Half Beard Half Poet (Spoken Label, April 2026)
About this episode
This episode features Half Beard Half Poet, who discusses his return to poetry after a long hiatus.
Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry Podcast) features making his debut is the wonderful Half Beard Half Poet. A product of the early 2010s Mancunian poetry scene Half Beard Half Poet (then using the alias Benny-Jo Zahl) burned bright but briefly. Three years after discovering poetry in 2009 he was published as a member of the Working Verse collective alongside Kieren King and Dave Viney Via Flapjack press (The Prequel to the Sequel), co-wrote and performed two plays with Working Verse that debuted in the Lowery theatre (Amateur Thematics – 2012, Writer's Retweet – 2013) and co-hosted Bang Said The Gun: Manchester. In May 2014 at the Evidently poetry night in Salford he gave his last performance, until one fateful day in October 2023, when he walked into a therapist’s office holding notebook and pen… What some people have said about him: “The great ape swings again! I’ve admired these poems for years, but for too long they’ve not been on our stages. It’s amazing to see not only their return but also even more exciting, emotive, excellent new words coming from this engaging and inspired writer and performer. Yes, heavier than metal, and shining twice as brightly! –…
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