I am a performance poet, award-winning novelist and playwright who weaves fun, games and inclusivity into the learning process. I have substantial experience working with children with SEN, disabilities, English as an additional language, and experience of exclusion.
As well as working with Eastside throughout its action-packed history, I’ve had many creative residencies including Battersea Dogs Home, the D-Day Story Museum, Hamleys Toy Shop and the V&A Museum of Childhood. My novel Child I (Faber Children’s) has been published in eleven languages and I recently published my first poetry collection for younger children This Book Roars! (London Poetry Books)
My philosophy? Poetry and hula-hooping help us heal – often at the same time!
That’s why I love working with Eastside, for its sense of play and dedication to young people’s wellbeing, from Spoken Word Power to its schools residencies. The experience has helped me evolve my Arts Council-funded Positivity in Practice toolkit for artists working with traumatised children, and build up my schools presentation/workshop Talking Trouble. Talking Trouble is a moveable feast for any age group featuring raps, poems, chat, videos, and rhythm games. It explores challenging subject matters with a user-friendly, celebratory approach to create our own solo/group poems and stories.
Steve’s Eastside Highlight:
I most enjoyed my residency at Chelsea Community Hospital child psychiatric wing, working with children living with psychosis, random violence, non-verbal communication and domestic dysfunction. A residential wing, with locked rooms and trained security staff, it seemed like the last place performance poetry would make an impact. Two of the children couldn’t be in the same room without attacking each other. But by the project’s live finale/celebration, they were helping each other out with their words and delivery, cheering everybody on, and having a ball. For some of the participants, the poetry experience was a resocialising and confidence-building stepping stone that was a definitive move towards their returning to their family homes. Literally life-changing.
Steve’s Goals for the Future:
I am presently working on a children’s novel about my facial blindness – prosopagnosia – a disorienting and confidence-destroying disability that society still struggles to take seriously. It leaves sufferers socially isolated and at constant risk of mockery – what happens when you can’t recognise your own friends, or your own teacher? My book attempts to answer that.
Where to find Steve:
Instagram: @stevetasane
Facebook: Steve Tasane
Twitter: @stevetasane