BBC celebrates poetry with biggest poetry festival devoted to new work in the UK - Contains Strong Language
Taking place from National Poetry Day on 28 September to 1 October, Contains Strong Language is the biggest poetry festival devoted to new work. It features 17 new commissions spanning grime, spoken word and page poetry and is committed to representing the diversity of poetry performance in the UK.
Published: 24 July 2017
It is a festival that captures modern poetry in all its variety - page poets, performance poets, and artists of all backgrounds experimenting and creating with the spoken word.
- Stand Up Poets on BBC Two will capture performance highlights from The Hull 17, including Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick.
- As part of the festival, BBC Two explores the relevance of Auden in the 21st Century In A New Age Of Anxiety.
- Child In Mind on BBC Four combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care.
- Maxine Peake stars in BBC Four’s Men Who Sleep In Cars - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts, which follows three homeless men over one September night in Manchester.
- BBC Four celebrates the 50th anniversary of poetry anthology Mersey Sound with The Mersey Beats and profiles Philip Larkin with new documentary Through The Lens Of Larkin which features many of his previously unseen photographs.
- BBC Radio 3 showcases a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
- Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between The Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will also be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival.
Today, the BBC announced Contains Strong Language: from National Poetry Day on 28 September to 1 October, Contains Strong Language is the biggest poetry festival in the UK devoted to new work. Taking place in Hull, as part of its City of Culture celebrations, the festival will be accompanied by a season of programmes across BBC TV, Radio and Online which will celebrate poetry past and present, in all its forms.
Produced by BBC Radio in partnership with Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Hull City Council, Humber Mouth, The British Council, BBC Learning, Wrecking Ball Press, National Poetry Day and a number of poetry organisations, Contains Strong Language celebrates both new and existing work, with over 50 events across eight venues in Hull, including world premieres, concerts, workshops and outreach activity.
Contains Strong Language on the BBC will also feature new documentaries and live performance across BBC Two and BBC Four and BBC Digital. In addition, six of BBCs national radio stations - BBC Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 5 live and 6music - as well as BBC Radio Humberside, will be taking audiences to the heart of the festival, with live broadcasts from Jo Whiley, Cerys Matthews, John Wilson, Ian McMillan, Mim Shaikh and more.
Jonty Claypole, Director of Arts, BBC, says: “Poetry has never been more vital nor diverse, with traditional boundaries and forms of distribution breaking down. Contains Strong Language is a site-specific and broadcast festival that captures modern poetry in all its variety - page poets, performance poets, and artists of all backgrounds experimenting and creating with the spoken word.
"With fantastic new documentaries on BBC Two and BBC Four, live spoken-word performances on primetime Saturday night on BBC Two, Radio 3, and five other BBC Radio networks broadcasting programmes live from the heart of the Contains Strong Language festival in Hull, it really does have something for everyone.”
On BBC Two a special 30-minute programme Stand Up Poets will capture performance highlights from Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick, as well as live music from special guests, as BBC 1Xtra bring their renowned Words First poets to Hull as part of the Contains Strong language season.
Also on BBC Two, WH Auden In A New Age Of Anxiety (1 x 60) will explore the relevance of his work in the 21st Century. The film probes the peculiar hold this angry young man of the 1930s still has on our modern psyches and what this can tell us about the political climate in which we all live.
BBC Four will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound, one of the best-selling poetry anthologies of all time that was released in the same year as the Beatles Sgt Pepper, in The Mersey Beats (1 x 60). It will also explore the thousands of photographs that Larkin took during his lifetime in Through The Lens Of Larkin (1 x 30). Philip Larkin documented his life through photographs as well as verse. His images are held in the Hull History Centre and Poet and academic John Wedgewood Clarke examines some of his previously unseen pictures whilst tracking Larkin’s relationship with Hull, his family and his lovers.
Also on BBC Four, Maxine Peake stars in Men Who Sleep In Cars (1 x 60) - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts which follows three men over one September night in Manchester. Written entirely in verse, the film follows the stories of Marley, Antonio and McCulloch who sleep on the streets of Manchester in their vehicles. It is also a love song to the City, whose familiar streets are difficult to leave for the departing Sarah (Maxine Peake).
