New Bonus Spoken Label Episode - Author Spotlight 2: Lee McShane

 

Bonus Podcast today for Spoken Label (Poetry Podcast) with the return of Amanda Nicholson and Courtney Ward assisting me in interviewing the return of Lee McShane talking about his debut poetry book 'The House built from Shadows'.

Lee McShane is a Neurodivergent actor, filmmaker, and published writer and poet from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. His work often blends psychological horror with themes of mental health, creating emotionally charged and thought-provoking narratives. His writing has appeared in All Your Stories, All Your Poems, and the PoeticEdge Fantasy Anthology. He will appear in the next anthology by Black Eye Publishing. He headlined Spoken Word Online in July 2025 and is set to headline an online AccessAbility Arts event.Lee's book 'The House built from Shadows' can be found on Amazon

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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/author-spotlight-2-lee-mcshane-spoken-label-november-2025/id1501847969?i=1000737320605

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Author-Spotlight-2-Lee-McShane-Spoken-Label--November-2025-e3b5a5v

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QetHeLta2Q&t=455s

https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Author-Spotlight-2-Lee-McShane-Spoken-Label-November-2025/B0G2SJ843G?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=P90DNX0N878G5TAZC2ZB&plink=jNVpWiQ2Suz7f74G&pageLoadId=hQdFNUONgdJ9k2nq&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_1

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ETIEEs11yLPEjFzV62vkx

Steve Schlam - Spoken Label, November 2025

 

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) making his debut is Steve Schlam.

Steve advises he first gained entry to the City of Words through the doors of the public library in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born and spent a good part of his childhood; and has maintained his residency ever since while living in cities and towns across the United States and in Mexico. An actor as well as an author, he has performed on stages in all the places he has called home, and earned a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and English under the tutelage of Joseph Heller, renowned author of "Catch-22." He lives currently in Southern California in a pretty little Craftsman bungalow with orange and lemon trees growing in the backyard, in the company of his wife, Liora. His debut novel, "The Harvesting of Haystacks Kane," was released in March 2024.

More about Steve can be found at: https://www.steveschlam.com/

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Podcast can be downloaded from the following places including::

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Steve-Schlam-Spoken-Label--November-2025-e39to42

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-schlam-spoken-label-november-2025/id1501847969?i=1000736407511

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/b241c4a4-910a-4e4c-8ad4-7760c537a36b/spoken-label-steve-schlam-spoken-label-november-2025

https://youtu.be/WM41JKEHRpY (Chat)

https://youtu.be/3CXvZ_1PVu0  (Reading)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4If9owWv35HE0vDzhF4NWZ

Ray Whitaker (Spoken Label, November 2025)

 

Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word Podcast) features making his debut, Ray Whitaker .

Ray advises he has been writing both prose and poetry since he was seventeen. What Ray is writing now is very different from what he wrote those so many years ago. All writers and poets are writing out of "the Self" however there are directions that the self speaks into, that change. Now Ray is attempting to put foremost in his work, just who he is writing for. He intends on writing for the everyday man and woman. He firmly believes that poems need to reach into the everyday person's pictures in their minds, and engage with those. This is where he aims to make a difference in his creative writing. Ray does readings around the state of North Carolina [USA], and is a member or the North Carolina Poetry Society, the Winston-Salem Writers, and The North Carolina Writer’s Network. He has thrice been a ‘Writer-in-Residence” at the North Carolina Center For The Arts and Humanities, at Weymouth, in Southern Pines,NC. He is the father of two daughters. Originally from the South, he now lives in Colorado, where he is seeking venues.

More details can be found at:

https://raywhitakerblog.wordpress.com/

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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ray-whittaker-spoken-label-november-2025/id1501847969?i=1000735380723

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Ray-Whittaker-Spoken-Label--November-2025-e3aclra

https://youtu.be/2v8FQPGwgA4 (Chat)

https://youtu.be/Ihiah6rLNl0 (Reading)

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/1d9255b8-5114-4ae8-9320-5dcbba53cf07/spoken-label-ray-whittaker-spoken-label-november-2025

https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Ray-Whittaker-Spoken-Label-November-2025/B0FZVHC93Y?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=1GW7WYQC8W14V4WBANY2&plink=9yeff8OfASL1tEVE&pageLoadId=g9sw9ITZR5u4gz2f&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1P9s1MjrTBveahw31RGR74

Speak Easy thank you's and how to book for December 2025

 

Thanks to everybody who attended our latest Speak Easy (Spoken Word Open Mic night) at Chorlton’s always welcoming Dulcimer Bar, Chorlton.

