Join Bridie Squires and Sarah Wheatley for a 30-minute morning ritual of one-word check in, breathing, free movement, free writing, intention setting, and a one-word check-out.
Weekdays in January, 6am - 6.30am
Via Zoom: Contact info@gobscollective.org for the link
Learn the basics of teaching spoken word with GOBS co-founder Ioney Smallhorne. With theoretical discussion and practical activities, you’ll come away from the session with an understanding of what it means to facilitate a workshop, having had a chance to put your learning into practice.
Pay what you can.
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about Gboyega Odubanjo's Adam, followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Booking link coming soon.
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about Brian Bilston's Alexa, what is there to know about love? followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Booking link coming soon.
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about Amy Acre's Mothersong, followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Booking link coming soon.
Join GOBS Collective for a fast-paced theatre-writing and devising workshop led by theatre-maker and educator Pepa Duarte.
Come and get cosy for our annual GOBS Winter Warm-up, and celebrate 5 years of GOBS Collective with us! We have some very exciting announcements for 2025, plus reflections on an incredible 2024, all with a hot plate of food, poetry games, friendly faces and an open mic. Totally free, all welcome, all we ask is that you RSVP (and please let us know if you can no longer make it) by Friday 10 January.
Join GOBS as we share spoken-word performances as part of Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance’s 30th-anniversary, festive fundraiser. Expect poetry from Bridie Squires, Gail Webb, Armor Craw, Ferzana Shan, Marjie Griffiths and Davina Songbird.
Join GOBS founder Bridie for a 30-minute morning ritual of breathing, gentle stretching, freewriting and goal setting.
Weekdays in December, up to and including Friday 20th, 6am - 6.30am
Via Zoom: Contact info@gobscollective.org for the link
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about John Cooper Clarke's Ten Years in an Open-necked Shirt, followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Join us for spoken-word performances celebrating all things Nottingham culture and history, with the opportunity to perform on the open mic yourself!
Book now (available from 1 October)
Join GOBS Collective founder Bridie Squires and University of Nottingham academic and poet Dr Hongwei Bao, in a series of creative writing, publishing and performance workshops. During the third workshop, you'll learn about performance techniques.
Book now (available from 1 October)
Join GOBS Collective founder Bridie Squires and University of Nottingham academic and poet Dr Hongwei Bao, in a series of creative writing, publishing and performance workshops. During the second workshop, you’ll take part in a fun zine-making session.
Book now (available from 1 October)
Join GOBS Collective founder Bridie Squires and University of Nottingham academic and poet Dr Hongwei Bao, in a series of creative writing, publishing and performance workshops. During the first workshop, you’ll get to explore Nottingham history and culture through the art of poetry.
Book now (available from 1 October)
GOBS are out in full force at the award-winning Bad Betty Press' monthly event series. Join us in the afternoon for a poetry masterclass with the legendary Caleb Femi, and for an evening of performances hosted by GOBS' Bridie Squires, featuring GOBS' Hongwei Bao.
Join GOBS founder Bridie for a 30-minute morning ritual of breathing, gentle stretching, freewriting and goal setting.
Every weekday in November, 6am - 6.30am
Via Zoom: Contact info@gobscollective.org for the link
Join us for autumnal festivities, scary snacks and spooky verse as we join for our quarterly meet-up, this time in the form of a fun-filled open mic at The Carousel. Prizes for the most dreadfully dressed poet!
Book now
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about Joseph Coelho's Overheard in a Tower Block, followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Book now
Join us to celebrate Nottingham's annual Hockley Hustle festival as we join forces with the incredible collective Poets off the Endz.
Book now
GOBS are out in full force at the award-winning Bad Betty Press' monthly event series. Join us in the afternoon for a poetry masterclass with the legendary Jemima Foxtrot, and for an evening of performances hosted by GOBS' Bridie Squires, featuring GOBS' Ben Macpherson among a plethora of incredible artists including Caroline Bird.
