Your Hosts




		Poetry and Prose

Your Hosts

The Spoken Word is hosted by Rose Drew and Alan Gillott who also together run the Stairwell Books small press. They would host an evening of poetry and politics every night of the week if they could get away with it.

Rose and Alan arrived in York fresh from their previous venture in Connecticut USA only to discover that all the Open Mics in York had foundered. After stirring the local poetry pot they founded The Spoken Word in January 2006. The same pot stirring also gave birth to Speaker’s Corner, another York Open Mic, under the aegis of Aesthetica Magazine.
a summary of Rose and Alan’s features can be seen below...

Rose Drew

Rose is a physical anthropologist with a passionate interest in how we live and how in living we leave a record in our bones. As an anthropologist she is equally passionate about the way we live now and this is expressed in her poetry. Rose is a performance poet who has ‘taken the stage’ in London, Connecticut, Miami, New York, old York and Bloomington Indiana.

Rose, an award winning poet, has been published in anthologies, journals, newsprint, books, and online. She enjoys nurturing other writers and has led successful workshops on performing poetry, and with her husband Alan, runs a small press, Stairwell Books.

Her most recent collection,Temporary Safety, recently listed 9th in the Purple Patch best Collections 2011, is available here..

Contact Rose or call 07914 271871

Alan Gillott

Alan has been writing poetry, of sorts, since he was a teenager, but his poetry first flowered in Dulwich under the stern eye of Alasdair Aston who then ran the local poetry scene.

He went on to read in London, North Carolina, New York and Connecticut where, with his then fauxmari, Rose, founded the Wilton First Tuesday poetry group. After being exiled by the US Immigration service, Rose was left to run the Wilton group while he languished in Croydon. On his return he read in Miami, New York and Connecticut before moving to York and to start, with Rose, The Spoken Word.

Alan’s collection, Beyond the Window, is now available here...

Contact Alan or call 07914 271870

Previous Rose and Alan Features

Rose and Alan featured at “The Garage” in Newtown Connecticut Connecticut’s longest running weekly Open Mic - Wednesday Night Poetry.

Alan also featured at the Second Monday Barnes and Noble, Stamford Connecticut, in April 2011.

Rose and Alan, supported by Andy Brown and Mary Callan read at Take Ten at the Cumberland Arms in Newcastle hosted by Poetry Jack who performed at the recent York Poetry Slam.

Rose performed with Voice of an Angel, Paul Martin, and Hot Fudge in a show of magic, music, poetry and soul at Clement’s Hall in Nunthorpe Road

Rose with Tanya Nightingale performed their show She’s The Cultured One at the Three Sisters as part of the Edinburgh Free Fringe. Details are posted on the She’s the Cultured One web page. This show, a 35 minute duologue, was enjoyed by everyone who came to see it, is available on request.

Rose was the guest host for an evening of Poetry and Writing on the theme of Observations at the Leeds Combined Arts Poetry Evening at the Headingly Enterprise and Arts Centre, Bennett Road, Headingly, LS6 3HN. Further information about the LCA can be found on www.leedscombinedarts.org.uk/lca/index.shtml

Rose featured at the Launch Night for Laid Bare at the Studio, Hartlepool, on the 30th March 2012. Rose featured with Ten, Skylark Song, Mark Tindle, Chris Robinson, and John Carter.

Rose and Alan featured at the Southpaw at the Chillingham in Newcastle in May 2012.

Rose and Alan, along with John Gilham and Pauline Kirk featured in Reading The Ground at the Lund Gallery near Easingwold along with paintings by Debbie Loane and Martin Huxter in June 2012.

Rose and Alan headlined the Stairwell Books Open Mic Event at the Ilkley Moor Vaults in Stockeld Road and later performed at the Fighting Cock Press event Four Fighting Cocks at the Ilkley Playhouse .

Rose, with other Spoken Word and Exhibitionist poets performed as part of the Quiet Compere Tour hosted by Sarah L. Dixon at the City Screen Basement Bar in February 2014

In May of 2014 Alan and Rose, along with Tanya Nightingale and Helen Burke, were invited to develop a poetic reflection on the life and poetry of John Keats which was performed at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome.

At the Galtres music festival in August 2014 Rose featured at the Snapping Turtle, later winning the Galtres poetry Slam. Rose and Alan both hosted the Snapping Turtle open Mike. For more information about the Galtres Parklands Festival click on the inverted cow.

Also in August Rose was guest host for the Harrogate Poems, Prose and Pints at the Tap and Spile.

And again, at the Golden Ball, this September Rose won the 2014 slam.