Biography
Monday, July 25, 2005, 01:52 PM


Francesca Beard was born in Malaysia and spent the 70's growing up in
Penang, an idyllic island paradise. Since then, quite frankly, life has been down-hill all the way, but with occasional slow climbs... a bit like mowing a sloping lawn. After a spell in real jobs, she gave it all up to become a fictional character and now exists as a London-based poet, performing spoken word to lucky audiences all over Britain and the World.

You can read her introduction to performance poetry ‘Power in the Voice’on The British Council website. Her spoken word show, 'Chinese Whispers', produced by Apples&Snakes and supported by the Arts Council has toured nationally and abroad. Her children’s show, 'Animal Olympics', developed in association with Chinese Arts Centre and Soho Theatre and premiered at the South Bank’s ‘Imagine’ Children’s Festival has toured nationally and internationally. She has written plays for BBC Radio 4 and was on attachment to the Royal Court Theatre in 2008 as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging writers. She is currently developing ‘London Tales’, a Canterbury Tales for the 21st century, produced by B3 Media and supported by Arts Council England. You can also find Francesca on Facebook, myspace and Twitter.

Francesca gained experience and training through the Apples&Snakes programme PIE (Poets in Education) and has been working as a workshop facilitator in creative writing, poetry and performance since 1999. She runs one day workshops and masterclasses for all ages, as well as working on longer term projects with theatres and organisations, such as the National, Creative Partnerships, Arvon, Spread the Word, Eastside and Booktrust. She has been writer in residence at many institutions, including the Barbican, Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London, the Natural History Museum, the Metropolitan Police and the BBC.

With the British Council Live Literature Department, she has run creative writing workshops and masterclasses in Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Portugal, the Phillipines,Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Namibia.

Downloads:
Curriculum Vitae
Education Biography
Chinese Whispers Booking Info

Louche Self-Bolstering...

"Spine-tingling... Witty and narcotic."
The Independent

"...witty and whimsical... a quality-guarantee."
The Evening Standard

"Sensuous and funny""
Time Out

"The Queen of British performance poetry."
London Metro

"Brilliant, illuminating all manner of euphemisms, dreams, lies and hidden agendas."
The Scotsman

"Just as long as it makes you happy"
My mum