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Claire Askew and Carmel Smickersgill

Poet, crime writer, and self-confessed witch Claire Askew and Manchester-based composer and performer Carmel Smickersgill join Elizabeth for a brand new season of Northern Drift.

Elizabeth Alker returns for a new series of Northern Drift with poet, crime writer, and witch Claire Askew, and Manchester based composer and performer Carmel Smickersgill.

Claire's new poetry collection 'How to Burn a Woman' celebrates the lives of women accused of witchcraft and heresy - including her 16th-century ancestor Anne Askew, one of the earliest female English language poets and the first Englishwoman to request a divorce. She was tortured in the Tower of London and burnt at the stake in 1546, aged 25.

Currently under the mentorship of Anna Meredith, Carmel Smickersgill has been commissioned by the Liverpool Philharmonic's Ensemble 10/10, Galvanise Ensemble, and Fretwork. She's described her new EP 'We Get What We Want & We Don't Get Upset' as “silly music that comes from serious places”.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

29 minutes

Music Played

  • Carmel Smickersgill

    Greeting

    Performer: Carmel Smickersgill. Performer: Nathan Carroll. Singer: George Burrage.
  • Carmel Smickersgill

    Thinking

    Performer: Carmel Smickersgill. Performer: Nathan Carroll. Singer: George Burrage.
  • Carmel Smickersgill

    Boudicca

    Performer: Carmel Smickersgill. Performer: Nathan Carroll. Singer: George Burrage.

Broadcast

  • Mon 20 Jun 2022 21:30