Regina Beach is a disabled poet and essayist. Originally from the American midwest, she now calls the Welsh Valleys home. She is the inaugural poet-in-residence at the Risca Industrial History Museum for 2024. Her writing has appeared in Global Poemic, Boldly Mental, The Rail, Haiku by You, Five Minutes, Visual Verse, The Horror Tree, and Disoriented among others. She is the founder of the literary magazine Lesions | Art + Words, which features the work of people living with chronic health conditions. She facilitates monthly writing workshops for the MS-UK charity and is the producer of the Living Well with MS podcast. Read more of Regina’s writing at reginagbeach.com or subscribe to her newsletter at reginagbeach.substack.com.

Megan Lloyd (she/her) is a writer and performer from Eryri. She works freelance on several multi media projects, including writing and performing spoken word for the Q-fforia show. Since joining the Project Kathod crew in Tŷ Newydd at the beginning of 2024 she has collaborated on several exciting projects including the exhibition 'Yr Ysgwrn Yn Ysbrydoli'. She enjoys experimenting with music and poetry and shares her work on Instagram under the name @gwaithpapur.

Photo credit - Amcan Literature Wales

Tia-zakura Camilleri, an interdisciplinary creative from Cardiff, has left an indelible mark on the artistic landscape with her distinctive focus on poetry and theatre. From writing lyrics with her Dad at just 8 years old to headlining poetry nights across the UK, Tia-zakura’s unique style of ‘flowetry’ seamlessly blend rhythm and wordplay. With a focus on social justice, Tia-zakura aims to merge poetry, rap and academia to tell stories from the Black diaspora. As well as continuing to make waves in the performance poetry scene, Tia-zakura is working on her own poetry pamphlet.

Suzanne Iuppa is a poet and conservationist living and working in the Dyfi Valley, mid Wales. Originally from America with Sicilian-Arabic roots, she came to the UK to study modern British poetry and later, Countryside Management. A climate innovation strategist in Wales, her poems ("brilliantly strange" Voicebox) can be found in Magma, Ambit, Poetry Wales, Finished Creatures, Bad Lilies, berlin lit, Natur Cymru, Spelt and The Gingko Prize for Ecopoetry. Her writing is inspired by recovery work for our rarest species and communities adapting to regenerate nature. Suzanne has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, twice-nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Writer-in-Residence at Climate.Cymru. She is currently working with communities to develop appropriately-scaled, ecologically-sound, community-owned energy in rural Wales, writing poems, essays and stories as she goes.

Kat Budd is a poet, facilitator and self-proclaimed garden dabbler. Originally from the Midlands, she now lives in Pembrokeshire and takes inspiration from the coastal landscape where the wild edges of land meet sea. She studied Ecology and Conservation at Sussex University and intertwines this knowledge and love of the natural world in her work. Her writing often centres around the themes of feminism, identity, equity, nature, gardening and how to hold a heart through grief. Kat performs at local spoken word events and is a part of the PENfro poets group.

Emma Katy is a proud Cymraeg queer woman who was raised bilingually on Ynys Môn, where she now continues to live. Growing up in tiny villages shaped Emma’s childhood and at the age of 18, she went to London to nanny. After studying Social Work at Sheffield Hallam University and then working in Yorkshire for a few years, Emma returned to her favourite place, her homeland, to raise a family.
With a love for performing Emma has entertained many groups of young children over the years with a talent for spontaneous stories. Emma also has some experience on stage in minor play roles, sketches and cabarets, as well as weekend training in clowning, improv and comedy, currently attending a comedy school in Llangefni, Gwneud Make Do. Previously, Emma has performed at The World Transformed Conference in Liverpool and has written a series of articles on mental health for the local magazine, Network News.
Now as a single parent to her two children, she relies on the rare moments when energy and free time align to allow for passionate writing. Emma adores the emotional release both painting and writing gives her, with wide ranging topics such as experiences in home education, school runs, mental health issues, disability - all often finding both a humorous and deeply felt creative outlet.

