|
LATEST NEWSIf you'd like to catch my new audio drama 'The Voice in my Ear' but are outside the reach of BBC Sounds is also available on Apple podcasts here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-voice-in-my-ear/id422037667?i=1000606698725
My new real-time comedy drama The Voice in my Ear, starring Charlotte Riley, Amit Shah, Damien Moloney and Georgie Glen is on BBC Radio 4 on March 28th at 2.15pm and is Drama of the Week on BBC Sounds after that. Catch up with Steph's romantic weekend away that goes awry as skewed perspective, mixed signals and trouble with significant others kicks off: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kh5f Three new poems this winter in Bad Lilies here: www.badlilies.uk/claudine-toutoungi I'll be running an Arvon online masterclass around writing playful poems. Sept 30th 2022 is the date for your diaries, if you can make it. Details here: www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/masterclass-poems-of-playfulness-and-delight/ New poems upcoming this summer and beyond in the Rialto, the Spectator, Poetry Wales, the Tangerine, and Poetry Review. Catch two new poems in Granta here:granta.com/claudine-toutoungi-two-poems/ Looking forward muchly to popping up at Ledbury Poetry Festival 2022 on Saturday July 9th at 3pm and reading with Emma Purshouse. It'll be online and live and all deets here: www.poetry-festival.co.uk/events/22-71/ Wearing a big silly grin having chatted with the marvellous Mr. Roger McGough in my stint as guest-curator for an episode of BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please. It goes out at 4.30 on Sunday 30th January on Radio 4 and is on BBC Sounds after that. More info here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013z09 Thrilled to report that Two Tongues has won the Ledbury Munthe Second Collection Prize, judged by Naomi Shihab Nye and Sandeep Parmar. Thoroughly honoured by the judges' remarks and to have shared the shortlist with a line-up of incredible poets. Read more about it here: www.thebookseller.com/news/claudine-toutoungi-wins-5k-ledbury-munthe-poetry-prize-second-collections-1294583 In an exciting development, Two Tongues has been shortlisted for the Ledbury Munthe Poetry Prize, judged by Naomi Shihab Nye and Sandeep Parmer, joining a brilliant line-up of seven shortlistees. Do come along and hear us all read at the online Prize ceremony on Tuesday December 7th. Book here: www.poetry-festival.co.uk/shortlist-announced-for-the-ledbury-munthe-poetry-prize-for-second-collections/ Most excited to have work upcoming in Bad Betty Press's delicious anthology The Book of Bad Betties....more on that soon. Lovely review of Two Tongues by Padraig Regan in The Seamus Heaney Centre's Friday Critique, which you can find here: seamusheaneycentre.com/resources/Criticism/TheFridayCritique/ Spring '21: Happy to have poems upcoming in The New Statesman, Poetry Review and for my disembodied voice soon to be included in Belfast's STARS Poetry Jukebox project. More on that soon. And I'll be popping up over the next couple of months reading for Winchester Muse's Poetry Series and for Trinity Tomes, hosted by Trinity College, Oxford. Two Tongues' launch recording is here. Donkeys, marmots, chat with Emma Harding and a little bit of my wardrobe all in the mix here: eyoutu.be/0Y7v49IELqYre's donkeys, marmots, Alpine air, chat with the lovely Emma Harding and a small portion of my wardrobe in the mix The Yorkshire Times' exuberant review of Two Tongues by Steve Whitaker calls it 'a superlatively acrobatic collection' . Read the whole review here: yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/The-Architecture-of-Sky-Two-Tongues---Claudine-Toutoungi Catch me on BBC Radio 4's In Touch programme discussing writing and low vision here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qjhj My recording of 'The Architecture of Sky' is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DsdUl9rk9E and I've been uploading a range of poems (including 'Cumberbatch', 'The marmots are suffocating' and 'Exit Strategy') to my youtube channel here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCgYOQzZDUGsrR1W4etaZMtg Two Tongues official Carcanet launch with writer and BBC radio producer Emma Harding as my host is on Wednesday 25th November. Hope you can make it and tickets are here: www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/events?showpage=604 It's 5th November Bonfire Night and I'm delighted to be popping up on BBC Radio 4's Front Row at 7.15pm talking Two Tongues, eyesight and art