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The photo above is of Commonword's Jazzy Jives event held for International Womens Day 2008.

Featuring (Left to right): Rosie Lugosi, Shirley May, the amazing jazz singer, Chan, Dionne Marland, Hannah Kate, Amanda Milligan.

In honour of the suffragettes, participants dressed in vintage 20's clothing. It was a brilliant evening of verse and song, and made connections between the struggles of then and now.

Despite the retro feel of the photo above, Commonword's search for new writers goes on. There are three searches in particular. (1) We are looking for stories about migration. (2) We are loking for the best first three chapters by an unpublished North West of England based novelist. And (3) we are searching for 30 Poems by a single poet of Black-Minorty Ethnic background. See the side bar of this page for more information on all of these.

BEN MELLOR WINS THE DIKE OMEJE SLAM POETRY AWARD 2008

The Superheroes Of Slam Final in March 2008 saw Ben Mellor sweep all before him with his flowing lyrics to become the North West's Superhero of Slam for a year. At a packed venue twelve Heat winners delivered verses ranging from the jocular to the manic to the deadly serious. Judges -chosen in the true spirit of Slams completely from among the audience - delivered a clear verdict: Ben Mellor should be crowned. He received his £200 prize money, the Dike Omeje trophy and a residency at Commonword. His acceptance speech was magnanimous and beautifully short!

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