The lockdowns of the debut two years of the twenties were bleak, grim and at times downright depressing. You probably won’t welcome being reminded about them, but amongst any cloud there are always silver linings and for the lovely town of Lewes one of those silver linings was the arrival of Janine Booth.
Janine is a poet and a powerhouse of a woman, she began ‘ranting poetry’ in the 1980s but rediscovered her passion for spoken word in 2014. Moving to Lewes in 2020, Janine was on the lookout for a gig, a place to perform, a stage to do her thing. The search proved fruitless and Janine thought she’d better get to work and set one up, Mitch the landlord at the Royal Oak was “really enthusiastic” and in September of last year SpOAKen Word Lewes was launched with special guest, the legendary Attila the Stockbroker.
Each month the SpOAKen Word nights see Janine host and perform some poems of her own material, as well as open mic slots before the feature act takes to the stage. “We pack a lot into an evening,” Janine tells us before we are given the chance to ask the poet some questions.
How important is it that a thriving community such as Lewes has access to the arts?
I think it is very important. Spoken word in particular is quite a democratic and accessible art form – anyone can get up and tell a story or compose a poem, and people often find that they can voice their opinions and experiences in a way they are not given the chance to in everyday life.
Life can be a struggle, with the cost of living crisis, job insecurity, housing worries, discrimination and more. People need and deserve change in all these areas, but there is a century-old slogan that we need both bread and roses – material improvement but also access to dignity, leisure and the arts.
The arts help to build community. SpOAKen Word Lewes feels like an act of solidarity, with people supporting each other and spreading their words.
It’s great to see how supportive the local community are of the events.
Yes. It took off even better than I had hoped. Lots of people are getting involved, from Lewes and across Sussex. There is an impressive diversity of participants too: local people of different ages, ethnicities, genders and backgrounds, both poets and storytellers, with different styles and themes.
Tell our readers a little about the motives behind the April 3rd night and how it went down?
Our guest poet, Greg Freeman, was due to be our guest in January, but we had to cancel that one because of COVID. (It’s the only one we have had to cancel, and hopefully we’ll never have to do it again!). So, I rebooked him for April, and when I told him how much I would be able to pay him, Greg insisted that he wanted the money to go to Ukraine solidarity. So, all the door takings this month [April] are going to be given to the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, which works closely with social movements in Ukraine. Lots of people have welcomed this, and I hope we will be able to support other causes in a similar way in future.
How long have you lived here and what makes it such a pleasant place to call home?
I moved here with my partner and youngest son in July 2020. We had brought up our three kids in Hackney, east London. It’s a fantastic place, but we knew there would come a time when we wanted to live somewhere more spacious and less overwhelming. It’s like living in a postcard! And I’m still amazed at how big the sky is: in a city, half of it is permanently blocked from view.
I still work in London – I’m an Underground station supervisor – so now I get the best of both worlds.
When can our readers catch you and hear your prose next?
SpOAKen Word Lewes takes place on the first Sunday of every month, 7-10pm, in the upstairs room at the Royal Oak on Station Street.
May’s guest poet is Luci:d, and June’s is Marcia Morgan. And as usual, our open mic will include regulars and newcomers – maybe even someone reading this will give it a go!
Entry is by donation – you can pay as much or as little as you like. It is important to us to have some income to keep putting on the events, while also making sure that no-one is prevented from taking part because of cost.
Anything else to add at all?
We also run a bookstall at the gigs. Any contributor is welcome to sell their wares from the stall.