www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nzqx I'll be reading a few poems for Poetry London's Summer Launch, which has an excellent line-up. The launch is 7pm on Thursday 18th June on Youtube. Further details here: poetrylondon.co.uk/poetry-london-summer-2020-readings-online/ Delighted to have a couple of video clips of new poems (teasers for Two Tongues) online. I read 'The marmots are suffocating' for Newcastle Poetry Festival here: vimeo.com/413606329?utm_source=Carcanet+%26+PN+Review+Newsletter&utm_campaign=226b30dac2-Eletter_for_12th+January_12_01_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_678d3a3531-226b30dac2-170415853&mc_cid=226b30dac2&mc_eid=d49d5b8b8c And you can find my reading of 'Interior with Still Life' a poem that came out of a creative writing workshop hosted by Helen Taylor at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam museum, here: feast-and-fast.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/creative/toutoungi-interior-with-still-life Passa Porta in Brussels was due to be my destination last month, for a residency before the pandemic hit. It's on hold but they kindly commissioned a new poem Exit Strategy which you can read here: ww.passaporta.be/en/magazine/bericht-aan-de-bevolking-16-exit-strategy?locate=en_be Beaming all over to have had my poem NUMBERS awarded Second Prize by Greta Stoddart in The Plough Prize 2020 and my poem glacial erratics awarded Third Prize by Michael Rosen in The Charles Causley Trust Poetry Prize 2020. The poems are up on the competition websites and will be in my new collection, Two Tongues, out later this year. Pleased to report my poem PLEA is nestling in the very fine and royal red latest Resistencia issue of Magma, edited by Leo Boix and Nathalie Teitler, out now - now being April 2020. Happy to report that 2020 will see a post-Smoothie book of poems. Two Tongues will be published by Carcanet in autumn 2020. Fantastic to have worked with a cracking team on my new dramatisation of Rajaa Alsanea's Girls of Riyadh, directed by Emma Harding, starring Lara Sawalha, Laila Alj, Jasmine Jones and Nyla Levy. It got Pick of the Day in the Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Radio Times and The Daily Mail - catch the omnibus here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fn1v Delighted my play This Is Your Country Now Too, Mira - a dramatisation of artist Mira Hamermesh's account of her flight as a teenager from Nazi-occupied Poland, directed by Jonquil Panting and starring Pooky Quesnel and Scarlett Courtney is Radio 4's Drama of the Week, after first airing on Monday 9th December. Catch it here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4w3 Lovely to have another poem sneak into the pages of POETRY this October. Catch it here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/151150/lost-?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_media&utm_campaign=general_marketing Excited to be part of this summer's Shubbak Festival in London. I'll be doing Smoothie poetry and more at Tongue Fu on Saturday July 13th at 8pm and also at the National Theatre River Stage on Sunday July 14th at 1pm. More details are here www.shubbak.co.uk/tongue-fu/ Tickled pink to have my poem Zugzwang in the January issue of Poetry (Chicago) and to have put together a playlist for the whole issue. Read (and listen) all about it here:www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2019/01/a-playlist-for-the-january-2019-issue?fbclid=IwAR0up_7-Uzgz6ZwCVQK5xEiTPntzG4-bQ6m_iEfp1j19HqxBHQIrGZlYAZk I'll be reading on Wednesday January 23rd in Manchester at the PN Review Winter Launch. More details here: www.facebook.com/events/572986636456197/ Delighted to be seeing in 2019 with poems in Poetry (Chicago) and The Spectator as well as readings in Cambridge and Manchester. More info soon... Looking forward to getting some sea air in between lungfuls of poems next month and reading from Smoothie at Poetry in Aldeburgh. I'll be reading Saturday 3rd November at 2.30pm. Tics available here: poetryinaldeburgh.