TW: Mild abuse reference.Aaron Kent is a poet and director of independent poetry publisher Broken Sleep Books feat. the Legitimate Snack imprint. He is also the epitome of a multi-hyphenate, considering his full-time job as a GCSE & A Level English & Drama teacher. Not only that but Aaron is a house master, is also qualified to teach Film & Media Studies, and was a submariner in the Navy. We discuss his Saturn Return involving his move from Cornwall to Wales, cynicism with compliments about one's own work, patience, night terrors and how group therapy saved his life.You can get a copy of Aaron's latest poetry pamphlet "Perfect Reasonably Justifications for Nuclear Apocalypse" due out next month through And False Fire at Fathomsun Press www.fathomsun.comTwitter: @GodzillaKent@BrokenSleepInstagram: @BrokenSleepBooks See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Trigger warning: Mild suicide reference. NSFW.September means back to Saturn School & first on the roll call is sex educator and adult toy consultant Topher Taylor, discussing his Saturn Return with the rare vulnerablity that benefitted his life (and even career), teen loneliness, internalised homophobia, the infamous Channel 4 Love in Lockdown mini doc that racked up 4.3 million views (and with it, some despicable comments paired with curious DMs) and becoming a better person despite the trolls.Show NotesChannel 4 Love in Lockdown mini doc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjJflgsbuIcSex with Topher podcast on all platforms including Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4e1XTohIt9VpojBLt8QKgJInstagram: @tophertaylorTwitter: @iamtophertaylor See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Blimes Brixton is a hip hop artist from the Bay Area, California. Her debut album under the Blimes Brixton moniker was Castles, released in 2019 on her own all-female record label, Peach House, and her most recent album with musical partner Gifted Gab is out now! Talk About It includes hit singles Magic, Shelly's & Hot Damn feat. Wu Tang's one & only Method Man. Blimes started her music career as a battle rapper and has now progressed into a fully-fledged artist with a backlog of hits, cementing a name for herself in hip hop. She is an incredible lyricist with the biggest heart and toughest work ethic I know. We talk about Blimes' conflict between battle rap (which heavily relies on insulting your opponent) vs her warm-natured, empathetic personality, learning to stand up for yourself both personally and professionally, and the call from Method Man that changed her life just as she was considering quitting music.Listen to Talk About It by Blimes & Gab on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/7MGeQ8aDEq0OHPpIxykQtZ?si=OeLMsQqaRh-OxGF3KuK3wgBlimes Brixton on social media:@blimesbrixton / @blimesandgabBLM petitions that still need signing:https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-mandatory-life-sentence-for-police-brutalityhttps://www.change.org/p/govia-thameslink-justice-for-belly-mujinga-justiceforbellymujingahttps://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylorhttps://www.change.org/p/prefeitura-do-rio-de-janeiro-justice-for-joāo-pedrohttps://www.change.org/p/alabama-governor-kay-ivey-willie-simmons-has-served-38-years-for-a-9-robberyhttps://www.change.org/p/us-senate-hands-up-acthttps://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-investigate-the-killing-of-tamir-ricehttps://www.change.org/p/texas-governor-i-want-sandra-bland-s-case-reopenedhttps://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-police-accountability-act-of-2020https://www.change.org/p/united-states-supreme-court-justice-for-kendrick-johnsonhttps://www.change.org/p/justice-for-regis-korchinski-paquethttps://www.change.org/p/it-s-never-your-fault-raise-the-age-of-consent-in-nigeria-from-11-to-18Black literature:Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie“The only reason you say that race is not an issue is because you wish it was not,” says Ifemelu, the protagonist of Adichie’s 2013 novel, an engrossing story and sharp-eyed look at the non-American black experience in the United States, in Adichie’s native Nigeria, and beyond.The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle AlexanderAlexander is an American civil rights lawyer and legal scholar; in her ground-breaking book she analyses the rebirth of a race-based caste in the United States: millions of Americans are locked behind bars and relegated to second-class citizenship by the criminal justice system. Devastating.The Fire Next Time by James BaldwinFirst published in 1963, Baldwin’s book was a bestseller in its day and is just as necessary now – alas. Taking the form of two essays, one a letter to his then 14-year-old nephew, Baldwin’s voice is as powerful and influential as it ever was in looking at systemic racism in the United States.Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-LodgeGal-Dem called this debut “the black British bible”. It began with a 2014 blog post addressed to those who refused to recognise the structural racism of British society, to those who “truly believe that the experiences of their life as a result of their skin colour can and should be universal.” It’s a dramatic recognition of what she calls “white denial”.Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoWinner of the 2019 Booker Prize, Evaristo’s novel follows the lives of a dozen British people, predominantly female, predominantly black. The different storylines of the characters – who range in age from 19 to 93 – are engrossing and empathetic, portraits of struggle, imagination and perseverance.Brit(ish) by Afua HirschHirsch is the daughter of a black Ghanaian woman and a white English man; her book is part memoir, part history, part polemic, an interrogation of her own identity and an examination of the roots of prejudice, taking to task those progressives who claim they “don’t see colour”.Barracoon: The Story of the ‘Last Black Cargo’ by Zora Neale HurstonHurston is best known for her novel Their Eyes were Watching God, first published in 1937. She was an anthropologist as well as a novelist: Barracoon is the fruit of Hurston’s interviews with Cudjo Lewis, née Oluale Kossola, the last survivor of the Atlantic slave trade. Hurston couldn’t get it published in her lifetime; it first appeared in print in 2018.Citizen by Claudia Rankine“Part documentary, part lyric procedural,” wrote Dan Chiasson in the New Yorker of this book-length poem which won the 2014 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for Poetry. Haunting, personal, closely-observed, Rankine brings contemporary American racial politics into tight focus. “Because white men can’t/ police their imagination/ black men are dying."The Good Immigrant ed. Nikesh ShuklaThese 21 essays by black, Asian and minority ethnic writers comprise “a document of what it means to be a person of colour” in Britain today, writes Shukla. Published by Unbound, the crowdfunded website, the book received a huge boost with a £5,000 donation by J. K. Rowling; a companion volume for American writers was published to great acclaim last year. There is a terrific diversity of voices and experiences in both.Write Bloody UK news:Pre-order Ollie O Neill's debut full-length poetry collection here! First 100 copies sold with a 10% discount. Out in Autumn.writebloodyuk.co.ukInstagram & Twitter: @writebloodyukOllie O' Neill:Instragram: @ollieoneillTwitter: @olliecmoneill See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Vangelis hasn't had his Saturn Return yet, so we take a look at his birth chart to see what lessons are store for him: whether he is on the right career path, has successfully embraced his inner freak (which Vangelis associates mainly with whether or not he feels comfortable wearing make up in public), is comfortable expressing his own ideas, and feels able to prioritise love over work. Hear him take the piss out of me as usual, and tally how many times the both of us say "like", bearing in mind I've already edited around five minutes worth of that word alone.Show NotesVangelis performs Here Comes the Rain Again on The Voice UK 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfsa2fG85ygInstagram: @vangelispolyTwitter: @vangelispoly See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Katie Lowe's Saturn Return initially presented as a health problem, but this led her to assess what was important in her life and how she could pass the time while experiencing debilitating pain. This culminated in Katie quitting her day job in events and ultimately writing The Furies, gaining her a major book deal and setting her on a brand new career & life path. Katie is now a full-time writer, and has even returned to university to study for a PHD in a female rage in literary modernism and contemporary women’s writing, a subject she is passionate about, which she may not previously have had the opportunity to pursue had she not been "forced" to manoeuvre.Show NotesThe Furies: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-furies/katie-lowe/9780008289010My "friend who's a music producer" I mention in reference to Paloma Faith's Stone Cold Sober is the producer & songwriter Paddy Byrne.Follow Katie on social mediaInstagram: @fatgirlphdTwitter: @fatgirlphd See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.