Something Borrowed Podcast With Harry Baker

Hello Friends, Our final international instalment comes all the way from mighty Scotland! Streamed live at Greenbelt Festival, I am joined by the fantastic Len Pennie to talk about her new collection Poems Annaw (now a Sunday Times bestseller!), how she is the Wario to Robert Burns' Mario, her love of Scots, and her disdain for a themed collection among other things. It is the most I have ever felt roasted by a guest and I loved every second of it, I hope you do too.

We're back, baby! Another international special courtesy of Greenbelt festival, we have the wonder that is Luka Lesson all the way from Australia!  It's been over a decade since me and Luka last crossed paths and it was worth the wait in every sense. We talk about poetry slam origins to writing and performing for longer form, the lifespan of a poem, the skillset a performance poet picks up, the Joy of missing out, and so so much more.  We have one more international guest to come, then it's back to Margate - thanks for rocking with us!

Season 5 Baby!  We're kicking off with a collab of dreams that is enough to restore your faith in the internet. Lyndsay Rush aka Mary Oliver's Drunk Cousin has made me laugh and cry from halfway around the world and it turns out my poetry had been doing exactly the same thing to her, so what better excuse to have our first of three Worldwide International guests to kick off this season. We talk poems and jokes, faith and doubt, a truly blue finale and so much more. This was filmed at Greenbelt festival with Lyndsay streaming in in front of a live audience, and as such our sound saint Buddy had his work cut out to clean up the audio, but I hope you'll agree he has worked wonders and it is absolutely worth it. See you at the next one x

Hello friends, It's been a long time coming but i think you'll agree it's worth the wait. Our final guest of Season 4 is the one and only Lemn Sissay ! Lemn came earlier in the year but the recordings were lost forevermore so we had to have him back. One of my absolute favourite poets, it was a joy to sit down and discuss old and new work, there being no one way to write a poetry book, challenging people's opinions of you, and the importance of letting yourself be magical among other bits. What a ride! 

He's back! With a record third appearance on the show, it's everyone's favourite lizardy lyrical wizard - singer-storyteller Gecko! Recorded back in March and release just in time for his Autumn tour of his NEW ALBUM, we talk about the origins of our friendship, the difference between a gig and a show, playing at each others weddings, regional food-based misunderstandings, the process of making an album as well as some stunning songs (and poems!) in amongst it all. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Something Borrowed on Tour! The first of two episodes recorded at the fantastic Bath Komedia featuring fellow Poetry Team GB Alumni Vanessa Kisuule! Vanessa is one of my favourite poets and people and I could happily talk to her for hours, so it was a joy to have an excuse to do so in front of a live audience! Vanessa is constantly pushing her writing in both craft and content, and willing to tackle nuance and grey areas in a way so many shy away from, and just happens to be incredibly funny in the process. We talk about octopuses, wellies, irrepressible optimism, racist neighbours, and her new book Neverland! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did x 

It's the one and only Rob Auton!  A long-time member of my super secret future guest wish list, we finally managed to get him back to Margate and oh boy was it worth the wait. One of the most unique and brilliant minds in comedy/poetry/the world, it was fascinating to get a glimpse into part of robs process, as well as hear his brilliant work and laugh out loud maybe more than any other episode. Thanks everyone who is still on this ride listening with us, it means the world. Please do tell your friends/keep being a legend, the world needs you x

Hello friends! This episode brings us the phenomenal Jasmine Gardosi, and you can audibly hear the room fall in love with her from the second she starts performing. We discuss beatboxing, lockdown, rollercoasters, pushing the boundaries of performance, crying, dinosaur outfits and more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did x You can find more of Jasmine's work here  You can find out what I'm up to here

Happy Christmas! We are joined by Joshua Idehen, AKA the man of the moment AKA the multiverse African Taylor Swift for a festive special that I am absolutely fine with coming out in February.  This was recorded on a very good day for Josh and I am sure whenever you choose to listen to it will be a very good day for you as it is an excellent time. Me and Josh go way back and we talk about our origins, Josh's move to Sweden, the art of making poetry house music, and a hearty amount of dad content thrown in the mix. There are poems on fatherhood, swimming, popcorn and Christmas and much, much more. Filmed in London at the Bloomsbury theatre, this was our first recording on the road and hopefully not the last, let me know where you'd like to see us come next ! You can find more of Josh's stuff here and my latest adventures here *At the time of recording the intro I truly believed Shrewsbury was in Wales and I now know that is not the case.

This month we have the very excellent Theresa Lola! Another guest whose been on my wishlist for a while, Theresa shares some poems from her wonderful new book, Ceremony For The Nameless, and we discuss the power of names personally and professionally, as well as performing at the Royal Albert Hall, writing for the page vs the stage, and much much more. Let us know what you think and maybe even leave a review if you're feeling really lovely x

We kick off the new season with the wonderful Helen Heckety! We talk about her new book Alter Ego, my new baby, name changes, therapy, ableism, hobbies, Coolio, foxes, and the joy of friendship love among other things. I can't think of a better guest to kick off with, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did Helen's excellent book ALTER EGO is out now, and you can follow her on instagram here. I am putting togetehr a tour for next year and you can find out more about everything I'm doing on IG or my website. x