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=98b1a2ce9c300b663f5a31d2a&id=8c165d0ed2&e=e011373081 Thrilled to have poems in the September 2018 editions of PN Review and Poetry (Chicago) which is also here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/147752/contortionist Delighted to have new poems in autumn '18 popping up in Poetry (Chicago), PN Review and Magma, as well as a most exciting music collaboration....more on that soon! Excited to be heading Kendal-ward this autumn where I'll be reading from Smoothie alongside David Constantine at Kendal Poetry Festival (Sept 6th-9th) Details of the splendiferous line-up can be found here: www.kendalpoetryfestival.co.uk/ Smashing to have Smoothie's The Opposite of Confidential selected by Carol Rumens' as Guardian Poem of the Week here www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/26/the-opposite-of-confidential-by-claudine-toutoungi and to have write-ups for Smoothie in the TLS and Poetry London, where Claire Trevien says "...in this Brexit mess we live in it's hard not to feel charmed by a collection that frequently reads like a love letter to European culture.” Looking forward to taking SMOOTHIE on the road for some readings this year; first up if FEN SPEAK at Ely's Babylon Gallery on April 7pm www.fenlandpoetry.co.uk/fenspeak. Meanwhile delighted Smoothie's garnering some great reviews. Peter Pegnall's Ploughshares appraisal says, 'There is danger here and exhilaration and a kind of excoriating honesty' : blog.pshares.org/index.php/review-smoothie-by-claudine-toutoungi/ And Mary Jean Chan in the Winter '17/'18 Poetry Review says; 'Reading Toutoungi’s collection feels, in more ways than one, like indulging in a long, cool drink, only to be occasionally surprised by its intriguing yet refreshing aftertaste.' Limbering up to record my dramatisation of Delphine de Vigan's smash hit psychological thriller BASED ON A TRUE STORY on air on BBC Radio 4 March 19th-23th. Catch the capers of THE INHERITORS (Radio Choice in The Daily Express) as Jasmine, Nadia and Frank wrestle with Francois over their legacies. It's currently Drama of The Week on the BBC Radio 4 podcast and online for a month: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05fcx6p Looking forward to reading from SMOOTHIE with a truly stonking line-up of other Carcanet poets on Tuesday Sept 26th at Waterstones, Gower Street, London. Tickets available here - hope you can make it! Chuffed to bits to have worked with the fantastic cast and crew of my new comedy drama series THE INHERITORS, produced by Toby Swift. Montserrat Lombard, Katie Lyons, Kulvinder Ghir, Sam James, Sanchia McCormack, Amira Ghazalla, Simon Ludders deal with a lot of tumult and a certain amount of baklava; catch it on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 4th September, daily, 10.45am and 7.45pm. Delighted to have five poems nudging up against a cluster of brilliant new work in the July issue of PN Review. Very much worth taking a peep: http://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?item_id=9978 Officially excited to be officially announcing that Carcanet will publish my debut poetry collection SMOOTHIE this September. Beetling away on my new comedy drama series THE INHERITORS for BBCR4 to air in September 2017. Thrilled to be represented now by Jessica Cooper at Curtis Brown. More here: https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/claudine-toutoungi Jan '17: It's lovely to have work for the first time in The North magazine. Available here: http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/north-menu This autumn, I'm very pleased to have poems popping up in Poetry (Chicago), http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/north-menu and The Fenland Reed. Watch this space. The July edition of Magma is red, raw and revolutionary, with three of my poems amongst many sizzling others. Here's Khamsin on Bayswater: http://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-65-2/poems/khamsin-on-bayswater/ Looking forward to heading to the Home Front studio again in September to record my ten new episodes that will air in January 2017. Lots of nerve-wracking twists and turns up ahead. You can follow the current series here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047qhc2 The brand, spanking new version of The Literateur is publishing fantastic work at a rate of knots. Very happy to have three poems featured here: http://literateur.com/three-poems-by-claudine-toutoungi/ Exciting news: my poem Monstre Sacré has been shortlisted in the Keats-Shelley Prize. Results announced April 13th! http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/the-keats-shelley-prize/the-keats-shelley-prize-2016-shortlists Delighted to be featured in the latest splendid edition of Poems In Which. You can read my Poem In Which The Season Turns Septemberish here: https://poemsinwhich.com/2016/02/22/poem-in-which-the-season-turns-septemberish-2/ Hats off to director Liz Webb and my ace cast and crew on DELIVERERS. Thrilled we're Pick of The Day in The Times, The Observer, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail (5 stars: 'A script full of wit and surprises') . Catch it on Iplayer by clicking here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070dkt2 Upcoming: Great to have the date for DELIVERERS , my new Afternoon Play, confirmed. It airs on February 16th on Radio 4 at 2.15pm with a fantastic cast (see pic opposite) of Kate Fleetwood, Jonathan Bailey, Elizabeth Berrington and Jessica Turner, nimbly directed by Liz Webb. January 2016: Radio 4's Season Six of Home Front is in full swing. You can catch my episodes at the end of the month on Radio 4 and the BBC player. They air January 25th- 29th. January 2016: Thrilled to be Highly Commended in Words and Women Prose Competition who'll be publishing my monologue Room Service in their anthology later this year. More info here: www.wordsandwomennorwich.blogspot.co.uk October 2015: Delighted to have been shortlisted in the Bridport Poetry Prize, judged by Roger McGough. August 2015: Excellent news! We have now recorded my second radio play, Deliverers, for BBC R4, produced by Liz Webb and with a cracking cast of Jonathan Bailey, Kate Fleetwood, Elizabeth Berrington and Jessica Turner (photographed here). Tx date soon to be confirmed. August 2015: Watch out for sixty 60 second plays, including one by me, soon to go live on the Stephen Joseph Theatre website. Or catch them all live: they're being staged on October 31st. July 2015: New Poetries VI had its launch in July at the LRB bookshop and is now on the shelves. Here's a review of my poem Cats Breakfasting by Judith Willson on the New Poetries blog. 6/1/15 Hearty congrats to Andrew Scott and Charlotte Riley, shortlisted respectively for Best Actor and Best Actress in Slipping at this year's BBC Audio Drama Awards; the results will be announced on Sunday 1st February by Lenny Henry. Update: alas, both Andrew and Charlotte were pipped to the post, by Sir Ian McKellen and Aisling Loftus. 27/12/14 Delighted to have had poetry selected for inclusion in New Poetries VI, the upcoming Carcanet anthology that will be published in May 2015. 23/11/14 Exciting news! Slipping has been long-listed in three categories for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2015 - Best Original Single Drama, Best Actor, Best Actress (thanks & congratulations to Andrew Scott and Charlotte Riley for the latter two). Shortlist to be announced on 6th Jan. 21/11/14 I'll be reading some new poems at the Carcanet Press New Poetries evening this coming Sunday (23rd) at St John's Divinity School, Cambridge (5-6.30pm, free entry), alongside Janani Ambikapathy, Adam Crothers, Mina Gorji and Rebecca Watts . Come along and join the fun! 11/10/14 Some fabulous reviews coming in for Slipping. Check them out here: What's on Stage: 4 stars - "Brilliant... such a maturely structured and excitingly written piece of work" The Northern Echo: "[the] slick, seductive production... is a theatrical delight with its mix of drama and laughs" The York Press: "Toutoungi more than holds her own against Pinter in the same turbulent territory" 16/8/14 The stage premier of Slipping, directed by Henry Bell, will run at the Stephen Joseph Theatre from 3-18 October. Bookings are now open here. 11/8/14 Screenplay is now running at the SJT in Scarborough. Here are some of the press reviews: http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/40126/ http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/review-screenplay-stephen-joseph-theatre-scarborough-1-6775119 12/7/14 My radio play Slipping will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday 1st September 2014. In August, my play Bit Part will run at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough as part of their Screenplay season. |
|
ABOUT MEI write for stage, screen and radio and have had work performed at The Lark in Manhattan, Hampstead Theatre, Theatre 503, the Cockpit Theatre and London's Free Word Centre. I was awarded a place on the Arvon/Jerwood Mentoring Scheme in 2010 and was mentored by playwright Colin Teevan while working on my play The Natural State, an extract of which was published in the anthology All of These Things Are True and Not True. I was selected as "one to watch" for my sitcom Grub in the Funny Women Comedy Awards 2013.
My poetry has appeared in various publications, including PN Review, Magma, The Delinquent, Alba, erbacce, Cycle Lifestyle and in the Bloodaxe anthology We Have Come Through. My work has won several prizes and commendations and I regularly perform at Cambridge's CB1 Poetry events. Here I am being interviewed about the Arvon/Jerwood Mentoring Scheme: |
