Leanne Moden is a poet, performer and workshop leader, based in Nottingham in the East Midlands.
She's performed at events across the UK and Europe, including the Edinburgh Fringe, WOMAD Festival, the Living Record Festival, the Brighton Fringe, Sofar Sounds, Stanza Newcastle, the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, the Beverley Folk Festival, and Bestival on the Isle of Wight, as well as Prima Vista Festival in Estonia and Dia Mundial de la Poesia in Spain.
Leanne has also performed at the Fourth Wave Feminist Festival in Hackney Downs, Trinity College Cambridge, the Whitworth Museum in Manchester, and as part of the TEDx WOMEN talk at UCL in 2016. In 2019, she did her first solo show as part of PBH's Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Leanne competes in UK poetry slams and she's been a national semi-finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam, as well as a national finalist at Hammer and Tongue, Poetry Rivals, the Camden Roundhouse Slam, and the Anti-Slam. More recently, she won the Scriptstuff Slam (2021), the Oooh Beehive Slam Semi-Final (2020), the Good Shout Slam (2019).
Photo credit: Andrew Lee Photography
Leanne is a founding member of the 28 Sonnets Later poetry collective, based in East Anglia, and a member of the DIY Poets in Nottingham.
She also facilitates creative writing workshops in schools, community centres, libraries and museums, and organises poetry events around the country, including the Paper Crane Poets, a collective of incredible writers, based in Beeston in Nottinghamshire.
Leanne was Fenland Poet Laureate in 2013, and her first pamphlet, ‘Liaisons’, was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press in 2015. Her latest collection, 'Get Over Yourself' was published in July 2020 by Burning Eye Books.
Leanne was Virtual Writer in Residence at F Project in Melbourne in Australia in November 2021, and a citizen scientist with Universities for Nottingham on their Co(l)laboratory Research Placement scheme in summer 2023. She is currently a writer in residence with First Story, a lead writer at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, and an associate artist at Mansfield Palace Theatre.
Illustration credit: Hannah Radenkova
What people are saying about Leanne
“Leanne Moden is a breath of fresh air for an art form so often concentrated on oneself, looking around her with a humorous but curious gaze many can't achieve. Her work is both beautiful and dirty, bold and timid, but at all times open, honest and a joy to hear.”
Hollie McNish, Ted Hughes Award Winning Poet
"Leanne Moden is a lemon sherbet of a poet. A sugar candy shell masks sharp, delicious surprises fizzing with wit and offering lots of guilty pleasure."
Mark Niel, Milton Keynes Poet Laureate
"Leanne has a razor-sharp eye for detail and a turn of phrase that'll stay with you. [Her] poems are joyous, uplifting and filled with lines that jump out and grab you by the heart."
Jess Green, BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam Champion
“Leanne Moden is a talent well worth watching. With curve ball quips and smart attention to craft she takes poetic social commentary to new audiences.”
Hannah Jane Walker, Apples & Snakes