Kitty Greenbrown // Poet, Author and Copywriter North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I'm a York-based performance poet, author and copywriter with an incurable appetite for playing with language. I have a huge interest in creating multimedia, immersive storytelling experiences that stretch the bounds of what poetry can be. I’ve been performing live and developing emotive poetic experiences with musicians, artists and film-makers since 2016. Collaboration is very important
I began performing poetry to live audiences in 2016. I was wowed by the physical quality of the performance poetry I was seeing at poetry slams – how it sat at that sweet spot between theatre and verse. I’M GOING TO DO THAT, I thought.
It sounds bold, but then l’ve always written. I won a WHSmith Young Writer Award in 1995, wrote all through university, and became an advertising copywriter afterwards. I loved working conceptually and exploring shorter forms of expression. My work in advertising prepared me well for writing poetry.
I began entering and winning poetry slams in late 2016. I then won Best Performing Artist at the 2017 York Culture Awards and was funded by York Theatre Royal to turn a longer piece of performance poetry for Great Yorkshire Fringe. I scratched this show in 2018 and performed it in 2019.
In 2018 I created a digital poetry app for York City Council’s WW1 commemorations, and in 2019, I was commissioned to make a multimedia poem for Apples & Snakes at Stockton Arc for their Deranged Poetesses: Space|Exploration event.
During this time I was also performing live at open mics and nights like Verse Matters, Say Owt and Rebel Soapbox. I supported Kate Fox in 2018 and Hollie McNish in 2019 and I was publishing work in various anthologies and winning commendations in various prestigious poetry prizes like the York Poetry Prize and the National Poetry Archive Competition.
In 2021 I was awarded DYCP funding by the Arts Council to deliver a site-specific poetry project called Vanished Streets, I was commissioned to create a short piece of theatre for York Theatre Royal for their Love Bites season and I created poetry for Visit York and York Libraries & Archives.
2022 was also a busy year for me creatively, I devised and performed an interruptive poetry experience for the Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love and Legacy exhibition at York Art Gallery, wrote and toured a children's theatre piece called The Story Garden for Dandelion Arts and delivered another short piece of theatre for York Theatre Royal for their Green Shoots season. I was also highly commended in the Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry for a poem called Desire Lines, I undertook a fantastic art in the landscape commission for North York Moors National Park and won funding to deliver an audio poetic experience for XR Stories.
I've continued to push myself and my writing practice forward in 2023, delivering a multimedia project called Mary, Mary for St Martin's on the Hill in Scarborough with the artists Angela Chalmers and Mim Robson, performing for Churches Conservation Trust as part of their Summer of Arts season and writing a book about British folklore called The Little Book of British Folklore for the brilliant Summersdale Books.
Projects and exhibitions
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Mary, Mary for Scarborough's Heritage Open Days 202308/09/2023 — 16/09/2023 ‘Mary, Mary’ was a collaborative multimedia project combining poetry, film, textiles and ephemeral art produced for Scarborough Heritage Open Days in 2023. The commission allowed me to work with artists Angela Chalmers and Mim Robson to celebrate the life of Miss Mary Craven and explore themes of female power, otherness, the desire for... [Read more] |
St. Martin's on the Hill, Scarborough | Details |
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Poetry for Churches Conservation Trust's Summer of Arts 202319/08/2023 I was absolutely delighted to be asked to perform poetry to audiences in two unique, historic churches in North Yorkshire with the poet Robert Powell as part of Churches Conservation Trust's Summer of Arts Programme. Robert and I shared our work in the amazing old St. Stephen's Church in Fylingdales and in St. Peter's in Wintringham. Big thanks... [Read more] |
North Yorkshire | Details |
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The Little Book of Folklore for Summersdale Books01/06/2023 — 01/03/2024 Researching and writing this book for Summersdale Books was a brilliant opportunity for me to take a deep dive into the strange and alluring world of British folklore. I've long been fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves and each other in the UK - tales of origin, feeling and place - an alternative history of these islands and one which... [Read more] |
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Green Shoots for York Theatre Royal01/06/2022 — 30/06/2022 York Theatre Royal commissioned 20 short works of 5 minutes each on the theme of renewal and regrowth for performance on their main stage in June 2022. Film-maker Ben Pugh, fellow poet Robert Powell and I were lucky enough to be selected from 200+ applicants. |
York Theatre Royal, York | Details |
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Interruptive Performance Poetry for Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love & Legacy01/05/2022 — 31/05/2022 In the spring of 2022 I was commissioned by York Art Gallery to create and deliver an immersive, interruptive poetry experience to complement the Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love & Legacy Exhibition. |
