Birmingham poet Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito will be taking to the airwaves for National Poetry Day (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Famous Birmingham poet Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito takes to the airwaves on BBC WM today, reciting special poems about the Midlands for BBC Local Poets for National Poetry Day.
As part of this year’s National Poetry Day on Thursday October 6th, all of the BBC Local Radio stations across England and the Channel Islands will be featuring a unique piece of poetry written specifically for National Poetry Day, an initiative of the Forward Arts Foundation.
BBC Local Poets will feature 40 poets and spoken word artists from across the country who have been commissioned to write a poem from the viewpoint of a local landmark or iconic object.
Birmingham poet Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito performing at Glastonbury (Photograph: Supplied)
For BBC West Midlands, Giovanni Esposito aka Spoz from Rubery has written his poem about The Castle on Beacon Hill in the Lickey Hills.
It can be heard on the BBC WM 95.6FM Breakfast show from 7am and will be available on iPlayer for 30 days after. Spoz will also be a special guest on throughout the day writing poems for each of the days programmes.
National Poetry Day is an annual mass celebration of poetry and all things poetical, taking place on Thursday 6 October 2016.
Spoz is an award-winning performance poet, singer-songwriter, filmmaker, playwright and was the poet-in-residence at Birmingham City FC. He has been seen on BBC and Central Television, BBC Radio Four, Radio Five Live, Radio West Midlands, Radio Coventry & Warwickshire and Capital Gold.
Spoz has performed at the Glastonbury Festival, Shambala Festival, Larmer Tree Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Oxford Literature Festival, Warwick Words Festival, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Wenlock Poetry Festival and in front of his mom.
He says: “I’ve always been chuffed to be a Brummie and chuffed with our multiculturalism and diverse, evolving heritage. It’s ace to be part of that. I guess you get to a certain age and become a bit nostalgic too. I hope my ‘Castle Up the Beacon’ reflects that and gives the audience a sense of belonging.”
Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito with fellow performance artist Joe Cook (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)
The inspiration for this exciting initiative came from Becca Bryers at BBC Radio Leicester who commissioned each of the individual poems with the support of National Poetry Day and National Poetry Day partner Apples and Snakes.
Becca Bryers said: “This is an exciting opportunity for all the BBC Local Radio stations to get involved in National Poetry Day. I’ve been so impressed with the poets passionate approach to the project and the calibre of their finished pieces. There’s such a brilliant variety of poem subjects too, from Romford Dogs to Lincolnshire sausages! I hope that our listeners will be inspired by hearing a piece of poetry celebrating where they live, written by an artist who knows and loves the area as much as them.”
Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito being filmed by Adam Yosef in the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, France (Photograph: Sarah Wilkinson)
In addition to the 40 poems that are being read out on each of the BBC Local Radio stations, there will be a 41st poem performed on the Mark Forrest All England Show to be broadcast across all BBC Local Radio stations from 7pm. Bridie Squires from Nottingham will create an additional poem which will bring together all the themes of the day and include as many of the local landmarks as possible.
Birmingham poets Amerah Saleh and Giovanni ‘Spoz’ Esposito’ (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
National Poetry Day, the annual mass celebration of poetry and all things poetical, takes place on Thursday 6 October 2016. To celebrate this year’s theme – Messages – people all over the country are being invited to “Say it with a poem”.
It’s the day when poetry jumps off the bookshelf and onto the streets, schools, businesses, and airwaves, with hundreds of pop-up poetry events anticipated around the UK. Last year, NASA broadcast a poem into space, O2 sent customers poems by text, and even Michelle Obama and JK Rowling were tweeting about it.
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