Join GOBS founder Bridie for a 30-minute morning ritual of breathing, gentle stretching, freewriting and goal setting.
Every weekday in October, 6am - 6.30am
Via Zoom: Contact info@gobscollective.org for the link
Join us in-person or via Zoom to talk about Warsan Shire's Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head, followed by writing activities based on poems from the collection.
Book now
GOBS are out in full force at the award-winning Bad Betty Press' monthly event series. Join us in the afternoon for a poetry masterclass with the legendary Raymond Antrobus, and for an evening of performances hosted by GOBS' Bridie Squires, featuring GOBS' Ioney Smallhorne and Polis Loizou.
Join GOBS founder Bridie for a 30-minute morning ritual of breathing, gentle stretching, freewriting and goal setting.
Every weekday in September, 6am - 6.30am
Via Zoom: Contact info@gobscollective.org for the link
Join us for some outdoor writing, socialising and milling around Wollaton Park.
Meet at The Courtyard cafe.
Join our mailing list by emailing info@gobscollective.org for updates and more info
More information and booking link coming soon.
Join GOBS Collective - as seen at We Out Here, Nottingham Poetry Festival and Hockley Hustle - for their first ever POETRY SLAM at the brand-new Nottingham Central Library.
Hot off their recent sold-out EARTH showcase at Nottingham Playhouse’s Neville Studio, GOBS Collective members are going head to head in a tournament of poetry performances that will see some of the best spoken-word artists in Nottingham take to the stage.
Judged on their writing, performance and stage presence, 20 poets will battle it out for the GOBS POETRY SLAM champion crown, which comes with a £100 cash prize, a Bad Betty Press book bundle, plus more surprises on the night.
Judges:
Ioney Smallhorne (GOBS Co-founder)
Jake Wild Hall (Bad Betty Press)
Georgina Wilding (Verve, Nottingham Central Library)
Hosts:
Bridie Squires and Caetano Capurro
Timings:
Doors: 6.30pm
Start: 7pm
Heat 1: 7.10pm
Heat 2: 8.20pm
Final: 9.30pm
Winner announced: 10pm
Tickets:
£5 Concessions (limited amount available)
£10 Earlybird (limited amount available)
£15 On the door and when Earlybirds run out
Come down to experience the incredible atmosphere of a GOBS event, with brilliant poetry, friendly faces and live DJs to punctuate the heats, all in the grand setting of our Nottingham Central Library.
GOBS Collective invites you to chat and scribble your heart away as our Poetry Book Club returns, this time hosted in the brand new Nottingham Central Library (Meeting Room 2) and via Zoom.
GOBS Poetry Book Club provides a space for poets, writers, readers, performers, and artists to meet over a cuppa, and have a good chinwag over our poetry collection of the month. For the first half of the session we’ll talk about the book, and in the second half we’ll do some focussed writing exercises based on our favourite poems.
Obviously it’s preferable that you read the book before you come along, but if you don’t get chance and fancy heading down anyway just pop along and there’s sure to be something for you to say, listen to, or write. No judgement.
On Saturday 25 May, 11am-1pm, we will be looking at:
Chick
Hannah Lowe
Winner of the 2015 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize
Shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, and the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for Poetry 2014
Hannah Lowe’s first book of poems takes you on a journey round her father, a Chinese-black Jamaican migrant who disappeared at night to play cards or dice in London's old East End to support his family, an unstable and dangerous existence that took its toll on his physical and mental health. 'Chick' was his gambling nickname. More information and booking link coming soon.
Available at Five Leaves Bookshop: https://fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/product/chick/
Get a 15% discount on this book at Five Leaves by using the code GOBS
If you have any issues purchasing the book, please get in touch with Bridie via info@gobscollective.org
Practical Information
GOBS Poetry Book Club takes place in Nottingham Central Library (Meeting Room 2)
1 Carrington St., Nottingham NG1 7FH
On Saturday 25 May, 11am - 1pm
GOBS Poetry Book Club is also available to attend via Zoom.
