Spit & Sawdust

Pull up a stool, mind your pint, and drink in this perfectly pitched collection from Great Northern Slam champion and four-time UK National Slam finalist Kieren King. With poems of pubs, politics, love, and life in Salford, this debut is funny, fearless, and unapologetically Northern – poetry that belongs as much in the bar as on the bookshelf. “A stunning collection, overflowing with the kind of heart and humour that has always marked King out as one of the finest modern poets the UK has to offer.” Adam Farrer “A skinful of Salford soul – the best of working-class poetry.” Louise Fazackerley “He’s spat the spit. He’s sawn the wood that created the dust. A wonderful collection of poems.” Mike Garry “Beautiful mantras and vignettes of working-class life – a deft insight, written with humour and pride.” Oliver James Lomax “A stalwart of the Manchester poetry scene. His work is alive with craft, wit, and spirit.” Reece Williams Kieren King is a Salfordian spoken word artist, a four-time UK National Slam finalist, and a Great Northern Poetry Slam champion. He was a host of Bang Said the Gun: Manchester, and the creative mind behind the acclaimed spoken word nights Slamchester, Evidently, and the Word War slams. He has featured on BBC Radio 4, performed for Musicians Without Borders and Amnesty International, and at the Kendal Calling, Edinburgh Fringe, and Glastonbury festivals. Kieren has also been a special guest at former NME journalist and Haçienda DJ Dave Haslam’s Not Quite Light Weekender, and been commissioned by Guy Garvey of Elbow to curate a spoken word event for Meltdown at the Southbank Centre, by Sky to write and perform a poem to launch their channel Blaze, and by Salford Red Devils Rugby League FC to celebrate their appearance in the Super League Grand Final.