Child In Mind (1 x 60) combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care. The women featured tell their story in their own words and are all part of a new scheme called Pause, which aims to break the cycle of repeat care removals. Child In Mind paints an emotionally charged portrait of the lives of these women, many of whom have suffered abuse and neglect themselves.
Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between the Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival - as they take to the stage in Hull for the Contains Strong Language International Festival of Poetry and Performance. Jacob Polley, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Dean Wilson, Vicky Foster, Hannah Silva, Helen Mort, Joelle Taylor, Zena Edwards, Isaiah Hull and the BBC’s Poet In Residence for the season Harry Giles will all feature on the BBC.
BBC Radio 3 Breakfast show will launch Contains Strong Language as it broadcasts live from Hull on 28 September, National Poetry Day. A discussion of To His Coy Mistress with a panel including Michael Symmons Roberts and Helen Mort will follow at lunchtime on Free Thinking - broadcast from the BBC Humberside studios.
Broadcast live from Hull, Jo Whiley presents a Spoken Word Special on National Poetry Day as part of the season. BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Word First finalist Isaiah Hull will weave the words of a nation into a specially commissioned poem on BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio 6 Music will also be taking Cerys Matthews' show to Hull. BBC Radio 3 will showcase a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
The festival itself will give a nod to the past while embracing the future, bringing wordsmiths from different backgrounds - page poets, spoken word artists, lyricists and performance artists - into new forms of collaboration. It will also encourage emerging talent, giving them a platform alongside first class local, national and international poets.
At the heart of the festival will be The Hull 17 - an ensemble of the country’s most interesting and diverse artists - commissioned to create new work in the city throughout the duration of the festival.
Tickets are available to book for five of these events from today (Monday 24 July) including performances from Kate Tempest, John Cooper Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and JoinedUp Dance Company, who present a new piece of contemporary dance inspired by Imtiaz Dharker’s Poem, This Tide of Humber, commissioned specially for Contains Strong Language, The Unthanks and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Outreach activity has already begun in the city with a series of workshops happening in different communities, led by poets Bohdan Piasecki, Louise Wallwein, Kate Fox and Joe Hakim. Hull’s very own Dean Wilson and Vicky Foster have also been working with BBC Radio Humberside to gather 2,017 poems from across the region, asking the public to put pen to paper and write about where they live.
The BBC is also inviting schools from the city of Hull and surrounding areas to join a GCSE poetry reading and discussion session. Poets on the current syllabus - Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker and Daljit Nagra - offer young people the chance to gain first-hand knowledge about their poems. The session will be chaired by Chief Examiner, Tony Childs.
Full details of programming can be found here
Notes to Editors
Tickets to Contains Strong Language in Hull
The first allocation of tickets for Contains Strong Language, the brand new poetry and spoken word festival coming to Hull in September, go live today, Monday 24 July. A mixture of free and paid-for tickets will be available to book online on Hull 2017’s website where poetry lovers and spoken word enthusiasts can get their hands on the golden tickets to see some of the world’s most renowned artists.
More information on Contains Strong Language
About the Hull 17
The full line up of poets who form The Hull 17, and have been commissioned to produce new work, is Bohdan Piasecki, Dean Wilson, Fred Voss, Hannah Silva, Harry Giles, Helen Mort, Imtiaz Dharker, Isaiah Hull, Jacob Polley, Joe Hakim, Joelle Taylor, Kate Fox, Kate Tempest, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicky Foster and Zena Edwards.
About National Poetry Day
National Poetry Day is a mass participation campaign that inspires people to enjoy, discover and share poems. The celebrations fall this year on 28 September and everyone is invited to join in, whether by organising an event or simply posting a line of poetry on social media with #NationalPoetryDay.
National Poetry Day is co-ordinated by Forward Arts Foundation and enjoys the support of the BBC, Arts Council England, the Royal Mail and leading literary and cultural organisations, alongside booksellers, publishers, libraries and schools. Last year the campaign’s reach exceeded 520 million.
