Francesca Beard is a British Malaysian writer and performance poet based in London. She has been described as ‘The Queen of British Performance Poetry’ (Metro). Since 1999, Beard has been performing poetry for live audiences, creating work that is interactive and improvisational. She has performed all over the world with the British Council, displaying a technique for repetition and rhyme that has seen her work described as “spine-tingling” (The Independent). “Performance poetry is so much about audience. It is a very interactive art form.” Beard has long been associated with Apples and Snakes, the London-based poetry organisation which has been a champion of performance poetry since its inception in 1982, and First Story, a writer development organisation that works with young people. Her poetry performances include Chinese Whispers (2003), Animal Olympics (2008), and her chapbook Cheap is on its fourth imprint.
