March 2008
VALERIE LAWS (www.valerielaws.co.uk) a native North Tynesider, is Writer in Residence at a London pathology museum, working on a project on the science of death now funded by a £30,000 Wellcome Trust Arts Award. She came a close second in the latest Northern Rock Foundation Writers Award. She won Northern Writer's Awards in 2006 and 2004 for poetry and a crime novel, and was runner up in the 2007 BBC Radio 4 Alfred Bradley Award. Her new play was recently bought by BBC Radio 3, and she has written seven commissioned plays. New play The Selkie opened at Sage in February and toured from Berwick to York. Valerie has broadcast internationally and performed her work on stage nationwide. Notorious for her Arts Council-funded Quantum Sheep project, involving spray painting poetry on live sheep,Valerie has published several books, including two poetry collections from Peterloo Poets.
Roz Wylie Originally from Aldeburgh, Suffolk Roz has been living in Newcastle for eleven years. Since completing the MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria in 2005 Roz has gone on to have her first full length stage play produced at the Customs House in 2006. Three of her short stories have been published in Tonto Press anthologies and her debut novel-noir Everything You Ever Wanted is being published in August 2008 as part of the Tonto Fiction Project. Roz is also a regular contributer to the Laura Hird web site which showcases new writing talent.
Isabel Garford "I have alternated work as a lawyer and a drop-out for most of my adult life. Fifteen years ago I started writing and the drop-out periods became more prolonged. I write for fun. I've tried poetry, short stories and now I'm on my second novel. The first is in a drawer."
Char March Award-winning performance poet Char March will be taking you on a poetic rollercoaster - generously laced with wit and humour - through the rock-strewn terrain of life, love and coffeespoons. Char's performances have an appeal which unerringly finds the funny-bone, even in her most lyrical moments. Let her season your evening with poems which can be as tender as your first kiss.....and as comfortable as going to bed with a tarantula!
"Char is a highly entertaining and genuinely original voice - her carefully-crafted poetry
patterns together to produce salt, lemon and tequila. Cheers!" Ian Duhig
Nathalie Stern
Having searched for a choir to join but not found the ‘right one', Nathalie Stern decided to take the matter in her own hands and create one herself. Although it wasn't to be a normal choir. Instead, she uses a loop pedal to layer her own vocals over and over until there's a virtual collection of Nathalies brimming with harmonies, playfully weaving in and out of the songs.
Nathalie started with the traditional Swedish folk songs she used to sing at school; chopping them up and gluing them back together to create her own contemporary take on them. She has continued with her own compositions where she's experimenting with the very minimial set up of only vocals, guitar and the loop station.
Previous gigs include supporting Daniel (A.I.U) Higgs from Lungfish and performances in Canada and Switzerland.