About BBC Arts
The BBC has an ongoing commitment to Arts programming, "the greatest commitment to arts for a generation" as announced by the Director General in 2014. The BBC aims to provide the broadest range and depth of music and arts programmes across television, radio and online. The BBC creates non-commercial partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise, to encouraging cross collaboration and creation in order to widen public engagement in UK arts.
The BBC aims to provide context through original, fresh discussion and perspectives and is the biggest investor and creator of original arts and music programming. In 2017 Tony Hall BBC Director General, announced Culture UK, a new approach to collaboration, commissioning and creativity in partnership with Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Wales, the British Council and Creative Scotland. The initiative will develop UK-wide cultural festivals that can reach new audiences, support artist-led commissioning in broadcast and digital media and will convene an R&D programme that will focus on new experiences in performance, live events and exhibitions.
Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Humber Mouth.
Contains Strong Language is a highlight of the fourth season of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, the 365 day programme of cultural events and creativity inspired by the city and told to the world. This nationally significant event draws on the distinctive spirit of the city and the artists, writers, directors, musicians, revolutionaries and thinkers that have made such a significant contribution to the development of art and ideas.
Contains Strong Language kicks off a ten-day programme of events across the city showcasing spoken word, poetry and literature, including Hull's annual Humber Mouth festival, which is marking 25 years. For information go to www.hull2017.co.uk and www.humbermouth.com
KD
Stand Up Poets on BBC Two will capture performance highlights from The Hull 17, including Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick.
As part of the festival, BBC Two explores the relevance of Auden in the 21st Century In A New Age Of Anxiety.
Child In Mind on BBC Four combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care.
Maxine Peake stars in BBC Four’s Men Who Sleep In Cars - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts, which follows three homeless men over one September night in Manchester.
BBC Four celebrates the 50th anniversary of poetry anthology Mersey Sound with The Mersey Beats and profiles Philip Larkin with new documentary Through The Lens Of Larkin which features many of his previously unseen photographs.
BBC Radio 3 showcases a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between The Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will also be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival.
Today, the BBC announced Contains Strong Language: from National Poetry Day on 28 September to 1 October, Contains Strong Language is the biggest poetry festival in the UK devoted to new work. Taking place in Hull, as part of its City of Culture celebrations, the festival will be accompanied by a season of programmes across BBC TV, Radio and Online which will celebrate poetry past and present, in all its forms.
Produced by BBC Radio in partnership with Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Hull City Council, Humber Mouth, The British Council, BBC Learning, Wrecking Ball Press, National Poetry Day and a number of poetry organisations, Contains Strong Language celebrates both new and existing work, with over 50 events across eight venues in Hull, including world premieres, concerts, workshops and outreach activity.
Contains Strong Language on the BBC will also feature new documentaries and live performance across BBC Two and BBC Four and BBC Digital. In addition, six of BBCs national radio stations - BBC Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 5 live and 6music - as well as BBC Radio Humberside, will be taking audiences to the heart of the festival, with live broadcasts from Jo Whiley, Cerys Matthews, John Wilson, Ian McMillan, Mim Shaikh and more.
Jonty Claypole, Director of Arts, BBC, says: “Poetry has never been more vital nor diverse, with traditional boundaries and forms of distribution breaking down. Contains Strong Language is a site-specific and broadcast festival that captures modern poetry in all its variety - page poets, performance poets, and artists of all backgrounds experimenting and creating with the spoken word.
"With fantastic new documentaries on BBC Two and BBC Four, live spoken-word performances on primetime Saturday night on BBC Two, Radio 3, and five other BBC Radio networks broadcasting programmes live from the heart of the Contains Strong Language festival in Hull, it really does have something for everyone.”
On BBC Two a special 30-minute programme Stand Up Poets will capture performance highlights from Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick, as well as live music from special guests, as BBC 1Xtra bring their renowned Words First poets to Hull as part of the Contains Strong language season.