We had a great night; there were somewhere around 55 people there, hosted magically by the wonderful Lindy Newns (Thanks, Lindy).

Thanks to everybody who attended to watch, and we want to thank the following for reading:

1. Lindy Newns
2. Luke Piercy
3. Alison Knowles
4. Michael Hulley II (Volodya Gorky)
5. Karen Kendrick
6. Natasha Morris
7. Noemi Scotellaro Massimi
8. Mark Quinn
9. Andy N
10. Gordon Zola
11. Amanda Nicholson
12. David Bond
13. Olga Gerke
14. Andy Cash/ Anson Clark
15. Sophie Gannon
16. Ella Holmes
17. Martin Elder
18. Piper Cusmano
19. Jeremy Pak Nelson
20. Kai Luckman
21. Martin CM (Martin Corlettmoss)

Amanda has uploaded the pictures from last night here in full: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=speakeasymanchester&set=a.1364151092170338&__cft__[0]=AZWeBLIJzVafXDsp0nSSymYjxPIMJhmNGf3DRS9FkZsYKPCqQlzw6zwBB2f8-UDq_g2zhOuywxR71gS0HrslKKJPD7KdA49m87ZYwdKevBmT92653KshwSueyBgJaqs2C-jSidpQCB7_B1B3I1rH9Ihi2vq0uzEOa1dybDRJcmiyjsO9IVB7jmYC12SzIqnlQdg&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R

Next Speak Easy will be our Xmas special on Thursday 04 December 2025, and bookings shall open this Sunday 09 December from 12 Noon by emailing Andy N on aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk

Please note that there will be no Speak Easy in January 2026 and we shall be back in February 2026 as normal.

Catherine Holland Bax - Spoken Label, November 2025

 

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) features making her debut, Catherine Holland Bax.

Catherine is the Author of Little Viking House and the Badger Resistance Army.

Catherine lives in Shropshire with two cats, several chickens, and three Icelandic horses. She created EponaWise to support her writing and her desire for better leadership in the world.

Catherine has always loved telling stories and has never stopped believing that she can talk to animals. So when she began to write her stories down, they had animals at their heart.

A graduate of the prestigious Golden Egg Academy, Catherine published her first novel, Little Viking Horse, in October 2021.

Little Viking Horse is based on the character of Catherine’s Icelandic horse, Fleygur, her detailed observations of her horses, and the horse-human interactions she has witnessed, which, sadly, are not always positive. Inspired by Black Beauty, Catherine hopes that Little Viking Horse will promote greater understanding and empathy towards horses, and hopefully people too!

Catherine’s second book, The Badger Resistance Army, was published in June 2025. Badgers are an iconic but often controversial animal. In The Badger Resistance Army, Catherine explores the threat to our wild habitats through the eyes of a badger, lives her fantasy of being able to talk to animals, and imagines a world where space is made for all to live.

More details at: https://eponawise.com/

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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/catherine-holland-dax-spoken-label-october-2025/id1501847969?i=1000734113560

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Catherine-Holland-Dax-Spoken-Label--October-2025-e39o9vl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ina07h-PyIw&pp=0gcJCQMKAYcqIYzv (Chat)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh3n9K1WWfE&pp=0gcJCQMKAYcqIYzv (Reading)

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/09fdf40b-5eb3-486a-8542-633f69d1ac44/spoken-label-catherine-holland-dax-spoken-label-october-2025

https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Catherine-Holland-Dax-Spoken-Label-October-2025/B0FY6ZBDVW?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=Y1TVZ7D2DXG845H6Q88V&plink=LunWk16xEriM4ScD&pageLoadId=9OKYpgijqTjAdbyA&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rbjNga2ZQMJ8eBGS4jN9U

Speak Easy readers 06 November 2025

 

Enclosed below is a list of readers for the next Speak Easy night at Dulicmer, Chorlton on Thursday 06 November 2025.

We should be starting around 7.30pm (Free admission, all welcome) where the following readers will entertain with their work spread out across 4 minute segments:

(NB. This is not the running order)

Andy N

Amanda Nicholson

Lindy Newns 

Sophie Gannon 

Andy Cash 

Jeremy Pak Nelson 

Gordon Zola 

Martin CM 

Noemi Scotellaro 

Ella Holmes 

Michael Hulley 

Mark Quinn 

Joe Tetley 

Anson Clark 

Luke Piercy 

Emilia Rachael 

Martin Elder 

David Bond 

Natasha Morris 

Karen Kendrix 

Piper Cusmano 

Lindy Newns  

Olga Gerke 

Alison Knowles 

Mark Rawlins 

Subs List / Cancellation list - aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk