The Digital Poetry Slam is a project commissioned by Off The Shelf Festival Of Words, run by Sheffield based literature organisation Word Life and local filmmaker Nathan Gibson. We've filmed 21 poets in 21 different locations across Sheffield, all venues Off The Shelf use as part of their festival to celebrate their 21st anniversary. We've featured a whole range of different poets, from university lecturers, established names, students and performance poets to give a snapshot of Sheffield's literature scene. This project has been organised by Word Life, who run a range of different projects including events, workshops and publications. If you are interested in Word Life becoming a part of a project you're running, please don't hesitate to get in touch at wordlifeuk@gmail.com
Sheffield's annual celebration of reading and writing offer a wide ranging programme of over 200 events during October and November in over 80 venues across the city. It features events with poets, authors, broadcasters, musicians and artists from a range of different art forms united in their love of language. It's a great festival that runs from the 13th October to the 3rd November. This year's guest curator is Benjamin Zephaniah. To find out more about Off The Shelf and their programme vist their website here
Nathan Gibson is an independent film-maker and photographer currently based in Sheffield. Working with both digital and analogue media, he is available for a wide range of commissions and always looking for collaborations and projects. You can see his other work and get in touch with him here.
Opus Independents is a Sheffield based not-for-profit social enterprise which publishes a monthly free magazine called Now Then, operates a promotions, distribution and poster service and runs a variety of live spoken word workshops and events called Word Life. We also run regular music events and festival stages as Opus Presents. We are a collective of individuals who are committed to creating and sustaining socially beneficial arts projects. We operate in a cooperative structure, sharing project ideas, workloads, and skill sets. We are committed to supporting local independent traders, charities, community groups, social enterprise and local government. We believe that it is these groups and organisations which not only give each community a uniqueness of character, but also allow a community to support its own agendas, local economy and residents.