Poet and Workshop Artist
about
Beryl the Feral
When she isn't poeting in the woods - You can catch Beryl teaching; at conferences; or onstage in your local community, saying funny things. Hosting bespoke creative workshops, co-ordinating poetry events, and delivering her own written and spoken material; Beryl lives to loosen-up those Wonder-muscles and feed fascination at both the complicated and the mundane. She aspires to inspire; inciting playful inquiry and encouraging appreciation with all her work.
These days along with Tom Hirons, she is a co-founder of FERAL ANGELS events, bringing poetry through from the wild corners of true-places; hosting workshops and wilderness-fasting retreats for intrepid renagade poets.
Beryl has performed many times with her creative Counterpart Liv Torc, touring two woman shows such as; ‘For Our Sins’ & ‘The Hot Potato Poetry Gameshow’; playing at venues such as the prestigious Ways With Words literary festival. Liv and Beryl both helped to found the amazing Wondermentalist Cabaret, alongside Matt Harvey.
In her spare time she has performed as guest-poet at the likes of the Hip Yak Poetry Shack, Frome Festival, Word Mustard, Taking the Mic, One Night Stanza, Ooh Beehive, Glasdenbury, AITM festival, and many more; and she also has a day-job in Participatory Arts and mentoring.
Beryl likes jumping, trees, and cake, and brushes her teeth for a really long time.
Among her accolades, Beryl has been published by Burning Eye books with her own collection; 'My Other Poems are Funnier'; as well as appearances in other publications like children’s anthologies by Bloomsbury and Walker books, HOT POETS teaching resources, the Transition Town Handbook, and the Rosa Rot feminist journal. So far she is also the creator of six well-selling handmade zines, as well as miniature poetry cards and a self-published book; which can only be found in a few independent stores, and after gigs.
During her career Beryl has coached countless emerging writers, been commissioned for business poetry, arts festivals, and a myriad of performances in contexts including schools, libraries, shops, and theatres; as well as being a multiple slam-winner, and 9 years of curation of her own Spoken Word festival stage. She has co-produced two residential training-schools for professional poets, and stage-managed for the likes of HipYak poetry shack at WOMAD festival, and Womanfest Expressions stage.
She was a proud co-facilitator of several incredible series of WordPlay ‘performance poetry on prescription’ workshops, for adults with mental health concerns; in association with the NHS, as well as having delivered a variety of workshops in community groups, such as Ladies Lounge Recovery, Big Girls Village, and Poetry For Memory Loss, with Literature Works.