Wolverhampton Arts & Culture Podcast Wolverhampton Arts & Culture

We are delighted to have on the podcast this month, Freelance writer, performance poet, novelist and comedienne, Emma Purshouse. Emma was joined by our Arts & Libraries Audience Development Officer, Georgina Cheung, to discuss Emma's creative practice, the work she does across the Black Country( alongside Poets Prattlers and Pandemonialst) and her interesting time as the City Poet Laureate. 

If you would like to apply to be the next City Poet Laureate, please head to the Wolverhampton Literature Festival Website to find out more. 

Emma Purshouse Bio

Emma Purshouse is a freelance writer and performance poet from the Black Country. In October 2019, she became Wolverhampton’s first-ever Poet Laureate, a post she’ll hold for two years. She’s also a poetry slam champion and performs her work across the country.

Emma is co-author of ‘The Nailmakers’ Daughters’ (Offa’s Press).  Her children’s poetry collection ‘I Once Knew a Poem Who Wore a Hat’ (Fair Acre Press) won the Rubery Book Award for poetry in 2016.  In 2017 Emma won the ‘Making Waves’ international spoken word competition judged by Luke Wright.  Her first full-length collection ‘Close’ (Offa’s Press) was published in October 2018. You can read a review by the poetry website Write Out Loud here. 

Emma’s debut novel ‘Dogged’ was published by Ignite books in 2021 to rave reviews.

Emma also works as part of the Black Country based poetry collective Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists.

In previous existences, Emma has lived on a narrowboat, worked as a taxi base operator, a signwriter, a car valeter and a Coca-Cola mystery customer!

She has been making a living from writing and performing for the past fifteen years.

For more information about Emma go to emmapurshouse.co.uk

Writer and local geek, Maria Gray explores the Gallery's summer exhibition Bricklive: Fantasy kingdom with our Audience Development Officer Georgina Cheung. Together they discuss how this magical world has been curated in the gallery space, Maria's own creative practice and the amazing talent and culture offer that we have in Wolverhampton. 



About Maria Gray 

Maria Alice Gray is a British indie author from Wolverhampton. Creator of the sci-fi universe S.T.O.R.M, Maria grew up in a time-warp whirlwind of classic cars and sci-fi, which has shaped and influenced her writing. After getting nowhere with publishing houses, Maria turned to indie publishing, leading to her publishing her first book in 2016, following it up in 2018 with her debut fantasy novel 'Tales of Avlenordr: Dragons Descent'. 2019 saw the launch of her first sci-fi book 'S.T.O.R.M Echo's Call', and also the launch of her motoring themed anthology entitled 'Rover Ain't Over'. At present Maria is working on the second book in the S.T.O.R.M series. 



About Bricklive: Fantasy Kingdom

BRICKLIVE Fantasy Kingdom invites you to explore the magical land of the Brick Kingdom and join Princess Lunette and her friend Evaine the Hunter on an epic fantasy quest.

Meet the colourful inhabitants of the kingdom, including Sir Elyan the Knight, Madoc the Wizard and Dagonet the Jester, as you venture from the Royal Castle, with its banqueting hall and crown jewels, to the deep, dark forest where magical creatures dwell. Finally, come face-to-face with the kingdom’s most magnificent resident, Igraine the Dragon, and her mischievous offspring.

BRICKLIVE Fantasy Kingdom is a touring exhibition of sword and sorcery, comprised of life-sized models made from colourful toy bricks. As you explore the exhibition you can find out more about how these impressive models were made. Beside each model is an information card detailing how many bricks were used in its construction and how many hours it took to create – some contain more than 100,000 bricks and took hundreds of hours! In the next room, you can watch time-lapse videos showing how some of these fantastic models were made.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery has collaborated with Midlands-based professional storyteller Cath Edwards, who has crafted a unique tale you to listen to as you move through the exhibition. Cath’s story follows Princess Lunette and Evaine the Hunter on their quest to find the source of a mysterious plague of insects which has fallen upon the Brick Kingdom.
Under 4’s: Free
Save £4 by purchasing a Group Ticket: £14.00 (four people of which one must include an adult 16 or older).

Book Tickets 

To kick off the Art and Culture podcast, we’re celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Black Art an’ done. Open on the 9th June 1981, this landmark exhibition was the first time that work by a group of young black artists was displayed in a public gallery in the UK. It was curated by Eddie Chambers and presented work by members of the Wolverhampton Young Black Artists group that became the BLK Art Group. The show focused on voicing the concerns of the black community and issues of racial prejudice. It represented a generation of young Black British people living in Wolverhampton and across the UK.