Nicky Hetherington is a poet and children’s writer living in rural mid Wales, where she is enveloped in the beauty and comfort that nature provides as solace against the chaos and confusion of a world that seems to have lost its direction. She writes poetry to draw awareness to things she is passionate about, such as the threat of the climate and biodiversity crises, and of inequalities and lack of humanity in many aspects of modern life. She also writes about the nurture and joy found in nature, friends and family. She has a quirky sense of humour which she likes to deploy with irrepressible levity or incisive intent in equal measure.

She was winner of the Oriel Davies Open Poetry Competition 2017 and has had poems published in magazines including Iota, Roundyhouse, Earth Love, and on websites such as Classical Poets and Militant Thistles as well as in anthologies, most recently “In the Sticks” from Offa’s Press.

She loves reading her poetry to audiences, where she feels it really connects with people from different walks of life. She read at a poetry marathon for Knighton and District Refugee Support Group in 2017 and performed a children’s set for Knighton Festival in 2020 (live-streamed due to Covid). Recently she has read environmental themed sets with Offa’s Press, and at Mid Wales Arts Centre, and wants to use her words to help the voiceless, human or otherwise, to be heard in these difficult times.

Molara is an inspirational singer, writer, performer, artist and creative practitioner. Her maternal grandfather was a founder member of the George Formby Society and her father's cousin was the infamous Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
A lifelong campaigner and previous chair of Black History 365 Cymru, she worked on the consultation phase of the Welsh Government's Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan then with Ysgol Bro Preseli as part of the Cynefin project, the Anti- Racist Action PlanT.
An advocate of self determination she describes herself as "jewel heritage" and has delivered music and art projects to people aged 0 to 106, of differing abilities and backgrounds since 1992. Founder of Llwy Gariad ethnically diverse West Wales group, she currently coordinates for Span Arts the We Move Forward global majority youth social action project.
An intuitive artist, her practice ranges from song writing to poetry, collage with fabric to painting whilst incorporating elements of life in the Preseli Hills and injustice in the wider world, into all of her work.
Favourite recent work includes designing and creating the set for Phil Okwedy's "The Gods Are All Here", "Flights of Fancy" at Bute Park lights display 2023 and creating pieces for "Multiplicity" which is part of the "Perspectives" project, giving a platform to global majority artists in Wales.

Frankie Walker is a poet, spoken word artist, and performance creator whose work is shaped by her personal experiences and a deep commitment to social justice. With an intersectional feminist lens, she uses her art to explore themes of power, voice, and healing, often addressing issues like domestic abuse and coercive control. As an entirely single mother, Frankie draws on her own life to inform her art, seeking out unconventional and accessible spaces to connect with audiences.
Frankie began writing poetry as a teenager, inspired by artists like Tricky and The Streets, though she didn’t initially recognize it as spoken word. She later studied Performance Writing at Dartington College of Arts, where she began to challenge the cultural boxes often imposed on her. It was there that she found her artistic voice and grew passionate about pushing boundaries in her work.
Her most recent piece, Angry Snatch: A Reclamation Job in 15 Rounds, blends physical theatre, dance, and spoken word to explore the trauma and healing journey from domestic abuse. Performed both in theatres and boxing gyms, the show debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024 and toured Wales that autumn. Funded by Arts Council Wales and Wales Arts International, the production is a raw, empowering exploration of self-reclamation.
Through her powerful performances, Frankie continues to give voice to marginalized experiences, challenging audiences to reflect on difficult truths while offering hope for healing. https://frankiewalkerarts.my.canva.site/

CJ Wagstaff is a queer poet, musician and non-fiction writer from Neath in South Wales. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry Wales, Modron Magazine, Buzz Magazine, Nation Cymru and Stone of Madness. In his practice, CJ is interested in exploring interpersonal connections to Welsh landscapes. He is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing.

Katrina Moinet is a working-class feminist writer and performance poet from Ynys Môn whose work explores identity, gendered or embodied experience, and social justice.

Katrina is author of Portrait of a Young Girl Falling (2024), a second, prizewinning pamphlet The Art of Silence (2025) and a forthcoming micro-collection Lessons in Language Learning, all published with Hedgehog Press. Katrina won Globe Soup Short Story and Flash Fiction prizes, has listed in international writing competitions including Fish, Marlowe & Christie, New Writers and, as a Flash Fiction finalist, features in Mslexia Best Women’s Short Fiction 2024.

