Speechless is a unique international performance poetry project, and in October, Apples & Snakes and the British Council Literature Department took Speechless around the UK. The project toured eight venues in the UK and aimed to foster the interaction between the poets and young people in Britain - specifically the Diaspora - through community and university workshops.

Speechless was created out of the success of Animating Literature – the performance poetry workshops which took place in South East Asia from 2005 in collaboration with Apples & Snakes (the UK’s leading organisation for performance poetry).

The recent initiative was designed to develop the role of performance poetry in five Asian countries and to give greater exposure to the very best of East Asia’s next generation of performing poets. The project aimed to create a bridge between Asian authors and British writers, and develop their skills as individual poets.

Funded in part by Arts Council England, each performance featured a 10 minute selection from: Priya K (Malaysia), Siege Malvar (Philippines), Pooja Nansi (Singapore), Liu Liang Yen (Taiwan), Da Thao Phuong (Vietnam) and UK artists Francesca Beard, Malika Booker, Aoife Mannix and Jacob Sam-La Rose, based around the theme of freedom of expression.

The UK tour marked the close of a multi-faceted project which has already toured overseas. A lasting network of performance poets has been built through an investment in education and skills development.

The Speechless tour included the following cities and venues:

October 9: London, 8pm at The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford SE8 4AG

October 13: Liverpool, 8pm at Chapter and Verse Literature Festival, the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX

October 20: Bath (Bath Spa University)

October 23: Lancaster, 8pm at Litfest, The Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University, Lancaster  LA1 4YW

October 30: London, 7.45pm at Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX

For more information on the participants, click here.

For blog entries from participants, click here.

For pictures of the participants, click here.

Founded in 1982, Apples & Snakes focuses on working with emerging artists, producing new work and putting poets in education. It works extensively with schools, prisons and libraries to develop literacy, communication skills, motivation and self-esteem through high quality performance poetry workshops and events. Apples & Snakes run regular events across England alongside pioneering artist development programmes.

For more information see the Apples & Snakes website and our Facebook page: www.facebook/speechless