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Creative Women's Network Profiles |
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Comments & Quotes: Comments and Quotes “A surreal burlesque with permission to rhyme… a lyrical super-hero!” Chloe Poems “Helên Thomas’ irreverent style and soft-sound intonations were spot on as she served up snack after snack of poetic fare.” (‘Literally Speaking’, Cheltenham Festival of Literature 2002) “Look out for the poems on domestic items which are beautifully timed.” The List, Edinburgh “Helên Thomas is a proven performance poet with a broad and incisive repertoire and the happy knack of saying the right thing at the right time for the right audience – whether they know it or not.” Paul Neads, Mucusart Publications and Editor of ‘The Ugly Tree’ poetry ‘zine “One of the Northwest’s funniest, LOUDEST and most original poets!” Buxton Fringe Festival "Helên Thomas fuses the best of the performed and written word in her spunky, wildly eccentric and startling poetry…she is several British originals rolled into one, and probably irreplaceable.” Todd Swift, Editor of ‘Shortfuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry’, Rattapallax Press, 2002. "As good as dancing round your handbag to the sparkle of a glitterball. Helên successfully engages her audience with everyday musings on the world so that you're left thinking - I wish I'd said that. Read, listen, but most of all enjoy." Rosemary Dun, poet and promoter of Big Mouth Cabaret, Bristol. "The overall effect is like when your fearsomely independent older sister begins to spout about her advancing bikini line in the pub and in response you snort your Bacardi Breezer in both surprise and gleeful admiration!" City life magazine, Manchester.
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Home Profiles Classified Ads Links Articles Poetry Pages CWN Jewellery Shop Helên Thomas Performance Poet
Helên Thomas is a prize-winning poet who appears regularly on the UK poetry circuit. She has made a name for herself as a performance poet who is both versatile and original. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies both in print and online. She has organised events both as 'Poetry Link Organiser' for The Lymm Festival and as part of Warrington’s Hot Wire Events. In July 2003 Helên was commissioned to write a ten-minute performance poem to commemorate five years of The Lymm Festival; she has helped to judge the festival’s creative writing competition on three occasions. Competitions and SlamsHelên’s first taste of poetic success came in 1985 when she won a runner-up prize in 'She' Magazine's National Poetry Competition with 'Ode To Bad Poetry'. In October 2000 she won the Manchester Poetry Festival Slam. During the late 1990’s Helên was a regular performer and winner at the legendary ‘Slam, Bam thank you Mam’ at Manchester’s Green Room, hosted by Chloe Poems. She also guested at Rosie Lugosi’s, ‘Creatures of the Night’ at the same venue. In June 2003 Helên compèred for the Glastonbury Poetry Tent and co-hosted the prestigious Glastonbury Festival poetry slam. She has been an invited slammer at various events including The South Kensington Festival, ‘Stars of Slam’ and The 1st and 2nd ‘UK Allstars Slam’ at The Cheltenham Festival of Literature, 2005 & 2006. Guest AppearancesGuest appearances include: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival; The Buxton Fringe Festival; Manchester Poetry Festival; The Bristol Poetry Festival; The Poetry Tent at Glastonbury; The Ashton Court Festival, Bristol; The Lymm Festival; The Cheltenham Festival of Literature; Manchester Central Reference Library; Big Mouth Cabaret, Bristol; Mouthtrap Cabaret, Reading; Rossendale Folk Festival; Jim Bennett’s Poetry Open Mic. at Border’s Books; Dead Good Poets Society, Liverpool and The Bowery Poetry Club New York. Publications and e-books‘Hopelessness and Other Hobbies’, Helên’s self published chap book, 2001 ‘Slam! The Hotwire Anthology’, Pyramid Press 2002. ‘Shortfuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry’, Rattapallax Press, 2002. ‘In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining itself Vol. 6’, MW Enterprises, 2005. ‘Taste’, clan-u press 2006. ‘The Ugly Tree Magazine’. Issues 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 &14. www.flapjackpress.co.uk ‘Citizen 32 Magazine’. Issues 3 & 4 citizen32live.moonfruit.com ‘This poem is sponsored by.’ Corporate Watch's 10 year anniversary anthology. February 2007. ‘In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining itself Vol. 7’, MW Enterprises, 2007. ‘We Are Poets!’ Helên’s first anthology of children’s poetry. Mucusart Publications 2008. Available to buy online at www.flapjackpress.co.uk In 2003 Helên donated poems to a ground breaking e-book edited by Todd Swift, ‘100 Poets Against the War’ which went down in history as the fasted assembled poetry anthology of all time. This was later followed by, ‘Times New Roman’; ‘Poems for Lord Hutton’ and ‘Babylon Burning 9/11 Five Years On’. All are free to download from www.nthposition.com. The site also includes some of Helên’s poetry on its regular poetry pages. ‘Babylon Burning’ is also available to buy in print form from print on demand publisher Lulu at: http://www.lulu.com/content/447370 Helên was also invited to showcase her work on Jim Bennett’s Poetry Kite page on The Poetry Kit Website: www.poetrykit.org.blog Poetry in Schools In 2004 Helên devised a piece of performance for children called ‘We Are Poets’ (see details below centre). She performs the show in schools along with primary school teacher Kate McGann. Helên and Kate take on the roles of proper, posh poet Penelope Page and grubby, street poet Gabby Mouth. They have taken their workshops and performances into numerous primary schools throughout the UK. See the ‘We Are Poets!’ page for further details. In 2007 Helên wrote a second KS2 show for Penny and Gabby entitled ‘We Are Poets Stuck In The Airport!’ which includes poetry on the theme of travel and the countries of the world. January 2008 saw the publication of the ‘We Are Poets!’ anthology, Helên's much anticipated poetry collection for 7-11 year olds. The anthology is jam packed full of madcap characters such as obese fruit bats, rock star maggots, myopic professors and lots of naughty, grubby, scabby children many of whom are depicted in the book’s hilarious illustrations by artist Paul Neads. Throughout the book, Helên showcases a number of poetic styles including narrative verse, limericks, action poems, rap and there’s even a villanelle in there! For more information and a sample taster, please visit See also: http://www.myspace.com/poetsarewe To contact Helên, e-mail:
About Helên ... Sign: Virgo Origin: Welsh Favourite colour: Purple What is your mission in life? I don't really have a great 'mission' hence my being a bit of a slacker. Ideally I'd like to do as little harm as possible whilst having as much fun as possible. Laughter is very important and is something we could all use more of. Are you drawn to any particular places or cultures? I've done a lot of travelling and people always ask "Which country was your favourite?" I don't have a favourite country but always found that I enjoyed being out in the wilderness where you can't help but be in awe of nature. Generally speaking I'm not really interested in cities. I think we are far too self congratulatory about man made things whilst we don't appreciate the beauty in the natural world. Regarding poetry, who are you inspired by? Manchester poet Carol Batton has to be my favourite poet. She writes poems that are clever, witty, poignant and outspoken. She often writes about her experiences at the hands of various mental health care professionals, and it is always clear that she refuses to be a victim. She is real character and a poet who commands respect for her intelligent way with words. As poets go I think she is the real deal: she is totally unpretentious and uses her poetry to communicate with the world. Her writing covers her range of emotions, so whilst reading her collection 'Page Fright' you can go from great sadness to hilarious, eccentric observations simply by turning the page. If you were a TV character who would you be (and why?) Bagpuss. Because I love to sleep and I'm often too lazy to go out to see my friends so it would be much easier if they came round to me with a load of chocolate biscuits and listened to me telling them stories. (Sad isn't it?) Name your favourite film stars or celebrities (and tell us why you like them) I love gangster films so anything with Robert De Niro and Jo Pesci. Also John Travolta in 'Pulp Fiction'. I think it's because they all come from 'New Yoik' and behave like cartoon characters. These films have a lot of blood and guts in them which doesn't sit well with my vegetarianism (see next answer but one!). Also, they're all Italian, so the food looks good. What do you think is the most desirable profession? I wish I could sing. If I could then I'd like to be Shirley Bassey, though I hear that she's a bit right winged and not very nice. Perhaps if I was Shirley Bassey I could sing songs that were less materialistic e.g. 