Best-of-the-Net and Pushcart nominee, Katrina is published in annie, Black Iris, Ffosfforws, Firmament, Mslexia, Nation.Cymru, Poetry Wales, Poetry X Hunger, Raw Lit, The Post Grad Journal, Wild North Wales/Natur Gogledd Cymru (co-editor). Their work is found on display at Venue Cymru, as a visual art piece in Bangor University’s ‘Representing Law’ exhibition, and in various anthologies: O Ffrwyth Y Gangen Hon (Barddas), The Poetry Marathon, and Bournemouth Writing Festival prize-winners’ anthology Lines in the Sand.

They host Blue Sky Bangor’s Versify monthly open mic night, facilitate fiction and poetry workshops, and have co-run Gwyl Môn Anglesey Writing Festival for two years as a volunteer.

@KMoinetwrites | katrinamoinet.com/contact

Tamia is a spoken word poet who deep dives into the realms of trauma, healing and resilience. She moved to North Wales 10 years ago as a young person leaving care. Since then, she has worked alongside charities that have helped her along the way such as WeMindTheGap, supporting young adults in getting back out into the world.
Tamia discovered her passion for spoken word through Voicebox Wrexham, a collective of artists that gather monthly to share their work over an open mic. Poetry has since become a space to explore themes of marginilisation, mental health and abuse. She hopes to inspire others to look into these themes with an open mind, using imagery and rhythmic rhyme.
Whilst also training as a Veterinary Nurse, Tamia enjoys playing her cello and takes delight in watching birds go about their little lives around us.

Gwenhwyfar Ferch Rhys is a writer and spoken word artist from Wales and Scotland. In 2022, she was appointed by the Scottish Poetry Library and StAnza as the of the inaugural Young Makars; and went on to perform at festivals such as Wigtown, Dandelion, and the Edinburgh Fringe in this capacity. She has also appeared on BBC Radio Scotland and ITV news to perform and discuss her work. In collaboration with ConFAB, she devised and featured on the spoken word albums “The New World” and “Calling At…”. Her poetry has been recognized by the SMHAF award and the Hippocrates Prize, amongst others, and her writing has featured in literary magazines such as Icarus and Metachrosis. In 2025, she contributed to 404Ink’s ‘Fierce Salvage’, an anthology collection of queer Scottish writing. '[ac]quiesonce', her debut spoken word show and (currently unpublished) pamphlet, moves between personal experience of gender transition and Welsh history and legend; with both converging on the theme of ‘expectation’. Centering on the figure of Y Mab Darogan - a legendary hero usually identified with King Arthur who is prophesied to liberate Wales in its hour of need – [ac]quiesonce explores the seductive complacency of awaiting a saviour rather than learning to save ourselves.

Photo credit Tegan Foley (The Bench by Krystal S. Lowe)

Jodi is a multidisciplinary artist of mixed heritage (British/Afro Caribbean) based in South Wales. Trained in contemporary dance at TrinityLaban and having explored Fine Art in Cardiff School of Art and Design, her practice is rooted in the body, through movement, voice, text and embroidery.

When looking at her practice through a focused lens Jodi’s work is about understanding the impact of past and place on her identity; when looking at it through a wide lens, Jodi’s work is about identity, community, home and belonging. She seeks to connect with and celebrate communities through relevant conversations in relation to these topics.

One example of Jodi’s recent works is ‘Playing, Exploring, Resting’; an exploration into her connection to nature through her outdoor improvisational movement and writing practice, she ventures outside exploring and playing in varying landscapes. Guided by movement and the written word, she explores questions such as: “What does it mean for me, as a Black woman, to occupy this space?” and “Can I rest?”.

Her deep connection to the sea and coastline as a place to grieve, a place that feels like home, calms the nervous system, and connects her to spirituality, ancestry and folklore. She is also interested in the relationship between nature and psychology.
“Being a Black female in nature is political, a gentle act of protest. But more than that it is a returning to the self” - Jodi Ann Nicholson