Also on BBC Two, WH Auden In A New Age Of Anxiety (1 x 60) will explore the relevance of his work in the 21st Century. The film probes the peculiar hold this angry young man of the 1930s still has on our modern psyches and what this can tell us about the political climate in which we all live.
BBC Four will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound, one of the best-selling poetry anthologies of all time that was released in the same year as the Beatles Sgt Pepper, in The Mersey Beats (1 x 60). It will also explore the thousands of photographs that Larkin took during his lifetime in Through The Lens Of Larkin (1 x 30). Philip Larkin documented his life through photographs as well as verse. His images are held in the Hull History Centre and Poet and academic John Wedgewood Clarke examines some of his previously unseen pictures whilst tracking Larkin’s relationship with Hull, his family and his lovers.
Also on BBC Four, Maxine Peake stars in Men Who Sleep In Cars (1 x 60) - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts which follows three men over one September night in Manchester. Written entirely in verse, the film follows the stories of Marley, Antonio and McCulloch who sleep on the streets of Manchester in their vehicles. It is also a love song to the City, whose familiar streets are difficult to leave for the departing Sarah (Maxine Peake).
Child In Mind (1 x 60) combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care. The women featured tell their story in their own words and are all part of a new scheme called Pause, which aims to break the cycle of repeat care removals. Child In Mind paints an emotionally charged portrait of the lives of these women, many of whom have suffered abuse and neglect themselves.
Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between the Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival - as they take to the stage in Hull for the Contains Strong Language International Festival of Poetry and Performance. Jacob Polley, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Dean Wilson, Vicky Foster, Hannah Silva, Helen Mort, Joelle Taylor, Zena Edwards, Isaiah Hull and the BBC’s Poet In Residence for the season Harry Giles will all feature on the BBC.
BBC Radio 3 Breakfast show will launch Contains Strong Language as it broadcasts live from Hull on 28 September, National Poetry Day. A discussion of To His Coy Mistress with a panel including Michael Symmons Roberts and Helen Mort will follow at lunchtime on Free Thinking - broadcast from the BBC Humberside studios.
Broadcast live from Hull, Jo Whiley presents a Spoken Word Special on National Poetry Day as part of the season. BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Word First finalist Isaiah Hull will weave the words of a nation into a specially commissioned poem on BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio 6 Music will also be taking Cerys Matthews' show to Hull. BBC Radio 3 will showcase a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
The festival itself will give a nod to the past while embracing the future, bringing wordsmiths from different backgrounds - page poets, spoken word artists, lyricists and performance artists - into new forms of collaboration. It will also encourage emerging talent, giving them a platform alongside first class local, national and international poets.
At the heart of the festival will be The Hull 17 - an ensemble of the country’s most interesting and diverse artists - commissioned to create new work in the city throughout the duration of the festival.
Tickets are available to book for five of these events from today (Monday 24 July) including performances from Kate Tempest, John Cooper Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and JoinedUp Dance Company, who present a new piece of contemporary dance inspired by Imtiaz Dharker’s Poem, This Tide of Humber, commissioned specially for Contains Strong Language, The Unthanks and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Outreach activity has already begun in the city with a series of workshops happening in different communities, led by poets Bohdan Piasecki, Louise Wallwein, Kate Fox and Joe Hakim. Hull’s very own Dean Wilson and Vicky Foster have also been working with BBC Radio Humberside to gather 2,017 poems from across the region, asking the public to put pen to paper and write about where they live.
The BBC is also inviting schools from the city of Hull and surrounding areas to join a GCSE poetry reading and discussion session. Poets on the current syllabus - Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker and Daljit Nagra - offer young people the chance to gain first-hand knowledge about their poems. The session will be chaired by Chief Examiner, Tony Childs.
Full details of programming can be found here
Notes to Editors
Tickets to Contains Strong Language in Hull
The first allocation of tickets for Contains Strong Language, the brand new poetry and spoken word festival coming to Hull in September, go live today, Monday 24 July. A mixture of free and paid-for tickets will be available to book online on Hull 2017’s website where poetry lovers and spoken word enthusiasts can get their hands on the golden tickets to see some of the world’s most renowned artists.
