{"id":4449,"date":"2021-12-07T18:57:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T18:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/?post_type=spotlight&p=4449"},"modified":"2023-02-21T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:08:58","slug":"zena-edwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/2021\/12\/07\/zena-edwards\/","title":{"rendered":"Zena Edwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a lover of live poetry readings as an audience member, I love to hear individual voices. You can give a chef a chicken and they can season and cook it 100 different ways. It’s the same with poetry, I like different seasonings in my poets.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Describe yourself in 3 words\u2026<\/b><\/h5>\n

Playful, Serious, determined<\/span><\/p>\n

What inspires you?<\/b><\/h5>\n

I’m inspired by curiosity and wonder and how we can maintain them. We live in a time where the imagination muscle is needed to flex and imagine a world that is sustainable, fair and interesting. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us about your worst ever gig?<\/b><\/h5>\n

I don’t really have a worst ever. I have gigs that challenged me to toughen up, stretch and recognise that there’s a difference between me as the writer who writes for myself and the writer who is a product. The gigs where I wasn’t aware of this distinction were the hardest because you could make yourself vulnerable in less supportive spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your number one poetry pet peeve?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Poets who sound the same. As a lover of live poetry readings as an audience member, I love to hear individual voices. You can give a chef a chicken and they can season and cook it 100 different ways. It’s the same with poetry, I like different seasonings in my poets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whose words do you love at the moment?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Integrity. Aqualine. Witchery.<\/span><\/p>\n

What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?<\/b><\/h5>\n

Care less what people think about what you want to say and how you say it. Your background is a lush bed of knowledge, insight and perceptiveness. Trust that. You’ll thank yourself later.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s a trip that changed you, and why?’<\/b><\/h5>\n

1994 going to South Africa with a 17 strong artist arts project. We were doing a massive storytelling, dance, drumming and drama project in townships and schools in Durban and Johannesburg. It was the first time for me, being a woman of African Descent seeing myself in the majority, and I was completely inspired by the way South Africans lived their lives passionately to the fullest. The song, dance and storytelling was incredible. It was a real culture shock. I came back to the UK and decided to go back to school, to University, and give my writer performer self her best shot. It paid off.<\/span><\/p>\n

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