We will send everyone a Zoom link just before the session.
Please note we have limited places available both in-person and online, so booking is essential.
GOBS Poetry Book Club is free to attend (donations welcome) and can be booked via Eventbrite.
For more information, and to book, please visit Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gobs-poetry-book-club-hannah-lowe-chick-tickets-897200249097
GOBS is proud to be partnering with Bad Betty Press on their incredible live event series at Peggy’s Skylight Nottingham. Each live event brings the best poetry talent from around the UK, includes a GOBS Collective performance slot, and is hosted by GOBS founder Bridie Squires. Bad Betty Live is preceded by a masterclass delivered by one of the performing artists in the Sillitoe Room at Waterstone’s Nottingham. Both venues are wheelchair accessible.
Join Harry Baker for a 2-hour poetry masterclass.
Bad Betty masterclasses take place in the afternoon prior to each Bad Betty Live show, and offer a chance to work closely with one of the featured acts. Join in person at Waterstones Nottingham, or online via Zoom. Get 50% off when bought with a ticket to Bad Betty Live.
About your facilitator:
World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker is a poet and a maths graduate. He writes about important stuff like hope, dinosaurs and German falafel-spoons. His work has been shared on TED.com and viewed by millions online but is even better in person. He has performed all over the world and his latest collection ‘Wonderful’ is out in May 2024 alongside a UK tour of the same name.
Award-winning publishing house Bad Betty Press presents poetry from Helen Mort (The Illustrated Woman, Shortlisted for the Forward Prize), Harry Baker (World Poetry Slam Champion), Cara Thompson (Nottingham Poetry Festival, GOBS), and Katie Ailes (Loud Poets), plus music from NeOne the Wonderer and special guests.
Bad Betty Press is an award-winning independent poetry publisher, and curator of live literature events taking place across the UK. London-born, Nottingham-based, Bad Betty was set up in 2017 with the aim of showcasing risk-taking poetry, supporting poets’ artistic development and celebrating stories less often told.
Bad Betty is a British Book Awards Small Press of the Year Finalist (2024, 2023), a Michael Marks Publishers' Award winner (2022), and the parent of pamphlet imprint, Little Betty
Book now at Bad Betty’s website
Discounts for GOBS members- email info@gobscollective.org for more information
GOBS Collective invites you to chat and scribble your heart away as our Poetry Book Club returns, this time hosted in the brand new Nottingham Central Library (Meeting Room 2) and via Zoom.
GOBS Poetry Book Club provides a space for poets, writers, readers, performers, and artists to meet over a cuppa, and have a good chinwag over our poetry collection of the month. For the first half of the session we’ll talk about the book, and in the second half we’ll do some focussed writing exercises based on our favourite poems.
Obviously it’s preferable that you read the book before you come along, but if you don’t get chance and fancy heading down anyway just pop along and there’s sure to be something for you to say, listen to, or write. No judgement.
On Saturday 20 April, 11am-1pm, we will be looking at:
Heritage Aesthetics
Anthony Anaxagorou
Witty and wide-ranging, Heritage Aesthetics draws from Anthony’s family’s migratory histories – between Cyprus and the UK – to interrogate patriarchy, xenophobia and national divides. Spanning from the British Empire to the contemporary moment, Anaxagorou unpacks the travelogues of colonial writers and military men alongside experiences of racism in the present.
Yet this collection never settles into being ‘about’ identity or contemporary culture. Anthony’s adept, eviscerating eye continues to complicate – looking at how perception is shaped, how we perform our politics, and how we love what is hard to love. Offering no easy answers, Anaxagorou instead calls for a deeper interrogation of the ways in which we’re living and performing.
Fearless, intensely honest and hopeful, Heritage Aesthetics merges Anthony’s gift for performance and his brilliant experimentation with form to create a vivid insistence to communicate a self in the world.
