Singer, author, scriptwriter, performance poet, and voice coach, Nicola Harrison is retained Lecturer in Singing and Interpretation at Pembroke. She has written for radio, national newspapers and magazines and had work published in a wide number of publications from B.B.C. History magazine to British Music and Classical Music Magazines to the Oxford Magazine and  Resurgence and Ecologist magazine.  She has also been published in Villanelles, the yearly poetry collection of Gloucester Poetry Society.  Her directorial work focuses on the magical interface of poetry, words, and music, and her shows explore this relationship in a multitude of forms, from Shakespeare’s songs to the poetry and music of Federico Gardia Lorca.  Her last major show, Casa Margarita, toured for three years, and combined poetry, storytelling, music, and song to critical acclaim.  She is a professional singer and musician, and her poetry focuses on themes such as the sea, iconic women, love in the strangest of guises, wildlife, and the natural world, and these are often set to music.  Her poetry is written to be performed rather than set in print, and deals with pithy and gritty situations.

Her two books The Wordsmith’s Guide to Poetry Music and Imagination volumes 1 and 2 (2016 Compton Publishing) received much media coverage, and two small poetry books The Becoming and Winetown were published in 2018.

Z.D. Dicks is the Founder/CEO of the Gloucestershire Poetry Society and Gloucester Poetry Festival. He holds an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing.  While he works full time, he is in constant contact with other poets and assists at all hours to help where he can,  as he believes it is more important to be useful than clever.  Recently his poetry has been published in Ink, Sweat and Tears.  He is the Poet in Residence at The Olympus Theatre, and runs workshops to engage wider audiences with poetry.  His first collection, Malcontent, is available from bookstores and online retailers.