More information on Contains Strong Language
About the Hull 17
The full line up of poets who form The Hull 17, and have been commissioned to produce new work, is Bohdan Piasecki, Dean Wilson, Fred Voss, Hannah Silva, Harry Giles, Helen Mort, Imtiaz Dharker, Isaiah Hull, Jacob Polley, Joe Hakim, Joelle Taylor, Kate Fox, Kate Tempest, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicky Foster and Zena Edwards.
About National Poetry Day
National Poetry Day is a mass participation campaign that inspires people to enjoy, discover and share poems. The celebrations fall this year on 28 September and everyone is invited to join in, whether by organising an event or simply posting a line of poetry on social media with #NationalPoetryDay.
National Poetry Day is co-ordinated by Forward Arts Foundation and enjoys the support of the BBC, Arts Council England, the Royal Mail and leading literary and cultural organisations, alongside booksellers, publishers, libraries and schools. Last year the campaign’s reach exceeded 520 million.
About BBC Arts
The BBC has an ongoing commitment to Arts programming, "the greatest commitment to arts for a generation" as announced by the Director General in 2014. The BBC aims to provide the broadest range and depth of music and arts programmes across television, radio and online. The BBC creates non-commercial partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise, to encouraging cross collaboration and creation in order to widen public engagement in UK arts.
The BBC aims to provide context through original, fresh discussion and perspectives and is the biggest investor and creator of original arts and music programming. In 2017 Tony Hall BBC Director General, announced Culture UK, a new approach to collaboration, commissioning and creativity in partnership with Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Wales, the British Council and Creative Scotland. The initiative will develop UK-wide cultural festivals that can reach new audiences, support artist-led commissioning in broadcast and digital media and will convene an R&D programme that will focus on new experiences in performance, live events and exhibitions.
Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Humber Mouth.
Contains Strong Language is a highlight of the fourth season of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, the 365 day programme of cultural events and creativity inspired by the city and told to the world. This nationally significant event draws on the distinctive spirit of the city and the artists, writers, directors, musicians, revolutionaries and thinkers that have made such a significant contribution to the development of art and ideas.
Contains Strong Language kicks off a ten-day programme of events across the city showcasing spoken word, poetry and literature, including Hull's annual Humber Mouth festival, which is marking 25 years. For information go to www.hull2017.co.uk and www.humbermouth.com
KD
Stand Up Poets on BBC Two will capture performance highlights from The Hull 17, including Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick.
As part of the festival, BBC Two explores the relevance of Auden in the 21st Century In A New Age Of Anxiety.
Child In Mind on BBC Four combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care.
Maxine Peake stars in BBC Four’s Men Who Sleep In Cars - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts, which follows three homeless men over one September night in Manchester.
BBC Four celebrates the 50th anniversary of poetry anthology Mersey Sound with The Mersey Beats and profiles Philip Larkin with new documentary Through The Lens Of Larkin which features many of his previously unseen photographs.
BBC Radio 3 showcases a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between The Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will also be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival.
Today, the BBC announced Contains Strong Language: from National Poetry Day on 28 September to 1 October, Contains Strong Language is the biggest poetry festival in the UK devoted to new work. Taking place in Hull, as part of its City of Culture celebrations, the festival will be accompanied by a season of programmes across BBC TV, Radio and Online which will celebrate poetry past and present, in all its forms.
Produced by BBC Radio in partnership with Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Hull City Council, Humber Mouth, The British Council, BBC Learning, Wrecking Ball Press, National Poetry Day and a number of poetry organisations, Contains Strong Language celebrates both new and existing work, with over 50 events across eight venues in Hull, including world premieres, concerts, workshops and outreach activity.
Contains Strong Language on the BBC will also feature new documentaries and live performance across BBC Two and BBC Four and BBC Digital. In addition, six of BBCs national radio stations - BBC Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 5 live and 6music - as well as BBC Radio Humberside, will be taking audiences to the heart of the festival, with live broadcasts from Jo Whiley, Cerys Matthews, John Wilson, Ian McMillan, Mim Shaikh and more.
