Peter Bearder may be better known to many as Pete the Temp. A spoken word poet, comic, and musician, Peter has appeared on television and radio, at festivals around the UK, and internationally with the British Council. He has been the National Poetry Slam Champion and in 2018 was awarded the Golden Hammer Award for services to spoken word. His poetry has appeared in a collection called Numbered Boxes (Burning Eye Books, 2017).
As well as recordings of Peter’s performances and his terrific selection of interviews with spoken word artists, his website also features his 2015 TEDx talk about why every school should have a spoken word artist.
Peter’s new book, Stage Invasion: Poetry and the Spoken WordRenaissance (Out-Spoken Press, 2019), is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in the recent history and development of spoken word and will be required reading for anyone studying or fascinated by the art.
The book covers a tremendous amount of ground, and in this podcast Peter and Niall discuss a number of the issues raised in Stage Invasion, such as Peter’s own first experience of a poetry slam, how he thinks about the world of spoken word now, and recent well-publicised criticisms of spoken word. They also talk about Peter’s own poetry and how he performs it, and the value of spoken word for society.