Rommi Smith is a poet, musician and playwright whose work fuses spoken word and music. She has been performing since the age of 14 and has achieved a reputation for sharp, socially conscious poetic imagery coupled with astute harmonies and jazz, funk and soul rhythms. A dynamic performer, Rommi works in collaboration with dancers, music producers, musicians and her own band to create a synthesis of lyrical spoken and sung word.
Rommi performs her work regularly, both nationally and internationally at arts, music and literature festivals. Rommi’s work has been broadcast on various media, including the BBC - print and audio versions of Rommi’s work are featured on the BBC website.
In 1999 Rommi was chair of the first ever people’s jury for the Booker Prize. In 2001, Rommi was invited to take up the post of Poet in Residence for BBC Music Live, the first post of its kind in the history of the festival, and has continued her relationship with the BBC ever since.
As an actor and playwright, Rommi has performed in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and has been commissioned by Paines Plough Theatre Company and BBC Radio Drama. In 2005, Rommi was commissioned to write and perform a new play as part Flight 5065, an evening of live performances on the London Eye to raise awareness of Africa, Fairtrade and Debt Relief.
Rommi’s collection of poetry and CD, both entitled Moveable Type (Route Publishing) were published to much acclaim. She has received an Arts’ Council Writer’s Bursary to develop her forthcoming collection, Mornings and Midnights, which is inspired by the lives of divas. A limited edition chapbook of a selection of these poems was published in November 2005 and the full collection will be published by Peepal Tree Press in June 2006.
Rommi was recently appointed Artist in Residence for the BBC Radio 3 Africa Season and is exploring her Nigerian and English heritage, as well as the stories of people of African heritage based in the UK, through the residency. Her work is currently being broadcast on programs such as Twenty Minutes, The Verb and Late Junction. She also writes a regular blog on the BBC site.
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