Get 15% off your purchase now from Five Leaves Bookshop
Our friends at Five Leaves Bookshop are offering 15% off all GOBS Poetry Book Club purchases.
Buy your copy of Anthony Anaxagorou’s Heritage Aesthetics from Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Swann's Yard, Nottingham NG1 2DH
Or buy online from Five Leaves Bookshop’s website:
https://fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/product/heritage-aesthetics/
USE CODE ‘GOBS’ FOR 15% OFF ONLINE AND IN STORE
Practical Information
GOBS Poetry Book Club takes place in Nottingham Central Library (Meeting Room 2)
1 Carrington St., Nottingham NG1 7FH
On Saturday 20 April, 11am - 1pm
GOBS Poetry Book Club is also available to attend via Zoom. We will send everyone a Zoom link just before the session.
Please note we have limited places available both in-person and online, so booking is essential.
GOBS Poetry Book Club is free to attend (donations welcome) and can be booked via Eventbrite.
_________________________________________
Future GOBS Poetry Book Club dates for your diary
Sat 25 May: Hannah Lowe - Chick
Sat 22 June: Warsan Shire - Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
Sat 27 July: Jasmine Cooray - Inheritance
All titles available from Five Leaves Bookshop in store and online, at a 15% discount using the code GOBS
All sessions will take place in Nottingham Central Library from 11am-1pm
If you would like to get involved in other GOBS activity, please email Bridie on info@gobscollective.org
At previous events, we've looked at:
Caleb Femi - Poor
Tolu Agbelusi - Locating Strongwoman
Caroline Bird - The Air Year
Ella Frears - I am the Mother Cat
Kae Tempest – Running Upon the Wires
Roger Robinson - A Portable Paradise
Malika Booker, Sharon Olds & Warsan Shire - Your Family, Your Body (Modern Poets Three)
I nua Ellams - The Actual
C ecilia Knapp - Peach Pig
Yomi Sode - Manorisms
Will Harris - Rendang
Thank you to Apples and Snakes, Five Leaves Bookshop, and Nottingham Central Library, for supporting the GOBS Poetry Book Club
12pm - 1pm:
GOBS' EARTH Showcase Performers Debrief
1pm - 4pm:
Lunch is served! Everyone welcome.
Come one, come all!
Join Nottingham spoken-word collective GOBS as we celebrate the beginnings of spring with poetry performances and community vibes.
Join us for our 2024 GOBS Spring Spruce event at Antenna Nottingham. A huge thank you to Confetti Media Group for their support of this event.
The first hour of the GOBS Spring Spruce is reserved for those who've recently taken part in the EARTH Showcase - we'll have a chance to debrief about the workshop programme and showcase experience together.
Following that, we've got some tasty grub lined up for everyone to come and enjoy alongside some springtime natter, writing activities, and some exciting news about upcoming events and opportunities. Plus, a special Sunday open mic open to all!
Expect:
Food!
Open mic
GOBS writing games
Info on upcoming opportunities and events
If you would like to come along, please RSVP by emailing Bridie on info@gobscollective.org. Please outline any dietary or access requirements.
If you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 (including but not limited to fever, cough, body aches, headache, new loss of taste of smell, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, diarrhea) or feel at all unwell, we ask that you please don’t attend the GOBS Winter-Warm-Up event. We also encourage all attendees to take a COVID-19 test at home before attending.
If you've told us you're coming, please let us know as soon as possible if you're no longer able to come.
It’s a family affair! We can’t wait to see your faces once more.
Book now at nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
A heron lands among seashells; her rusty compass swings west…
Experience Nottingham’s most exciting spoken-word talent in a showcase curated by GOBS Collective members, co-directed by Cara Thompson and Bridie Squires, with movement direction from John Berkavitch. These poets have built work from the ground up, bringing individual stories together to create this journey through softness, hardship and magic - Earth. Developed in partnership with Apples and Snakes, with support from Nottingham Central Library and Nottingham Playhouse.
