Diverse Femininity

Gender expression is exciting and boundless. For one night only, Born Lippy, together with Poet in the City Producers, invite you to a special event exploring femininity and queer identity in the North East.

This inspiring evening of poetry and performance has been specially curated by the Poet in the City Producers, a group of talented Newcastle-based young creatives producing events, provoking discussions, and driving campaigns to ensure young people have a stake in the future of poetry in the North-East.

A brilliant line up of poets, musicians and comedians from the Newcastle community will be out in force, sharing their own unique insights into femininity, masculinity, gender and queerness.

Sharing positive stories – and those of inspirational hardship – our artists will conjure an extraordinary picture through their own performances and lived experiences. Featuring performed and audience participation-style pieces, before making way for an open mic. Born Lippy’s latest collaboration promises raucous laughter, warrior-like empowerment and everything in between.

FEATURING:

Kay Greyson
Newcastle Native and one of the UK’s most exciting stars will provide music for the evening; her unique style fusing modern hip-hop with the skills of the golden era to write songs of intense strength. Her performances have ranged from The North Music Festival to The Royal Albert Hall and she was awarded Newcomer of the Year 2019 by the Journal Culture Awards.

Lauren Pattinson
Sought after comedian, actor and writer Lauren Pattinson will be bringing the laughs. Lauren has featured on a host of TV comedy shows, and is a mainstay of the international comedy and festival circuits; her debut run at Edinburgh Fringe, the critically acclaimed Lady Muck, was a sell-out. She has provided tour support for Katherine Ryan, Jason Manford, Stewart Francis, to name a few.

Tahmina Ali
British-Bangladeshi Newcastle poet Tahmina Ali will perform her own works, influenced by identity, culture, social events and young motherhood. Tahmina was awarded the ‘ABC Arts and Culture Award’ for 2018 and 2019 whilst hosting her own poetry radio show on Fast FM and running open mic nights called ‘Strictly Spoken’ across the region.

Rue Collinge
Tinker, painter, poet, spy… Rue Collinge is a storyteller living in North-East England who helps people find their voice in an increasingly noisy world. Raw and lyrical, she has performed across the North-East, on radio, and was awarded the Larkin Poetry Prize 2020, and will be joining us for the evening.

AJ McKenna
AJ McKenna has performed poems while stripping, handcuffing herself to a microphone stand and having dry rice thrown at her in an attempt to understand the true meaning of love, though not, as yet, all at the same time. She is the author of A Lady of a Certain Rage, names and songs of women, Incidents of Trespass and, most recently, England is the Enemy, and podcasts extremely sporadically at Apocalypse Follies.

Tees Women Poets
And what night out is complete without a bit of quizzing? Irreverent, feminist Teeside collective Tees Women Poets, led by founder Kirsten Luckins, present Show Us Yer Marys!//Rebellious Mothers ; a rousing performance featuring Spot-the-Mary photo quiz with rhyming clues and pen-portraits of notable Marys through the ages, together with some rants from the barricades!

Kirsten will also present an open mic of work created as part of Born Lippy writing workshop Black Bullets in A Sweet Jar. Click here for more info.

The evening will include a special soundscape by La Intrusa; ‘Pickle Juice’ explores the voices of marginalised femininity, using archival sampling and ambient textures. Comprising of two contrasting tracks, it creates a tapestry of voices belonging to those who exist on the edges of womanhood – or are denied it entirely.