I am a writer, performer and spoken word event and festival producer. I have performed my work on BBC Radio 1, Radio 3 and Radio 4, and it has been published in a variety of places including The Journal of Experimental Fiction and Peaches Geldof’s magazine Disappear Here*. I perform at venues and festivals across the UK, Europe and the USA, and I’ve shared stages with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Ricky Gervais and Stewart Lee. I'm Poetry Editor for The Fix - the UK's only national comedy magazine.
I am generally quite approachable, so please send me a message and say hello.
*I guess this is the definition of ‘dichotomy’.
In Quotes:
'A natural performer, witty, inventive, stylish and original' - Robert Newman
'Consistently original and accessible' - Chortle
'A young turn of promise' - John Hegley
'The best qualified performance poet in the country' - BBC Radio 3, The Verb
'Sensation' - The Guardian
'Fans of Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker and Simon Armitage will recognise Nathan Penlingtons whimsical poetic evocations from the North of the Watford gap. He points out hes not a comedian, but theres humour which touches the same place, and he has the talent with words to successfully open his horizons in future' - The List
'Nathan Penlington's fusion of wit, storytelling and visuals are garnering critics' plaudits and attention' - Time Out
'"Poetry is not the new rock and roll", says Nathan Penlington...but he's saying this on huge stages to rumbling audiences made up of the young and excitable caught in a craze and it's hard to believe him. If it's not rock 'n' roll, it certainly feels like it' - Disappear Here
'...has little in common with Eminem or Murray Lachlan Young' - Metro
'England's brightest stand-up poet' - NewYorkCool.com
In Full (and in the third person):
Welsh born Nathan Penlington has gained a reputation as an original and inventive performer across the UK by skilfully shattering the myths that surround poets and poetry. Seamlessly fusing comedy, storytelling, and award winning magic with writing that is intelligent, accessible and entertaining he creates a unique form of literary cabaret. He performs at venues and festivals across the UK, Europe and the USA, and has shared stages with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Ricky Gervais and Stewart Lee.
Almost Nearly, a full length collection of graphic poems was published at the end of April 2008 in a limited signed and numbered edition. It features some of the poems included in Roadkill on the Digital Highway, which was short-listed for the Eric Gregory Award 2005, of which previous winners include Seamus Heaney and the poet laureate Andrew Motion. Nathan’s work has been featured in publications as diverse as Peaches Geldof’s magazine ‘Disappear Here’, ‘The Journal of Experimental Fiction’, and it has also been translated into Serbian.
Nathan was co-organiser and resident host of London's weekly spokenword venue SHORTFUSE, from April 2000 to September 2007. SHORTFUSE has attained a reputation for presenting an eclectic fusion of stand-up poetry, performance comedy and music and regularly presents up and coming performers alongside established names such as Rob Newman, John Hegley, Phill Jupitus, Kevin Eldon and Simon Munnery, as well as forging working links with performers across the USA, Canada and Europe. SHORTFUSE is renowned for creating new formats including Bards in their eyes, Speed Cabaret, and Poetry Idol. Poetry Idol's tongue in cheek competition format has helped to bring wider attention to many up and coming poets and performers including Scroobius Pip, Suzanne Andrade (who now performs as 19-27), Joshua Idehen and Musa Okwonga (who have since formed the collective A Poem Inbetween People).
SHORTFUSE’s reputation for producing varied and entertaining events in novel formats has led Nathan to be employed to produce and host events for a wide variety of festivals and organisations including the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Brick Lane Festival, Stoke Newington Festival, Whitstable Arts Biennale and the London Sinfonietta. Nathan was Festival Director for Write to Ignite - Hackney Word Festival which took place throughout September 2007. The Hackney Word Festival was the first London festival to explore all aspects of the written and spoken word, and featured performances and readings from well known and up and coming poets, novelists, comedians and musicians.
In 2005 Nathan performed his debut full length solo spokenword show If My Life Hadn't Turned Out Differently at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with The Pleasance, after previewing the show at Chicago’s Drinking & Writing Festival, and in a variety of venues in New York including the renowned Bowery Poetry Club. In 2006 Nathan made his 5th consecutive appearance at the festival, teaming up with two of the UK's other most innovative spokenword artists, Rhian Edwards and Suzanne Andrade to produce a unique show called ‘Invisible Ink’ which fused magic, music, poetry and animation to critical acclaim (‘Three masters of the spoken word are indulging audiences with poetry, music and scientific magic throughout this year's fringe festival. Invisible Ink combine perfectly pronounced poem recitals, rhythmic pros and tales of dreams and nightmares, which not only pay tribute to the English language, but expertly demonstrate what can be done with it’. **** Three Weeks).
