Louise Fazackerley, one of the most notable graduates of Write Out Loud Wigan, has two spoken word CDs out, including Love is a Battlefield, which was commissioned by BBC Radio 3’s The Verb after she won a New Voices award last year.

Love is a Battlefield is based on her family's experiences of “soldiering and soldiering on”, and explores themes of class, family and mental health.  It's underscored with music, dark humour and an anti-war theme. A second CD, Bird St, is an eclectic set of bitter-sweet poems and people, set on a terraced street. Both have been released by fellow poet Matt Abbott’s Nymphs & Thugs record label.   

Afer winning the New Voices commission, Louise developed Love is a Battlefield into a 30-minute spoken word show. She said: “I’m very excited because people having been asking me about buying my work for a long time and I've never had anything to give them. I'm pleased that people who get the CDs from the Bandcamp app get a digital download of both collections so they can read it as well as listen.

“I started the process of self-publishing but then realised I needed an editor to hold my hand. I've had some conversations with a few different small presses, so hopefully the book will come out in January.”   

PHOTOGRAPH: BENJI REID