Francesca Beard (born 1968) is a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n writer and

performance poet Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe ...

. Born in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, she has been based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for much of her adult life and cites the city as a major inspiration in her work."Francesca Beard", Literature, British Council.
She has represented contemporary British literature all over the world, from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria to Colombia, in all sorts of venues, from a Moscow library to a Melbourne jazz club. She has a one-woman show, ''Chinese Whispers'', produced by Apples and Snakes, Britain's foremost performance poetry organisation, directed by Arlette Kim George, with lighting by Flick Ansell, costumes by Hardy Bleckman of Maharishi and original visuals by Jason Larkin. Long-time collaborator

Piers Faccini Piers Damian G. Faccini (born 1970) is an English singer, painter and songwriter. Biography Piers Faccini was born in London, England to an Italian father and an English mother. His family moved to France when he was five years old. His brother ...

composed the music for the show. Faccini and Beard were co-founders of musical collective "Charley Marlowe", which disbanded in 2002. Faccini went on to release the successful album ''Leave No Trace'', on LaBel Bleu, and is working on a second album. Francesca Beard runs regular workshops and masterclasses in schools and organisations in Britain and abroad. She has been writer-in-residence for the

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Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

and the

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, and run workshops for many institutions, including the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the National Theatre and the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

. In May 2005, her first radio play, ''The Healing Pool'', was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and London Live. As a playwright, her work was showcased in Pentabus Theatre's production of ''Open White Spaces'' at the 2006

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. She has had a short play on at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

and was one of the fifty "most promising new writers in Britain" currently on attachment to the Royal Court and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. She developed a new project, working title, ''London Tales'', with

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, supported by

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

. In 2018, she is touring her new one-woman show ''How to Survive a Post-Truth Apocalypse'' around the UK. It was developed from the show ''A Lie'', a collaboration between Francesca Beard and Hannah Jane Walker, and with support from

Apples and Snakes Apples and Snakes, based at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, south-east London, is an organisation for performance poetry and the spoken word in England. It has been described as the main organisation promoting performance poetry in Britain. S ...

, Improbable theatre,

Cambridge Junction Cambridge Junction is a live music and arts venue in Cambridge, England. The principal venue was opened to the south of the Cambridge railway station, railway station and on the site of the city's former Cattle Market in 1990, as "The Junction". ...

and Roundhouse. The tour was supported by

. She is the mother of two girls.

References

External links

Artist's website"Francesca Beard reads ''Cargoes'' by John Masefield", ''GPS''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Francesca 1968 births Living people People from Kuala Lumpur Entertainers from London Malaysian women poets Date of birth missing (living people)