Applications are now open for our third (and last?) Spoken Word Boot Camp at Middlesbrough Town Hall this summer.

This intensive 6-Saturday course is open to women and gender non-conforming poets who live, work, or study in Teesside. Led by experienced TWP sisters, each session teaches essential skills for performing your words with confidence. Participants are also supported throughout by a ‘continuity tutor’ who offers reading, writing and editing tips and exercises at the start of every session. All levels of writing and performance experience are considered, so if you’re a beginner please don’t think this isn’t for you – it might be!

To apply, you must be able to attend 1-4pm on at least four of the following dates:

• Saturday 5th July – writing as a team with Durham Uni Slam Team leader Theo Forcer
• Saturday 12th July – overcoming barriers to confidence and the basics of stage presence with Dianne Casey
• Saturday 19th July – ways to expand your body, voice and energy with Kirsten Luckins
• Self-directed reading and writing week
• Saturday 2nd August – confident audience interaction with Hannah Davies
• Saturday 9th August – making a set, building a vibe, safety and respect with Sarah Crutwell
• Saturday 16th August – being bolder and bigger with Julie Easley
• Self-directed editing and practice week
• Saturday 30th August – showcase to family and friends

All you have to do to apply is send us three poems that give a good sense of your range, by the deadline of 9th June.

What did last year’s cohort say about their experience?

“Take the risk. You will be so happy you did. It’s an exposing thing to share the depths of your soul to people. But what a space to be able to do it in. With so much support and love, quite overwhelming. I’m so glad to say I’m now a poet and can’t wait to continue on this journey and share a part of my soul with you all.”

“The poets selected to take part were a brilliant mix of different voices and levels of experience. We formed a super strong bond over the weeks it just felt like coming home.”

“I would say to them you have an opportunity to grow and develop as a poet. The boot camp will give you the tools, knowledge and the confidence you need to take that step forward. It’s been an investment in myself and I feel that I have grown as a person and poet.”

“I have learned shed loads! I am new to poetry after I had applied and got accepted I thought to myself, ‘What the hell have I done??!! How on earth can someone like me do this?!!’ But I have loved every last minute. It is a tough schedule so prepare for that and like everything in life, the more you put in the more you get out. Over the last few weeks I have really tried to stop comparing myself (always unfavourably!) to others and understand that everyone is just different and difference is good. This has been one of the best journeys I have been on and I intend to keep up the momentum as the bootcamp helped me move so much closer to my dream of being a ‘proper’ writer.”

“I have found the whole experience exciting as we explored how to express our words powerfully The camaraderie of our sister poets helping us to build friendships and support Also the preparation beforehand of stretching and relaxing our bodies was so helpful”

“An absolutely incredible way to get close to a group of like-minded people, the support you receive from your cohort and the tutors is absolutely unmatched. Rediscovering inner confidence and unleashing a whole new part of yourself especially when you’re feeling a bit lost in who you are is something that TWP and the Spoken Word Boot Camp has alighted in me and I am so grateful.”

“I have always been terrified of the exposure of the stage yet secretly longed for it too. This bootcamp has, literally, brought me to a stage where I can walk on and own it.”

“I would say take any opportunity you possibly can to seek community from writers. This is the perfect opportunity to not only seek that community but to cultivate and bind it. I learned a lot. I had carved out time every week to focus on my performance pieces. That in this busy hectic capitalist world is like gold dust.”