Jonty Claypole, Director of Arts, BBC, says: “Poetry has never been more vital nor diverse, with traditional boundaries and forms of distribution breaking down. Contains Strong Language is a site-specific and broadcast festival that captures modern poetry in all its variety - page poets, performance poets, and artists of all backgrounds experimenting and creating with the spoken word.
"With fantastic new documentaries on BBC Two and BBC Four, live spoken-word performances on primetime Saturday night on BBC Two, Radio 3, and five other BBC Radio networks broadcasting programmes live from the heart of the Contains Strong Language festival in Hull, it really does have something for everyone.”
On BBC Two a special 30-minute programme Stand Up Poets will capture performance highlights from Isaiah Hull, Asma Elbadawi, Amina Jama, Solomon O.B, Reuben Fields and Liam McCormick, as well as live music from special guests, as BBC 1Xtra bring their renowned Words First poets to Hull as part of the Contains Strong language season.
Also on BBC Two, WH Auden In A New Age Of Anxiety (1 x 60) will explore the relevance of his work in the 21st Century. The film probes the peculiar hold this angry young man of the 1930s still has on our modern psyches and what this can tell us about the political climate in which we all live.
BBC Four will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound, one of the best-selling poetry anthologies of all time that was released in the same year as the Beatles Sgt Pepper, in The Mersey Beats (1 x 60). It will also explore the thousands of photographs that Larkin took during his lifetime in Through The Lens Of Larkin (1 x 30). Philip Larkin documented his life through photographs as well as verse. His images are held in the Hull History Centre and Poet and academic John Wedgewood Clarke examines some of his previously unseen pictures whilst tracking Larkin’s relationship with Hull, his family and his lovers.
Also on BBC Four, Maxine Peake stars in Men Who Sleep In Cars (1 x 60) - a film in verse by Michael Symmons Roberts which follows three men over one September night in Manchester. Written entirely in verse, the film follows the stories of Marley, Antonio and McCulloch who sleep on the streets of Manchester in their vehicles. It is also a love song to the City, whose familiar streets are difficult to leave for the departing Sarah (Maxine Peake).
Child In Mind (1 x 60) combines the poetry of Simon Armitage with documentary footage of British mothers who have had their children taken into care. The women featured tell their story in their own words and are all part of a new scheme called Pause, which aims to break the cycle of repeat care removals. Child In Mind paints an emotionally charged portrait of the lives of these women, many of whom have suffered abuse and neglect themselves.
Throughout the four days of the festival, Radio 3’s Between the Ears and The Verb, Radio 4, BBC Digital and BBC Local Radio will be broadcasting new work from The Hull 17 - the community of 17 poets at the heart of the festival - as they take to the stage in Hull for the Contains Strong Language International Festival of Poetry and Performance. Jacob Polley, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Dean Wilson, Vicky Foster, Hannah Silva, Helen Mort, Joelle Taylor, Zena Edwards, Isaiah Hull and the BBC’s Poet In Residence for the season Harry Giles will all feature on the BBC.
BBC Radio 3 Breakfast show will launch Contains Strong Language as it broadcasts live from Hull on 28 September, National Poetry Day. A discussion of To His Coy Mistress with a panel including Michael Symmons Roberts and Helen Mort will follow at lunchtime on Free Thinking - broadcast from the BBC Humberside studios.
Broadcast live from Hull, Jo Whiley presents a Spoken Word Special on National Poetry Day as part of the season. BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Word First finalist Isaiah Hull will weave the words of a nation into a specially commissioned poem on BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio 6 Music will also be taking Cerys Matthews' show to Hull. BBC Radio 3 will showcase a new performance from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, live from Hull University’s Middleton Hall on Saturday 30 September.
The festival itself will give a nod to the past while embracing the future, bringing wordsmiths from different backgrounds - page poets, spoken word artists, lyricists and performance artists - into new forms of collaboration. It will also encourage emerging talent, giving them a platform alongside first class local, national and international poets.
