bloom (2019) which is endorsed by Junior Marvin from The Original Wailers.