Louder Than Words

Louder Than Words is the second poetry collection from spoken word educator Sara Hirsch; the former UK Slam Champion, ranked 3rd in the World Slam Championships (as seen on the BBC). Sara presents poems for and about young people and a selection of their responses in this gritty, honest and accessible collection. This is a conversation between poems, schools and hemispheres, including poems by students in London and New Zealand, alongside Sara's original poems that inspired them. These are the poems scrawled in the back of maths textbooks; the accidental masterpieces. These are the poems stuffed in blazer pockets, the poems spat in school playgrounds and the ones that never made it that far. These poems spiral between the personal and the universal in an attempt to capture what it is to write, speak and breathe as a young person today and as a poet who still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up. "Impossible not to be dazzled" The Scotsman.

About the Author :
Sara Hirsch is a London grown performance poet with punch. She is a former UK Slam Champion, she ranked third in the World Slam in 2014 and won the European Slam in Madrid in 2016. She has performed at Glastonbury, has toured extensively, both in the UK and internationally, and has had her work featured on BBC Radio 2. After the success of her award-winning debut solo show How Was It For You? Sara teamed up with Kiwi poet Ben Fagan with the two-hander spoken word show Made To Measure which ran at the Edinburgh Fringe. The pair were also crowned runners up in the UK National Anti-Slam the same year. Described as "annoyingly good" by Harry Baker; Sara's debut collection Still Falling was published by Burning Eye Books in 2016. Louder Than Words is Still Falling's younger sibling; slightly rebellious, a few hand-me-downs and not at all attention seeking... Sara recently received a master's degree in Creative Writing and Education and is one of a handful of trained spoken word educators working in schools and communities across the world. Sara has run workshops for Ledbury Poetry Festival, Goldsmiths University, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Museum of London as well as tutoring on the annual poetry in performance course at the National Youth Drama School of New Zealand. She was poet in residence at Lammas School & Sixth Form for two years and has presented her research at the Critical Connections Conference and in the EAL academic journal. Sara's students have given up trying to teach her snapchat, but she can be found on twitter @sarsbars89

Review :
A great classroom resource. - Apples and Snakes This book shows that one of the great ways to start people writing poems is for one person to read a poem they've written and talk about it. This sets off a string of thoughts and ideas in the minds of those listening who can, if the situation is right, usually start writing. In this excellent collection, Sara Hirsch both demonstrates the method and gives us the results, making it a great read and model for how to teach poetry.' Michael Rosen Giving young people a voice is one of the most important things you can do for a community. If you are ever lucky enough to attend one of Sara's workshops, you will see her lead by example with poetry and tutelage to capture the imagination. This book reflects that passion. - New Zealand Poetry Slam