As seen at We Out Here Festival, Hockley Hustle and Nottingham Poetry Festival.
Founded in 2020, Nottingham adult spoken-word collective GOBS host poetry performances, workshops, events, book clubs, masterclasses and education programmes, meeting on a quarterly basis with various projects and opportunities rolling out throughout the year. Previously funded by Arts Council England, GOBS have performed alongside Yomi Sode, Randolph Matthews, Casey Bailey, and Debris Stevenson, and have featured on Notts TV, BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Sounds
FEATURING
Bridie Squires
Cara Thompson
Cassie Bradley
Davina Songbird
Umbilica
Caetano Capurro
Emma Price
Beth Parker
Johnny Hughes
Ruth Singleton
Rachelle Foster
Sarah Wheatley
Marjie Griffiths
Jennifer Brough
Rehannah Mian
Bridget Leadbeater
Nipa
Hongwei
Book now at nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
With thanks to our partners and supporters: Apples and Snakes, Nottingham Playhouse and Nottingham Central Library.
Get your Valentine's Day poetry ready in this two-hour workshop with GOBS Collective's Ben Macpherson.
Ben is a Nottingham based writer and performer whose work is filled with playfulness. He is the keeper of SMUT! The Verbal Burlesque, a night celebrating love sex and identity and he’s also one of the directors of Nottingham Poetry Festival. Ben has lead writing workshops for people of all ages, creating safe, enjoyable and judgement free spaces to explore new ideas and hone existing work. He has performed around the country including at the Edinburgh Fringe where he was a recipient of a Keep It Fringe Fund bursary in 2023. His first book was published in 2023 by Big White Shed.
£10 tickets, £7 concessions
Book now via Eventbrite
Get your Valentine's Day poetry ready in this two-hour workshop with GOBS Collective's Bridie Squires.
Bridie Squires is a poet, playwright, producer and performance artist from Nottingham.
Previously journalist and editor at LeftLion Magazine, she was appointed Nottingham Trent University’s first Writer in Residence in 2019, and founded Nottingham spoken-word collective GOBS in 2020.
Bridie was Producer for Nottingham Poetry Festival and Young Creative Awards, and is Production Manager at British Gestalt Journal. A Mouthy Poets alumnus, she has performed her poetry in Southbank Centre, London, Badisches Staatstheatre, Karlsruhe, and We Out Here Festival, Cambridge.
£10 tickets, £7 concessions
Book now via Eventbrite
Free Workshop Opportunity for Female-Identifying GOBS
Female-identifying GOBS have been invited to take part in a free workshop with Pepa Duarte - a WOC Latinx theatre maker and drama facilitator with over a decade of experience based in London. The work she does often explores the themes of identity, migration and feminism.
Pepa is travelling to Nottingham this October to perform her show 'Eating Myself' at Nonsuch Studios as part of her Autumn UK Tour. Thanks to the support of Arts Council England she will be running a post-show creative workshop for free
The ‘Eating Stories’ workshop is designed to be an inclusive and contemplative space for GOBS to delve into their personal connections with food. This session encourages GOBS to explore their memories, family traditions, and perceptions of their own bodies within the context of food. Building upon the themes of the ‘Eating Myself’ show, the workshop aims to foster a deeper understanding of these topics while facilitating meaningful connections and the exchange of diverse experiences.
GOBS will be encouraged to examine the underlying dynamics tied to food, the kitchen, and traditional gender roles. Furthermore, the workshop will prompt discussions about the role of food in preserving cultural traditions and strengthening familial bonds. From a creative perspective, GOBS will develop their imaginative capacities, nurturing self-confidence and enjoying the creative process.
Eating Myself (Show)
Nonsuch Studios
Friday 27 October, 7.30pm
£12.50
Booking link: https://www.nonsuchstudios.co.uk/whatson/eating-myself
A sensory adventure that explores tradition and family, accompanied with the wafting smells of Peruvian food...
