One of the most fabulous outcomes of the Springboard festival is the exposure given to poetry and spoken word. This has a very strong base in Coventry as a city but we do not see much transfer across to our theatres, and this is the perfect opportunity to experience the power of poetry and spoken word on the Criterion stage. Each evening of the festival sees poetry scaffold the plays and music, including wonderful poet/comperes as well as dedicated performance slots from established and rising stars of the local poetry and spoken word scene. Some of these performances are also specially produced Springboard collaborations between poets and musicians.
Comperes
Each evening of the festival has a compere to hold the evening together, introduce the artists and perform their own material. This year we are privileged to have the company of Zsofia Kacsek, Alison Manning, Rowan McDonnell, Wendy Barzetovic, Rebecca Mileham, Cassandra O'Floresca, Rowan McDonnell and Neslihan Ozar.
Individual Poets/Spoken Word Artists
Shaniece (Sat 10th and Fri 16th)
Shaniece Martin is a poet and researcher whose work explores memory, identity, and diasporic belonging through the lens of the mental return—a concept she develops in her practice-based PhD at Coventry University on Indian English poetry. Her poetry engages with ancestral lineage, migratory histories, and the fluid spaces between East and West, Global North and Global South. Drawing inspiration from her family archives, including photographs taken by her ancestors in Nairobi, Kenya, her work blends image and word to navigate the in-between space where personal and collective memory meet. Poetry, for her, is not only a creative act but a form of research—a way of returning, reimagining, and remaking identity across generations and geographies.
Wendy Barzetovic (Sun 11th)
Wendy performed at the Springboard Festival 2024 (part of We Are Poetry Nation), the LTB in HerStory Collective, December 2024, headlined Pure Right and Good in Kenilworth January 2025, Feel Good Festival, Leamington, April 2025, Coventry’s Fire and Dust open mic’s and international Zoom, and the Coventry Carribean Centre’s. She writes for Interfaith groups and newsletters, about nature, love, war, the meaning of life; often from a Buddhist perspective. She likes to generate positivity in her work, as she feels the world needs it. She ran poetry workshops for Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust and currently a Community charity
Amy Rugg with Nowhere Club (Mon 12th)
Amy Rugg is a writer, performance poet, and cherished collector of tall tales. A champion of Coventry’s history and culture, she was commissioned to perform at Coventry’s Positive Images and Refugee Week festivals and is a steady regular at Fire&Dust’s open mics. Her work was published in a Spirit of Fire & Dust anthology by Allographic Press. She enjoys experimenting with the thresholds of poetry and prose and her dramatized poem commemorating the bombing of Coventry Cathedral featured in the Springboard Festival in 2024 and at the Criterion takeover of the Talisman Fringe Event 'Faith and Hope' in July 2024. A dual citizen of the US/UK, she enjoys writing and performing from the perspective of a relative outsider.
Andrea Mbarushimana (Tues 13th)
A Coventry based artist, writer, poet and activist who wrote and performed the wonderful 'Zero Hour' poetry drama as part of Springboard 2024. This year, she has been part of a research group looking into the use of chatbots to support patients with epilepsy for which she has run workshops, created art and written poetry. This culminated in an exhibition at Centrala gallery in Birmingham, and a poetry publication 'Chatbot'.'
Emilie Lauren Jones (Weds 14th)
Join Emilie as she shares her entertaining and thought-provoking musings on everyday life - from tales of motherhood to trying to decide what constitutes as modern art. This performance includes several poems making their debut outing. Emilie Lauren Jones, Coventry's first Poet Laureate, has featured on local and national radio and television, including two award-nominated shows. She has performed across the UK and internationally. Her first children's poetry book, ‘A Poetic A-Z of Awesome Animals’ (Caboodle Books) was released in October 2023.
Ann Atkins (Thurs 15th)
'Not a Robot' features a selection of poems from Ann’s poetry collection of the same name, it is a mostly light-hearted look through her life, coming to terms with being human with its various challenges. Ann Atkins likes playing with words and finding inspiration in unusual places, often dished up with a dash of humour. She performs across the country and worldwide online. She co-hosts Coventry's Fire&Dust open mic, and Fire&Dust Zoom for an international audience. Ann has been published in numerous anthologies and her work has featured on several radio shows and podcasts. Her collection Not a Robot was published by Allographic Press (2023). She also enjoys facilitating workshops for all ages. Ann represented Coventry in Dresden on the Coventry Dresden Writers exchange in 2023 and in Cork on the Coventry Cork Poetry Exchange in 2024. She is quite sure she is not a robot.
John Bernard (Sat 17th)
John Bernard is a Coventry Poet Laureate, musician, and mentor whose work champions the elevation of young voices. A finalist in BBC Words First 2020, John has become a standout figure in the UK’s poetry and music scene. His powerful performances have featured at major events and venues including Shambala Festival, Godiva Festival, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Symphony Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has also created commissioned work for a wide range of organisations and brands such as Formula 1, BBC, Flannels, TBN UK, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Belgrade Theatre, and many more. Beyond the stage, John is deeply involved in community engagement, leading creative workshops that empower young people to find their voice and express themselves through poetry and music.
Word Weavers Collective (Weds 14th)
Each year of Springboard has seen a group of talented local poets and word-crafters come together in the months before the festival to produce work for performance. It has become a real powerhouse of creativity, encouraging people to develop their skills and confidence as writers and performers. Over the years this has developed into performed plays ('Exotic' by Cassandra O'floresca in 2023, 'Zero Hours' by Andrea Mbarushimana and 'Honey and Salt' by Zsofia Hacsek in 2024 and 'Scapegoat' by David Court here in 2025). This year, the group has been curated and corralled by Emilie Lauren Jones with assistance from Yanyan Li and Alison Manning. Yanyan Li, who is a PhD student at Warwick University has also achieved external funding from the Warwick Institute of Engagement Collaboration and Co-Production Fund to part fund the activities of this year's group. In their performance this year, a variety of voices will combine to create a community of questioning creatives exploring the theme of connection. They will weave a web around you with their words, binding together and strengthening the threads that link their seemingly disparate voices. It is always a beautiful, powerful, inspirational and thought-provoking part of the festival.