Helen Calcutt (born 27 March 1988), is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
poet, dancer, and
choreographer.
Writing career
Helen was one of the six poets selected to perform at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony 2022, hosted in Birmingham. Her poem 'Mother, the city', written for the ceremony, was performed as part of its major opening scene
Everything to Everybody, and was heard by over one and half billion people around the globe.
Calcutt is the author of three volumes of poetry. Her debut collection 'Sudden rainfall' was published by British publishing house Perdika Press when she was just 23 years old. It was a PBS Choice on publication and became Waterstone's best-selling pamphlet in 2016. Her most recent collection 'Somehow' was published by Verve Press in September 2020. It was a PBS Winter Bulletin Pamphlet, and Poetry School Book of the Year (2020, shortlist).
Helen also writes for the Guardian, the Huffington Post, Poetry London, and the Wales Arts Review.
Dance
Calcutt is also a professional
dancer, performer, and
choreographer. She has directed movement for theatre, site-specific productions, and independent film, working with a specialis
in the conversation between text and movement.
Helen originally trained in jazz and commercial dance, before studying contemporary movement at Trinity Laban, and later moving into dance-theatre and movement direction. She is also a Latin an
Cuban salsadancer.
Activism
Calcutt is an activist for mental health awareness, and male suicide prevention. She is the creator and editor of the acclaimed poetry anthology, 'Eighty Four'
The title stands for the number of men who take their lives every week in the U.K.
The book was published by Verve Poetry Press (2019) was shortlisted for the Saboteur Best Anthology Award, 2019, and was a Poetry Wales Book of The Year 2019.
Helen lost her own brother to suicide in September 2017.
Bibliography
* 2013: ''Sudden rainfall'', Perdika Press,
* 2018: ''Unable Mother'', V.Press,
* 2019: ''Anthology Eighty Four'' Verve Poetry Press
* 2020: ''Somehow'' Verve Poetry Press,
Personal life
Helen lives with her two children.
References
External links
*
The Guardian, author page
The Huffington Post, author pageThe Lampeter Review, Issue 6 2012Perdika Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calcutt, Helen
English women poets
Living people
1988 births
Alumni of the University of Wolverhampton
People from the Black Country
English women journalists
English female dancers
English women non-fiction writers