At the heart of the festival will be The Hull 17 - an ensemble of the country’s most interesting and diverse artists - commissioned to create new work in the city throughout the duration of the festival.
Tickets are available to book for five of these events from today (Monday 24 July) including performances from Kate Tempest, John Cooper Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and JoinedUp Dance Company, who present a new piece of contemporary dance inspired by Imtiaz Dharker’s Poem, This Tide of Humber, commissioned specially for Contains Strong Language, The Unthanks and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
Outreach activity has already begun in the city with a series of workshops happening in different communities, led by poets Bohdan Piasecki, Louise Wallwein, Kate Fox and Joe Hakim. Hull’s very own Dean Wilson and Vicky Foster have also been working with BBC Radio Humberside to gather 2,017 poems from across the region, asking the public to put pen to paper and write about where they live.
The BBC is also inviting schools from the city of Hull and surrounding areas to join a GCSE poetry reading and discussion session. Poets on the current syllabus - Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker and Daljit Nagra - offer young people the chance to gain first-hand knowledge about their poems. The session will be chaired by Chief Examiner, Tony Childs.
Full details of programming can be found here
Notes to Editors
Tickets to Contains Strong Language in Hull
The first allocation of tickets for Contains Strong Language, the brand new poetry and spoken word festival coming to Hull in September, go live today, Monday 24 July. A mixture of free and paid-for tickets will be available to book online on Hull 2017’s website where poetry lovers and spoken word enthusiasts can get their hands on the golden tickets to see some of the world’s most renowned artists.
More information on Contains Strong Language
About the Hull 17
The full line up of poets who form The Hull 17, and have been commissioned to produce new work, is Bohdan Piasecki, Dean Wilson, Fred Voss, Hannah Silva, Harry Giles, Helen Mort, Imtiaz Dharker, Isaiah Hull, Jacob Polley, Joe Hakim, Joelle Taylor, Kate Fox, Kate Tempest, Louise Wallwein, Michael Symmons Roberts, Vicky Foster and Zena Edwards.
About National Poetry Day
National Poetry Day is a mass participation campaign that inspires people to enjoy, discover and share poems. The celebrations fall this year on 28 September and everyone is invited to join in, whether by organising an event or simply posting a line of poetry on social media with #NationalPoetryDay.
National Poetry Day is co-ordinated by Forward Arts Foundation and enjoys the support of the BBC, Arts Council England, the Royal Mail and leading literary and cultural organisations, alongside booksellers, publishers, libraries and schools. Last year the campaign’s reach exceeded 520 million.
About BBC Arts
The BBC has an ongoing commitment to Arts programming, "the greatest commitment to arts for a generation" as announced by the Director General in 2014. The BBC aims to provide the broadest range and depth of music and arts programmes across television, radio and online. The BBC creates non-commercial partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise, to encouraging cross collaboration and creation in order to widen public engagement in UK arts.
The BBC aims to provide context through original, fresh discussion and perspectives and is the biggest investor and creator of original arts and music programming. In 2017 Tony Hall BBC Director General, announced Culture UK, a new approach to collaboration, commissioning and creativity in partnership with Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Wales, the British Council and Creative Scotland. The initiative will develop UK-wide cultural festivals that can reach new audiences, support artist-led commissioning in broadcast and digital media and will convene an R&D programme that will focus on new experiences in performance, live events and exhibitions.
Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Humber Mouth.
Contains Strong Language is a highlight of the fourth season of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, the 365 day programme of cultural events and creativity inspired by the city and told to the world. This nationally significant event draws on the distinctive spirit of the city and the artists, writers, directors, musicians, revolutionaries and thinkers that have made such a significant contribution to the development of art and ideas.
Contains Strong Language kicks off a ten-day programme of events across the city showcasing spoken word, poetry and literature, including Hull's annual Humber Mouth festival, which is marking 25 years. For information go to www.hull2017.co.uk and www.humbermouth.com
KD
