Showing results by narrator "Hollie McNish" in All Categories

There were many things that Hollie McNish didn't know before she was pregnant. How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn't know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum'n'bass can make a great lullaby. But Hollie learned. And she's still learning, slowly.

As people, we are capable of both love and hate; amazement and disgust; fun and misery. So why do we live in a world that is constantly telling us to hate, both ourselves and others? We are told constantly to be repulsed by our own bodies, bodies that let us laugh and sweat and eat toast, amongst other activities; to be ashamed of pleasure; to be embarrassed by fun. In this collection, Hollie McNish brings her inimitable style to the question of what have been taught to hate, and if we might learn to love again.

Hollie McNish visits the Audible Studios to talk about her book Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood. The book uses stories and poems to create a snapshot of motherhood, in which Hollie talks about everything from morning sickness and breastfeeding in public to the impossibility of ever finishing a hot cup of tea. Hollie has been performing poetry since 2005 and has gone viral on YouTube for her slick, poignant, political rhymes. She won the UK Slam Poetry Competition in 2009.

From Finnish saunas and soppy otters to grief, grandparents and Kellogg's anti-masturbation pants, Slug is a book which holds a mirror lovingly up to the world, past and present, through Hollie's driving, funny, hopeful poetry and prose. Slug is about the human condition: of birth and death and how we manage the possibilities in between.

Virgin: one little six letter word that holds such incredible power. The power to pressure, to judge, to harm, to praise, to profit, to punish. But virginity is also just a concept, a label that has been pressed upon people for centuries in numerous cultures worldwide. In this highly anticipated collection of poetry, Hollie McNish unpicks the role this word has played in her own life, as well as others, with her trademark mix of humour, fury and compassion.

Joining us at Audible is Hollie McNish, the Ted Hughes Award-winning author and poet. Her latest collection, Slug, covers topics from birth to death, sex to sexism and many other everyday challenges we face in the 21st century. We'll be talking to Hollie McNish about her approach to poetry, what she’s most looking forward to about her next gig, and how she has come to feel comfortable discussing things that no one else does.

Hollie McNish has thrilled and entranced audiences the length and breadth of the UK with her compelling and powerful performances. Plum, her debut for Picador Poetry, is a wise, sometimes rude and piercingly candid account of her memories from childhood to attempted adulthood. This is a book about growing up, about flesh, fruit, friendships, work and play - and the urgent need to find a voice for the poems that will somehow do the whole glorious riot of it justice.