Benjamin Zephaniah
"There is a passionate, playful, and joyful poet, who is aware of the power of words, and celebrates the voice. She is Sarah Hobbs. Poetry became her, and she became poetry. This is a wonderful marriage."

Benjamin and I first met on my 16th birthday at a GCSE event in Central London. Six years on from then I wrote to him expressing my love and passion for poetry and the joy that his words have brought me over the years. To which he replied, remembering our initial encounter six years earlier. From then on a friendship grew and until this very day he has not only been an incredible mentor, but also a good friend. Thank you for everything Benjamin.

Dean Atta

An inspirational poet who I fist met very early in my spoken word career and who encouraged me to keep writing and to stick at it. It is wonderful to have the support of such a talented poet and wordsmith.

His powerful poem "I am Nobody's Nigger" spiked critical acclaim in various publications and Dean saw his fan base sore, but he has stayed true to himself. His fist collection of poetry, I am Nobody's Nigger, is a great read for any poetry or spoken word enthusiast. It's gripping and the messages within hit home deeply - such a beautiful collection of verse.

Rob Auton
Rob has been there from the very first day that I walked the walk up to the mic and took to the stage for the 'Raw Meat Stew'  Open Mic night at Bang Said The Gun, many, many years ago. His intro still gets me giggling even today. I love his dry and extremely witty sense of humor, definitely my kind of comedy, but mixed in with poetic rhythm.

Alongside Bang Said The Gun Rob has written three shows and has taken them all to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. These shows are focused on the following topics Yellow, Sky, Face, Water and Sleep. Check out Robs website for more info. 

Katie Bonna

A breath of fresh air among the spoken word scene. Katie's technical ability with a mic astounds me even today, being able to captivate an audience and taking them on a wild journey with her words. One of my favourite pieces she has written is about a place - Martins Heron and is beautifully written.

As a co-writer and performer of Dirty Great Love Story, alongside Richard Marsh (below), Katie has taken her career to new heights. Now she has written a new piece called All The Things I Lied About, which she is taking to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival THIS year - check it out, you may still be able to get tickets.

Richard Marsh
What can I say about Richard Marsh? Good question. Well, he's tall - very tall, but with it brings about a gentle laughter with his words. And his tales about love, well, they just make us warm to him even more and want to put an arm around him to say that all will be ok.

Richard has recently moved into play writing - alongside Katie Bonna (mentioned above) he has co-wrote and performed a piece called 'Dirty Great Love Story', which won the Fringe First Award in 2012 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festive, which then followed a stint at the Soho Theatre in London and a tour in New York. Richard has since moved onto write two more plays - Skittles and Wingman. He's now a regular on BBC Radio 4, which is just pure awesomeness. 

I shall look forward to seeing what intriguing pieces Richard comes up with next.

Kate Tempest

Balance is my favorite piece of Kate's. It always has been. I love the way she weaves a dramatic tale of four friends and how they interlink. My words cannot do it justice, so I have popped the video here for you to experience it yourself (see below).

What Kate does is she brings her rap rhythm into her poetry, which makes it feel hypnotic - I almost feel like I am swaying when listening to her tales. It's magic. Beautiful words performed with passion and skill - what more does any poetry lover need. 

Polar Bear
Steven Camden, aka Polar Bear, is a brilliant poet, originally hailing from somewhere in the midlands - or so his accent portrays. He linguistically creates beautiful stories using verse in such a unique and mesmerizing way.

​I love the way he takes on varying characters within a narrative and takes us from scene to scene without the use of props, costumes or even fellow performers. All Steven needs is a mic and he's at home.

​Just take a look at his performance of his poem 'Jessica' (left) and you will see exactly what I mean.

Laurie Ogden

Originally Laurie came from merseryside and now resides in London. She is a regular on the spoken word circuit and has produced various pieces, most notably for Nationwide Building Society.

Laurie kindly came and performed for Word Search LIVE, the event that I host and she was brilliant. She has written two plays (TWIX and Colder Water) and is currently working on the third as a Jerwood/Arvon Mentee. Her debut pamphlet is due to be released next year, which I personally can't wait for.