All right? From September last year into January of this year, you might have spotted James hanging out at Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen. As part of a Cultural Spring Nibbles commission, he spent several months working alongside the volunteers and guests, trying to find some hidden poets.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Andrea, the Soupie’s CEO, along with some of the poems we wrote together.

Massive thanks to everyone who took the time to chat with James, and especially to Andrea and the secret poets we met who shared their poetry with us. If you’d like to support the amazing work the Soupie do, check out their Facebook page.

This special podcast episode was made possible by The Cultural Spring. You can find out more about the Nibbles programme on their website.

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The King Ink podcast is produced by James Whitman, and this episode included the voices of Andrea Bell, Helen Wilko, and GillOtters.

All right? In June 2025, we celebrated Pride month in glorious style.

This episode includes poems from the four feature sets that night, including On Being a Thing and Northern Lights by Scotters, Me, They, Them and My Sundered Land by Just Think Phil, What Do You Mean, Bill? and Tuesdays by Auburn Langley, and Esther’s Baby and Love Song For a Moderate by AJ McKenna.

Thanks to all of our fabulous featured poets, to everyone who celebrated Pride on the open mic with us, and to Pop Recs for giving us the run of the place again. Legends all.

Until next time, toodle-oo!

King Ink's podcast is hosted by Helen Wilko and produced by James Whitman.

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In May 2025, the wonderful Rue Collinge shared some poems from her collection, How to Train Your Dragon (published by Verve Poetry Press).

Our open mic was as superb as ever. This episode features I Didn’t Know by Bobby Darling, The Emperor’s New Glucose by Pip McDonald, Eulogy for a Wealthy Monarch by The HellPoet, and Genital Inspectors by our very own James Whitman. And from Rue’s headline set, we have Body Language, It's Better for the Environment, and the properly gorgeous Moon Cakes.

Thanks to Rue and Verve Poetry Press for choosing us for this cheeky pre-launch, to our glorious open mic heroes, and to Pop Recs for hosting our shenanigans every month.

Until next time, toodle-oo!

King Ink's podcast is hosted by Helen Wilko and produced by James Whitman.

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