“Food is a gift. Something you give to others. A privilege. An excuse to be with the ones you love.”
Back home, the mouth-watering flavours and aromas of traditional Peruvian cooking was forbidden in Pepa’s home. Except when Grandma would sneak in a steak and some spices. In England, Pepa found herself on a journey, a journey inside herself, to discover that food could be shared with a new family around a new table. And you are invited to taste it. Through her own experiences, Duarte takes us on an exciting journey that will make us reflect on our own relationship with food.
Join Pepa Duarte (A Fight Against, Royal Court) for a full sensory experience exploring womanhood, body image and tradition in her debut play directed by Sergio Maggiolo.
Eating Stories (Workshop)
Nonsuch Studios
Saturday 28 October, 10.30am – 2pm
Free
To book, please email Bridie on info@gobscollective.org
This writing workshop will revolve around the relationship of women with food, eating and cooking.
Pepa asks that all participants cook and bring a dish that represents home/family for them. Up to £15 of expenses will be reimbursed on the day (bring your receipts and bank details!) If you can’t bring anything along, that is also fine. It is preferable that you will have attended the Eating Myself show the night before – however, if you are unable to attend for whatever reason, Pepa has a link to a recording of the show to watch beforehand. There is no additional funding to cover the cost of your ticket to the show.
If you are a female-identifying GOB and would like to attend the workshop, please send Bridie an email on info@gobscollective.org by copying and pasting the options below, and checking the relevant boxes with an X:
1. [ ] I can confirm my attendance the Eating Stories Workshop (free)
2. [ ] I can confirm my attendance at the Eating Myself Show and will book my ticket (£12.50) via the Nonsuch Website
OR
[ ] I am not able to attend the Eating Myself Show, but I can watch a recording
Croupier needs to buy a caravan for her and her ex-gambling-addict grandad, but she’s skint.
She works Casino Zero, where pit boss Janet hounds her to eat Chum Bars for energy. Bizarre, poetic humour runs through this tale of loss, punctuated with melodic, loop-station soundscapes, crafted live with casino props.
This is a tale of minimum wage, grief and addiction. Inspired by two years of night shifts working as a croupier in a casino just around the corner from Nottingham Playhouse, this play highlights the social issues of gambling culture, caricaturing the industry through the eyes of a female, working-class writer from Nottingham.
Bridie Squires is a poet, playwright, producer and performance artist from Nottingham.
Previously journalist and editor at LeftLion Magazine, she was appointed Nottingham Trent University’s first Writer in Residence in 2019, and founded Nottingham spoken-word collective GOBS in 2020.
Bridie was Producer for Nottingham Poetry Festival and Young Creative Awards, and is Production Manager at British Gestalt Journal.
A Mouthy Poets alumnus, she has performed her poetry in Southbank Centre, London, Badisches Staatstheatre, Karlsruhe, and We Out Here Festival, Cambridge.
Bridie has performed alongside Lemn Sissay, Holly McNish, Henry Normal, Yomi Ṣode and Linton Kwesi Johnson.
She is Lead Artist at GOBS Collective, Creative Writing Tutor at Headway Nottingham, and has delivered workshops for Nottingham City Council, Archway Learning Trust, UNESCO City of Literature, and Nottingham Community Artists Network.
She was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 for Mardy, a poem for Talk and Tongue: The Dialect Poets, and was selected to take part in BBC Words First and BBC New Creatives, where she developed her audio drama Self-checkout, for BBC Sounds, in 2022.
Bridie was awarded both a Develop Your Creative Practice grant and National Lottery funding by Arts Council England to create Casino Zero - her one-woman loop station play based on her experiences as a croupier.
Bridie published her debut poetry collection Duck on Bike in 2023. She is currently collaborating with Nottingham Playhouse to continue developing Casino Zero and GOBS Collective.
