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For the last of our programmes recorded at the Belgrade Theatre for the Contains Strong Language Festival of poetry and performance, Ian McMillan is joined by Simon Armitage & LYR, Theresa Lola, Romalyn Ante and Andrea Mbarushimana for a programme that celebrates the relationship between mentor and mentee, the importance of cultural exchange and work that pushes at the boundaries.

Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage has been working with the musicians Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson to set his spoken word to music under the name Land Yacht Regatta (LYR). For the Verb they play two songs from their 2020 album ‘Call in the Crash Team’, which join Armitage's lyrics with intense and atmospheric musical arrangements from Walters and Pearson.

Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian writer and poet. In 2019 she was appointed the 2019/2020 Young People's Laureate for London, and her debut poetry collection 'In Search of Equilibrium' is published by Nine Arches.

Romalyn Ante is a Filipino-born, Wolverhampton-based author. She is co-founding editor of harana poetry. Her debut collection is Antiemetic for Homesickness (Chatto & Windus). Andrea Mbarushima is Coventry born and bred. She is the author of two chapbooks and is a current cohort of the Room 204 mentoring programme with Writing West Midlands. Romalyn and Andrea is part of the CSL ‘Twin Cities’ project, inviting poets to exchange postcards with writers from Coventry’s 26 twinned cities.

Presenter: Ian McMillan
Producer: Jessica Treen