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Sadie Davidson is a multi-slam winning poet from Essex.

She has published two collections – Tales from the Estate (2017) and the Poverty Guide Handbook (2019) – through Whisky and Beards Publishing, as well as recording a spoken word album – Council House and Silent (2018) – which was released through the Spoken Label. She recorded and produced Life Behind Bards (2020), a collaborative work with 5 other working class poets. Life Behind Bards was awarded the 2020 Saboteur Award in the Best Collaborative Work category.

She has won several slams, including the Margate Bookie, You’re Bard! 9, the Kent Poetry Championship, and the Creative Thingy Whatsit online slam. She was also a finalist in both the Hammer and Tongue UK Championship and the Farago UK Championship in 2019.

From 2017-2018 she hosted Dangerous Poetry open mic in Southend, attracting high profile poets such as Alex Vellis, the RepeatBeat Poet and Alex Agman Gora to headline. She also hosted the first ever Southend Poetry Slam at the 2019 Southend Festival, curated the Essex Poetry Collective Show in 2018 (headlined by Hammer and Tongue UK 2018 Champion Usaama Minas), and her debut play, Bare Lies, premiered at the same festival (2018).

Sadie received a ‘Special Mention’ in the category ‘Best Spoken Word Performer’ at both the 2019 and 2020 Saboteur Awards.

Testimonies

“I bore witness to the poetical powerhouse that is Sadie Davidson, in a twenty five minute spoken word set that bit with lightning like fury and machine gun delivery. This was edgy and dangerous poetry..”

Olmo Lazarus, Channel 4-featured poet / Poetry InCommotion

“This knocked me sideways. This was about something. Something real. It’s strong stuff. Just like poetry ought to be and – sometimes used to be”

Anthony Haden – Guest, British Socialite and journalist.

“Sadie Davidson should be on everyone’s ‘must see’ list. Wise, funny and extremely clever. She puts many ‘contenders to the throne’ in the spoken word shade. The best thing to come out of Essex since Depeche Mode.”

Ralph Dartford, A Firm of Poets

Performances

Upcoming Performances

For listings of Sadie’s upcoming performances, visit her Facebook page

Notable past performances

2015

Cosmic Puffin Festival

2016

Royal Festival Hall, for short film Hidden Voices by Paul Baichoo

Cosmic Puffin Festival

2017

Essex Poetry Festival

Diva Literary Awards, Birmingham

Wordmakers and Silence Breakers Slam, Bournemouth – winner

2018

Support act for Ralph Dartford’s Recovery Songs, Bloomsbury Theatre

Little Paper Slippers Exhibition, Hoxton

Vout O Renees, UnSpoken Exhibition Closing Party, Vout O Renees, London

Spoken Not Stirred feature act, Barking

Spoken Word Paris, Chat du Noir, Paris

Support act for Holly Mcnish, South West Pavilion, Bournemouth

You’re Bard 9 Slam, Canterbury – winner

2019

Margate Bookie Slam, Margate – winner

Kent Poetry Championship, Margate – winner

Faversham Literary Festival – Kent Poetry Championship defense – winner

Farago UK Slam Championships, Shoreditch, London – semi-finalist

Slam Dunk, Hastings

Cosmic Puffin Festival

Trew Era 4th Birthday, Trew Era Cafe, London

Hammer and Tongue UK Slam Championship, Royal Albert Hall, London – finalist

Colchester Festival Poetry – headline set

Publications

Sadie is a multi-published author, signed to Whisky and Beards Publishing, and has produced her own spoken word album. You can purchase them by clicking on the images.

Life Behind Bards (2020)

Life Behind Bards is a poetry anthology focussing on the voices of working and lower-working class writers. It looks at their backgrounds and life experiences, and how their class status has impacted on these.  

Life Behind Bards is available on Soundcloud

You can find out more about the project here.

 

The Poverty Guide Handbook (2019)

Join Sadie Davidson as she unravels the world of the underclass, the reality of life on the breadline and how government policy has let all this happen. Combining Sadie’s trademark rapid-fire verse alongside personal, researched and insightful essays, The Poverty Guide Handbook

Tales from the Estate (2018)

Tales From The Estate is Sadie Davidsons first poetry collection. It contains poems which describe her childhood in a high rise council flat, her thoughts on “Broken Britain”, and her fury at the exclusion and isolation of the lower social classes. Many of the poems in Tales From The Estate were written while Sadie was homeless, and living with her family in a hostel.

Council House and Silent (2017)

Council House and Silent” is the raw and unsettling debut spoken word album from urban performance poet and poetry slam champion Sadie Davidson. 

Recorded at home in her airing cupboard after spending months in a hostel with her partner and two small children, “Council House and Silent” is a truthful, heartbreaking and highly provocative window in to life in Britain’s underclass. 

“Council House and Silent” offers more than simply “Poverty Porn’ -beneath the gritty realism and rage at a failing system is an inspiring message of fulfilment, resilience, and the reminder that “you can get out if you fight”. 

According to Spoken word promoters, Sadie Davidson “Bites with lightning like fury and machine gun delivery” and has been described as “An absolute spoken word beast” as well as “Furious and unstoppable”. 

Workshops and talks

Sadie delivers workshops and talks on a variety of topics, including how to write slam poetry, poetic performance, and writing as a tool in overcoming addiction and trauma.

Each session is tailored to address the issues at hand, drawing on Sadie’s lived experience as well as her poetic accomplishments.

Sadie delivering a TEDx Talk on Slam Poetry to students at Brentwood County High School

To book Sadie to talk or deliver a workshop with your organisation, please email sadiedavidson@gmail.com

Some previous clients:

Some feedback from previous participants:

“Today has been very enlightening, Sadie. You managed to bring out a side in me that was buried deep inside. Your poetry is truly amazing.” – Anonymous, Southend HARP workshop, 15/8/19

“Thank you Sadie for today really enjoyed it. You made me feel at ease, relaxed, and calm. You f*cking amazing and loved your poem you read out!! I would highly recommend having you back. Thank you so much.” – Anonymous, Southend HARP workshop, 15/8/19

Videos

Here’s a selection of videos. All of Sadie’s videos can be found on her Youtube

The Disney Pricess Effect, 2018. Directed by Dauda Ladejobi & Steve Lawes
The Poverty Guide Handbook Preview – filmed at SofaSlam, The White House, Dagenham
The Week Before Christmas