York Art Gallery, York | Details |
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The Story Garden01/01/2022 — ongoing What if a fairground arrived in your town one night? With a Ferris Wheel that got rid of headaches, Waltzers that settled arguments and a Helter Skelter that promised the solution to any problem? Meet the Fairground of Feeling Better, just one of the wonderful stories grown by a pair of eccentric gardeners in The Story Garden. |
Various | Details |
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Poetry in the Landscape Commission for North York Moors National Park01/10/2021 — ongoing Since autumn 2021 I’ve been delivering poetry workshops and developing new poetic work for the North York Moor’s Ryevitalise project. |
Various - North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire | Details |
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Filming for Muddy Feet Poetry11/09/2021 As the lockdowns began to lift, Muddy Feet Poetry were able start inviting performance poets back to their East London studio to showcase new work for their YouTube Channel. |
East London | Details |
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Dandelion Arts01/06/2021 — ongoing I’ve been busy writing poetry and a series of poetic monologues for Dandelion Arts’ amazing intergenerational project I See You. Each poem or monologue is based on an interview with a resident in one of York’s care homes. The stories that emerge are startling and deeply affecting. A little snippet of the project’s drama students... [Read more] |
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Love Bites for York Theatre Royal17/05/2021 I worked with York poet Robert Powell and film-maker Ben Pugh to create the short film-poem Angels of Lendal Bridge for York Theatre Royal’s grand re-opening in May 2021. York Theatre Royal commissioned a total of 22 short pieces on the theme of Love Bites to herald their return to making and showing work. We performed the work live in the... [Read more] |
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The York Journal01/05/2021 The York Journal is York’s new literary journal. Issue 1 launched in May 2021 featuring the finest short fiction, poetry and literary essays to come out of the city (and beyond). My poem Beyond the Storm appears in Issue 1. I’m really delighted about this. Find out more about The York Journal at https://www.theyorkjournal.com/ |
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Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP)01/01/2021 — ongoing I applied for the Arts Council’s Developing Your Creative Practice fund in November 2020 with the idea of exploring how poetry’s heart could be re-started by melding it with XR technologies. The Arts Council got behind the idea and I was lucky enough to be awarded the prestigious grant in January of this year. I have been moving the... [Read more] |
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Poetry Archive Now: World View 202023/11/2020 This year’s National Poetry Archive competition sought to source and record responses to 2020. 20 poems were chosen for publication by judge Imtiaz Dharker. My poem The Incidentals was one of those highly commended. Watch The Incidentals here - https://youtu.be/iH1Ivd2uZ8A |
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Chocolate Box: a poem for Visit York, August 202014/08/2020 Poem commissioned by Visit York to go with their new film promoting our beautiful, surprising, multi-layered city. Read here by Jamie McKellar and brought to life visually by the super-talented Hewitt & Walker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPXe2ymMaVs |
York | Details |
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What Does it Take to Create? Poem for York Explore Libraries, July 202012/07/2020 Poem commissioned by York Explore Libraries to summarise their Explore Labs project. I worked with Hewitt & Walker and Dave Fleming of York Explore to tease out the high points of the project and turn them into an engaging poetic script. Watch the film-poem here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCxUGwgil7w |
York | Details |
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Let the Music Play: film-poem for Music Venues Trust, July 202001/07/2020 Let the Music Play is a film-poem created with The Fulford Arms and Hewitt & Walker to support Music Venues Trust as they launched the music industry hashtag #LetTheMusicPlay. Watch the poem here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmAp-nzE35E&feature=youtu.be |
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Interruptive spoken word for Harland Miller at York Art Gallery, April 202018/04/2020 — 30/04/2020 I was commissioned to create and perform interruptive spoken word performances to run alongside the Harland Miller exhibition York, So Good They Named It Once at York Art Gallery. The theme is northern life and the work will be delivered in the autumn once the gallery is up and running again. |
York Art Gallery, York | Details |
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Audio poem for St. Nicks Nature Reserve01/09/0022 — ongoing St. Nicks Nature Reserve and Eco-centre put a call-out for nature poems for a new audio trail in April 2022. My poem Five Red Admirals was one of ten poems chosen for the project. |
St. Nicks Nature Reserve, York | Details |