STOP PRESS STOP PRESS!
'particles of wonder' - Mark's new illustrated poetry collection' was published on 24th June by Valley Press. See 'latest news' page for more details and how to purchase.
An article has also just appeared in the KentishTowner. To view please click here
Mark Waddell's poem 'the sound of a falling possum' appeared in Tell Me The Truth About Life - 100 poems that matter - curated by Cerys Matthews for National Poetry Day 2019. He is delighted to be sandwiched between Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare! Mark also performed the possum poem at The Good Life Experience festival in Wales at the launch of the anthology.
Mark Waddell appeared in Hull, City of Culture, as part of the reROOTed festival. During this visit he carried out a march of placards through the city centre and then erected street signs to the delight of locals who are now proud sign-owners.
Click here for the festival programme: www.hull2017.co.uk/whatson/events/rerooted/
See 'gigs' page for up and coming gigs!
'On the Cusp of Greatness' by Mark Waddell published by Valley Press.
Irreverent, often funny and always surprising, 'On the Cusp of Greatness' is Mark Waddell’s first collection of poetry - full of lively, spiky poems that seem to have just walked off the stage, accompanied by the author’s own ‘hare-brained’ illustrations.
Sticking two mischievous fingers up to power and the way things are 'supposed to be', Mark tackles space travel and sellotape with a motion of his pen; arctic blizzards and suicidal possums with another, whilst generally waving the flag for pleasure and all that is good in the world.
Readers will learn of the redemptive power of flight, why three is the ideal number of Bob Marleys to have in your kitchen, but also why these days, the narrator feels sick ‘just looking at' a particular type of crisp. This will be the most fun you've had with thirty-five pieces of paper in years.
You can buy a copy by visiting the Valley Press UK website by clicking here.
Alternatively click here to purchase via Amazon
The London launch Party at The Boogaloo on 30th April was a blast! As Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher said 'The launch was introduced by a man dressed as a Mexican wrestler, and featured various acts including a belly-dancer and a man singing/shouting about worms while a lady tap-danced beside him'.
On 27th April '16 Mark Waddell and Ariane Sherine of The Huffington Post were interviewed by NPR (National Public Radio) and entered the ear-drums of 11.8 million listeners across America!
Click here to listen to this short radio segment.
On 10th august 2015 Ariane Sherine (journalist, comedy writer, songwriter and campaigner) published an article in the Huffington Post about Mark Waddell's street signs.
You can view this by clicking here.
This short recount of a lively conversation between
acclaimed best-selling writer RJ Ellory and his wife probably says it all:
Mark,
I went to Sussex. I took my guitar. Someone broke the neck. I have to have it repaired (the neck has to be rebuilt), and it will cost loads and take weeks. I have had to postpone recording and all sorts of stuff. I was pissed off.
I came back home.
I found your book waiting for me.
Since then, this has been me, to my wife:
'No, no, listen to this one...'
(And I read it.)
She goes, 'Fucking hell, that's amazing...who is he?'
I say, 'Hang on, listen to this one...'
And she goes, 'Fucking hell, that's fucking genius. Who is that guy?'
And I say, 'Hold on there, come back, just listen to this one...'
And she goes, 'Motherfucker! Jesus, that guy really is a fucking genius! Who is that?'
And I say, 'He's a troublemaker I know.'
And she says, 'The only people you know are troublemakers...'
And I say, 'Yes, this guy is a real troublemaker...'
And she says, 'That troublemaker is a fucking genius, no fucking doubt about it...'
And I say, 'Yes,' and read her another one.
Roger.
(RJ Ellory, fellow subversive and best-selling author of novels including ‘A Simple Act of Violence’, ‘The Anniversary Man’ and ‘Saints of New York’)
what folks are saying:
Mark Waddell is a poet who makes people glad to be alive while waking them up to their own absurdity.
Susannah Herbert, National Poetry Day
Amazing fucking writing. Just mind-blowing. Mark Waddell is a screaming fucking genius.
R.J. Ellory, best-selling author of novels including A Simple Act of Violence and Carnival of Shadows.
You’re the man with the funny poems - I loved your assholes.
Michael Horovitz, beat-poet legend.
A true original with the verve and spirit to light up lives, otherwise dulled.
Toni Davidson, author of novels including Scar Culture and My Gun Was As Tall as Me.
A wicked sense of pleasure...irreverent and sophisticated humour...the unthinkable pours from his pen.
Jeremy Page, author of novels including Salt and The Collector of Lost Things
Mark Waddell cuts to the chase like Bukowski.
He is the first man to ever send me poetry direct to my phone. Consumed by all the extremes of life lived to the full he is the perverted poet laureate.
Stephen Jones aka Babybird
If only the world were full of Mark Waddell's it would definitely be a happier place.
Ariane Sherine, The Huffington Post
who the heck?
Mark Waddell is a new breed of comedy-poet-libertine for a modern generation. His fiction has been published in the UK and Philippines and some of his poems appear in Great Poets of the 21st Century by The Imaginary Press.
More at home in a bar than a library, Mark Waddell takes his poems to the masses with his live shows. Sometimes he is thrown off stage, sometimes people fight over his poems; some of his poems have punchlines, sometimes no punches are pulled. Once a regular performer at the now deceased The Torriano, the legendary London venue known for performances by Pete Doherty, Noel Fielding, Scott McMahon and Lianne La Havas, he cut his teeth with the wildest.
Mark is also known for the street signs that keep popping up across London's Kentish Town. A passer-by named Cuthbert, with an impressive intergalactic afro hair-do, said to him one morning, 'you've made my day' - whilst staring up at a sign that read 'on the cusp of greatness.' He hopes this collection will do the same for you.
He draws pictures to go with his poems. At his last exhibition opening a man was arrested whilst staring at an illustration of stuffed bird in a cage.
He gets his ideas from the brilliant things people say without knowing it.
a fistful of assholes
she'd woken up that morning
to find
she was
the
proud owner
of a fistful of assholes.
she could not remember
where she had found them
nor could she open her hand
to have a proper look.
assholes were not attractive to her
but she knew they were there
inside her clenched fingers
she could feel them against her skin
slippery
pouting
throbbing
she estimated there to be three assholes
puckered
and alive
she was a mess now
and badly needed rid of them
knowing them to be no good.
running towards the lake
she stopped
and tried to force her fingers open
but the assholes
struggled
squirmed
and started
making grunting noises
as her fist refused to budge
she took an axe left by the woodcutter
and chopped her hand off
in one neat movement
throwing it
like a twisted Excalibur
into the blue depths.
three centuries later
an expedition from The Federation
stumbled across the lake
where a fistful of assholes
rose slowly to the surface of the water.
as legend had it
whoever has the strength
to prise open the hand
would rule the world
along
with
all
the other assholes.