Hello Friends, this episode has been a long time coming in a few ways. One, Toby Campion has been on my hit list for many many years so it was a delight to finally get him over to Margate. The last time we were on stage together was at the Royal Albert Hall (!) and this was just as magic. It has also been delayed in coming out because I've had an actual human baby so my podcast baby got put on hold. This has however inspired me to get professional help (for the podcast baby, not the human baby just yet) so we welcome Buddy Peace to the team who has mixed and edited and made it sound beautiful and also meant it's not delayed by any more months. The good news is Toby is brilliant and it is well worth the wait, and the other good news is we have already started recording season 4 so that will be following this up oh so shortly. Look after yourselves x

Hello friends! Our penultimate episode of series three brings to Margate the ultimate legend that is Laurie Bolger! It's impossible to listen to Laurie and not have a smile on your face so get your cheeks ready and dive on in. I celebrate having a brand new book out and Laurie clebrates having two brand new books out. I also share some big news that I can't remember if I've shared on the podcast before or not. We talk pubs, pyjamas, writing clubs, sisters, sunshine, flowers, online dating, sexy knees and more. I think you'll agree it is absolutely worth the wait. You can find more of Laurie's stuff including her new books here You can find my new book here Stay Brilliant x

A lovely time with a local legend! Brigitte was on my wishlist for Something Borrowed for a while when out of nowhere I got a voice note from her asking if she could come on because she reckoned she'd be good at it - It was meant to be! Also she was 100% correct, as not only our best-dressed guest of all time, but a wonderful mix of storytelling, song, punk, vulnerability, warmth and (ethical) fireworks. Featuring singalongs, univocalisms, travel tips and of course poems, it was an absolute treat from start to finish and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did x You can find more of Brigitte's work here You can come see me on tour here You can order my new book here

We're back baby - February's edition saw the wonderful Georgie Jones come to Margate! It was our first time meeting in person but you wouldn't know because it was a vibey vibey time from start to finish. We talk slams, online vs in person performances, trying to write a poem a day for a whole month and much much more. Poems cover topics such as Gym changing rooms, The entire universe, friendship breakups, refugees, the ocean and of course Margate, as well as maybe my favourite borrowed thing yet. It was a genuine joy to share a space and the least editing i've ever done on a video because it was all just so great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. You can find more of Georgie's work here You can find my tour dates here

Happy New Year! I am single handedly extending the January blues by taking 6 weeks to edit this but i think we can all agree it is worth the wait. Raymond Antrobus is a poetry legend. It has been over a decade since we first shared a stage together and it has been a joy to see his work flourish since then, and an even bigger joy to find out that he had recently moved to Margate so we could snap him up for a very special edition of Something Borrowed Live. With a range of poems covering mental health, Palestine, grief and Horses, alongside prime numbers, sticky toffee pudding, love and new years resolutions (no points for guessing who brought what energy) it felt like we could have spoken forever, and I am so pleased that we did manage to record the conversation we had. I hope you will agree. You can find more of Ray's work here and you can find dates for my upcoming tour here!

A mildly festive version of the podcast, in that I shoehorned Christmas into a few of my poems and Will made us delicious boozy hot chocolates while we recorded. I was having so much fun with this chat that it is the longest episode we ever recorded, before being ruthlessly trimmed down to just under an hour of pure gold. I share my epic Christmas poem containing 24 years of memories in one, we have a grown up story time with Mark reading from his new kids book, we talk about school visits, rap battles and more, and mark finishes with an old fave that definitely isn't appropriate for his new child-based audience. Mark then stayed over and we played board games until about 1am. All in all a massive joy!

Surprise! We interrupt your monthly recordings for a bonus episode with the one and only Donna Ashworth - My reading of Donna's poem went viral on instagram which means I now have a new cult following of mostly American Yoga instructors, and quite frankly I am here for it. One of the many lovely things that have come out of this is me and Donna were messaging each other and despite Scotland to Margate being slightly too far for a live appearance (for now!) she kindly agreed to join me for a bonus Something Borrowed over Instagram, so we went back to the podcast lockdown roots! It was really really lovely to connect in that way but also very surreal to go back to that place mentally, so I can confirm it will be normal service as resumed next month. In the meantime why not treat yourself to a copy of Donna's fantastic book here!

Hello friends, and welcome to possibly my favourite episode we've ever done! Gemma is a fantastic poet and a warm and wonderful human, and in this episode we cover the big three Ps, Palestine, Pegging and Postcodes, as well as so much more. This episode was recorded live in Margate and you could feel the magic in the room, so I really hope is translates to the recording. You can also watch the episode on youtube if you enjoy using your eyes as well as your ears, and follow Gemma on Instagram to find out what she's up to or myself on instagram to find out about future episodes/adventures.

Hello Friends!  The something borrowed train continues to steam ahead and this month we have on board the fantastic Neelam Saradia-Brayley! This was such a gorgeous conversation to have at a time when the rain outside seemed to reflect a general sense of foreboding about the world in general, and yet there was light and warmth within! We covered weddings, funerals, wellies, dinosaurs and much much more - I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. You can find out Neelam's latest activities (and buy her book!) here: https://linktr.ee/Neelam_the_poet You can watch Rafeef perform her poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKucPh9xHtM You can watch Caleb Femi's poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUwE80wx4c You can watch the whole episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9r3m_Mq8MA&t=2s