Established in 2014, Say Owt are York’s loveable gang of performance poets. They host high-energy nights of words and verse.
Hannah Davies is Say Owt’s Associate Artist – running open mics, workshops and supporting poets across York.
We are delighted to launch Hannah’s first poetry collection – DOLLS. This book is a fierce and tender collection about womanhood, motherhood, feminism and survival. Hannah is a spellbinding storyteller and her writing is warm, lyrical and bold.
This event is also proudly part of York Literature Festival – Say Owt Artistic Director Henry Raby says: “We’re delighted to be working alongside YLF, York has a great culture of arts organisations linking up and working together to celebrate local artists.”
Hannah Davies is a multi-slam winner. With a series of slam-wins under her belt (Great Northern Slam 2016, Axis Slam 2017, Word War 4 Champion, BBC EdFringe Slam finalist, Hammer & Tongue Nationals finalist) she has performed at poetry nights across the country (Find the Right Words, Sonnet Youth, Tongue Fu, Evidently, Inua Ellams Rap Party, She Grrrowls, Women of Words) and is Associate Artist at Say Owt. Hannah is also an experienced theatre-maker and facilitator (Royal Court, York Theatre Royal, Trestle, Guild of Misrule, Company of Angels, Pilot, Arcade), and lectures in Playwriting at the University of York in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies.
It wouldn’t be a Say Owt gig without a few surprises and special guests. We’ve curated a gang of amazing artists to turn this into a poetry party! Sylvia Marie will be performing her branch of touching performance poetry. Sally Jenkinson is coming all the way from Brighton! Originally from Doncaster, Sally is a writer exploring untold stories with a gorgeous wit and warmth. Music comes from Pascallion and Ysabelle Wombwell. Ysabelle is a Hull-based musician and creative producer creating music for social change.
This is going to be a big party night! The perfect way to spend a Saturday night.
Hannah says:
“DOLLS is my first collection of poetry and I’m really excited to be launching it as part of York Literature Festival. There are poems in here that I’ve been performing for years, and some that haven’t seen the light of day at all. The collection takes its title from DOLLS, the first poem I ever performed in a slam (the Say Owt slam). Each chapter has a different doll as its title. Baby doll, Russian doll, Barbie doll. It’s about womanhood, motherhood, survival. It’s a good time for me to take stock, creatively, and having all these pieces in one book feels like the end of an era in a way, I’m in a very different place to when I first dared myself to get on a stage and share my poems seven years ago. Who knows what creative writing adventures await next!”
The Crescent
8, The Crescent, York, Yo24 1AW
Doors 7pm, event starts 7.30pm
£10 advance, £15 on the door
18th March 2023