'Haikus are Forever'. I'd still insist on the spangly dresses though. Which would be the most unappealing profession to you? I'm a vegetarian so least desirable would be abatoir worker. Also, I'd rather shovel sewage than work in Mcdonalds for obvious reasons. favourite people: Anyone who likes to drink lager and talk nonsense as much as I do! Which are your favourite animals? I'm fond of all animals though I am a bit of a cat lover. That said, I've been thinking that if cats could speak they'd probably not be very nice: they're totally selfish and like torturing mice. If they were people I don't think I'd seek them out for company - they're all take take take. I've probably got more in common with a hippopotamus, but let's not go there. Which are your favourite plants? Those trees in rainforests with the great big buttress roots are pretty cool. Yeast is pretty good stuff too though it's not a plant but without it we wouldn't have marmite, bread or beer so LET'S HEAR IT FOR YEAST! If I had a yeast intolerance life just wouldn't be worth living. (I now feel like I'm writing one of those lists of things you have to be thankful for). What are your views on the state of the world? The world would be a much better place if religion was replaced with a knowledge of science. Women in particular need to be educated as it has been proven that the quality of life of a whole nation improves dramatically when that nation educates its women. People need to be taught to think for themselves instead of following religion or fashion or the latest pop stars. Name three things one might find in your attic. Old comics and annuals eg. 'Rupert Bear' 'Whizzer and Chips' 'Krazy' circa 1978; A toy monkey called 'Jacko' and lots of old photographs. Name three things one might find in your food cupboard. Chick peas; garlic, (always); tomatoes. What are you reading just now (if anything) 'The Absolution Game' by Paul Sayer. It's about a social worker who is 'burnt out'. I'm only half way through but I think he's about to lose it and kill someone! If you had three wishes, what would they be? 1. To win 'Miss World' that way I could have the three obvious wishes that I'm not going to mention here. 2. I wish everyone was vegetarian. 3. I wish people would show show more interest in the wider world.
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We Are Poets! Zingedy! Dingedy! Bingedy! Bong! Limericks, rhymes, poems and songs. Awarding winning poet and performer Helên’s much anticipated collection for 7-11 year olds. With illustrations by Paul Neads The We Are Poets! anthology features a selection of children’s poems ranging from the floor filling anthemic action poem: 'Everybody Everywhere Stomp Your Feet!' to the calming chill-out poetry of 'Memory Beach'. The book showcases a variety of poetic styles including narrative verse, limericks, rap and there’s even a villanelle in there, but don’t ask me to explain how it works! The poems introduce a wide range of fantastic characters including rock-star silk worms; obese fruit bats; myopic professors and lots of naughty, grubby, scabby children! For more information go to www.flapjackpress.co.uk Comments The ‘We Are Poets!’ anthology has met with critical acclaim: “This is a collection that should be in every school library… a wonderful book by a great poet!” Jim Bennett, Managing Editor of The Poetry Kit “This book of young people’s verse will have your sprogs agog with humour, both cheeky and endearing. The right side of risky and just a little frisky, ‘We Are Poets!’ by Helên Thomas promises mirth and learning from the offset.” Chloe Poems, Gingham Diva “I think you are going to be the world’s greatest poem writer in the whole wild world.” (Pupil at Holy Spirit Primary School, Netherton.) “I love your poems so much, I think you deserve a treat.” Year 1 pupil at Holy Spirit Primary School, Netherton.
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