Sample of Rommi Smith's writing work:

Samples of professional commissions for BBC Radio 4 and for Theatre (MP3 file)

1.	Salt Song [extract 1] (0.0-0.43) librettist: Rommi Smith; composer, Dave Kane. Sung by acclaimed Norwegian vocal-trio, Royst; score played by double-bassist Seth Bennett and cellist, Matthew Bourne. A fusion of spoken and sung word exploring metaphors and gathered narratives of the sea - inspired by the myth of Odysseus. Commissioned by Imove in response to The Cultural Olympiad.  

2.	2. Salt Song [extract 2] (0.44-2.12): text and spoken-word performance: Rommi Smith; composer, Dave Kane; pianist Matthew Bourne. Commissioned by Imove in response to The Cultural Olympiad.

3.	Our Deep Sorrow: for BBC Radio 4's: From Fact to Fiction (2.14- 3.34): a topical response to the week’s news in which, then, Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his ‘deep sorrow’ for Britain’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Written and performed by: Rommi Smith, performed by: Burt Caesar, Joseph Kloska and London Community Gospel Choir. Composer: Kenneth James Higgins. Producer: Peter Leslie Wild for BBC Radio Drama.

4.	The N.E.O.N.D.E from Postcards from a Cataclysm: BBC Radio 4 (3.40-4.08): Writer: Rommi Smith. Performed by: Melissa Advani and London Community Gospel Choir. A grieving woman contemplates loss on the edge of the world. Producer: James Robinson for BBC Radio Drama.





Rommi Smith - Writing Sample

Rommi Smith, interviewed on BBC Radio 3's The Verb about the life, work and death of Jazz poet and scholar, Amiri Baraka.

The Verb Jan 17th 2014 (extract)

Rommi Smith in discussion on Woman's Hour with Jenny Murray

In discussion on Woman's Hour with Jenny Murray

Rommi Smith Interview and performance on BBC 2002 Commonwealth Games Radio

Interview and performance on BBC 2002 Commonwealth Games Radio

Rommi Smith Late Night Lines from the Lowry on BBC RAdio 4

Late Night Lines from the Lowry on BBC Radio 4

Performance and interview on Finelines with Lemn Sissay and Christopher Cook on BBC Radio 4

finelines

Our Deep Sorrow: part of the Fact to Fiction Series on BBC Radio 4, in which commissioned writers create a piece inspired by the week's news. Rommi Smith explores Tony Blair's expression of' deep sorrow' at Britain's involvement in the slave trade and why sorry always seems the hardest word. Directed by Peter Leslie Wild

Featuring the voices of: London Community Gospel Choir, Burt Caesar and Joseph Kloska.

Rommi Smith - Our Deep Sorrow - Fact To Fiction Series - BBC Radio 4 MP3

An extract of Take a Pinch Of by Rommi Smith, an afternoon drama on BBC Radio 4 featuring Soul diva Ruby Turner. 

Take a Pinch Of by Rommi Smith

Needles and Knots is a poem set to music inspired by Keats' life and work. It is written and performed by students and staff of Burntwood School, London. The piece was created as part of workshops led by Rommi Smith as inaugural Poet in Residence for Keats House in London, working in collaboration with composer and musician Ivan Stott. Needles and Knots was recorded on location at Keats' House, Hampstead, London. 

Needles and Knots - a poem set to music created in workshops led by Rommi Smith & Ivan Stott

A People’s Guide to the River:  a poem for communal listening, set to music

A People’s Guide to the River is a multi-voice soundscape poem, set to music. In this poem, people from across Grassington celebrate the music and memories of the River Wharfe. Over a series of workshops led by writer Rommi Smith, children and adults shared their memories and stories of the river. Conversations were sparked (by texts including Alice Oswald’s celebrated long sequence poem, Dart) and these conversations were scribed into poems by Rommi Smith. In addition, writing workshops took place at schools and during the Festival, this includes creative writing sessions at:

Gils Top
Threshfield Court
Grassington Primary School 
and open workshops at Grassington Festival in June 2014 & June 2015. 

Featuring the voices of:
Keith Bromley
Maria Donizetti
Helen Peyton
Ray Snape
Kit Smith
Rommi Smith
Joan Whitaker
Lucia Ovejero Zappino

Composer: Ken Higgins
Script: Rommi Smith
Musicians: Ken Higgins (bass and effects); Dave Evans (piano); Rommi Smith (mbira)
Studio production: Ken Higgins
Studio direction: Ken Higgins and Rommi Smith
Co-produced by: Ken Higgins, Rommi Smith and Grassington Festival

With thanks to Kate Beard, Grassington Festival Director; Ross Tenant (violinist); every workshop attendee; Patricia Currie, Grassington-based poet – a stanza from her small pamphlet Just Feelings is her contribution to this poem, by kind permission.


A People's Guide The River

Rommi Smith is a poet and playwright. She has held numerous prestigious international residencies for organisations ranging from the British Council, to the BBC, The Florence Nightingale Museum to Parliament. 

Rommi was Poet in Residence for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Poet in Residence for BBC Music Live. She has written for and performed, extensively, on BBC Radio, featuring on programmes such as: From Fact to Fiction, BBC Radio 4’s Afternoon Drama, Poetry Please, Late Junction, The Verb and Woman's Hour. Rommi’s contribution to a feature on Blueswomen was selected for Weekend Woman’s Hour. 

Rommi was appointed Parliamentary Writer in Residence - the first such appointment in British and Parliamentary history. Invited to be Poet in Residence at Keats’ House, London [former home, now museum, celebrating the life of Romantic poet, John Keats], Rommi also served as British Council Poet in Residence at California State University in Los Angeles. Whilst in residence, she directed a brand new piece of theatre about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in collaboration with English MA students and the University's Jazz Orchestra. 

Rommi teaches creative writing for a wealth of organisations and institutions, including: The International Schools Theatre Association, The ARVON Foundation, The Poetry School. She mentored Masters’ students on the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama’s performance courses.

Commissioned to write libretto for a chamber opera exploring the recent riots in London and Birmingham, Rommi was commissioned by The Museum of London, to write a brand new work in celebration of the life of maverick actor, Charlotte Charke. 

Rommi features in the documentary We Are Poets. The award-winning film follows the lives of six-young poets from Leeds, whom she mentored to attend Brave New Voices USA; widely recognised as the biggest and most prestigious poetry slam championships in the world.  

She is delighted to have acted as a consultant/advisor to Yemeni civil rights campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Tawakul Karman, during preparations for her speech to Parliament.

Awarded a prestigious Hedgebrook Fellowship in the United States in 2014, Rommi is the recipient of the Elizabeth George Award. www.rommi-smith.co.uk



Rommi Smith

Popular tracks