If you’re a promoter and need a 50- or 100-word bio, etc., please email me, and I’ll send one ASAP! Don’t try to pull one together from the self-indulgent essay below. Ta!
2006-07 | 2007-09 | 2010-13 | 2013-16 | 2017-18 | 2019 | 2020-23| 2025-27
2006-07 | Spoken word beginnings
December 2006, a few weeks before my 18th. I’m at an impromptu jam session, at a Bromheads Jacket after-show party, in a secret underground venue in Sheffield’s red light district. Somebody had heard my early poems on MySpace and ushered me onto the mic…
From there, I began introducing bands on the Yorkshire indie scene. Before long, I had a string of regular compère slots. My breakthrough came at a Love Music Hate Racism gig in April 2007, where I first performed my early trademark ‘Nazis on the Doorstep‘ piece.
2007-09 | Skint & Demoralised success
In May 2007 I was contacted via MySpace by a Sheffield-based songwriter/producer, using the alias ‘MiNI dOG’. He started layering my poems over some electro instrumentals, which soon developed into an indie-pop songwriting partnership – Skint & Demoralised.
After 6 months, our demo Red Lipstick was played by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, and from there it snowballed. In March 2008, we signed to Universal. We recorded in Brooklyn with The Dap-Kings and completed Love, And Other Catastrophes at RAK in London.
Début single The Thrill of Thirty Seconds was Colin Murray’s Record of the Week on R1 and playlisted on 6Music. We were hailed as “the next big thing” by publications including The Sunday Times Culture, Q, Clash, The Times, The Guardian, and many online music sites.
2009 kicked off with a headline UK tour, before a summer release of Red Lipstick. It was Sara Cox’s Weekend Anthem on R1, but charted at #100 and saw us dropped. Despite this, we were a big hit at festivals, including Glastonbury, Latitude, Leeds/Reading, and Bestival.
2010-13 | More S&D, plus solo festivals
In summer 2010, I returned to the UK festival circuit with far less gear to carry, performing 30-minute spoken word/comedy slots at Latitude, Leeds, and Kendal Calling. In April 2011, Skint & Demoralised signed to Heist Or Hit Records, and subsequently released three albums through the label.
The stint on Heist Or Hit included a 20-date UK tour in October 2011, plus some headline shows in Germany that Christmas. All three Skint & Demoralised albums received critical acclaim.
2013-16 | Full return to spoken word
A hat-trick of poetry slots at Glastonbury 2013 gave me a fresh appetite, which led me to co-found the collective A Firm Of Poets. We had an anthology published by Ossett Observer in September 2014, proved a hit at regional festivals, and toured the UK in 2015 with Ossett Observer presents: The People’s Republic of Poetry.
In 2015, I formed spoken word record label Nymphs & Thugs before doing a week’s run at Edinburgh Fringe with Matt Abbott is Skint & Demoralised. Throughout 2016, I was a central figure on the #JC4PM tour and performed at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
I visited The Jungle refugee camp in Calais, and campaigned for several issues including homelessness, anti-racism, and the refugee crisis. And my work with The Poetry Takeaway led to me starring in a series of national TV ad campaigns for Nationwide Building Society.
2017-18 | Poetry vinyl & ‘Two Little Ducks’
Spring 2017 saw the Nymphs & Thugs LIVEwire tour, which supported the release of Salena Godden‘s album on 2LP gatefold vinyl. The album was shortlisted for the prestigious Ted Hughes Award.
I then did a full Edinburgh Fringe with my début one-man show Two Little Ducks, receiving rave reviews. After a slot at the Roundhouse’s Last Word Festival, the show embarked on a 22-date UK tour in autumn 2018. The show’s poems were published by VERVE.
2019 | Classrooms, comebacks & commissions
My début kids’ poetry collection, A Hurricane in My Head, was published by Bloomsbury. It was one of National Poetry Day’s recommended reads, which led to a live appearance on Blue Peter. This led me to establish myself as one of the UK’s leading school poetry facilitators.
Following a 6-year hiatus, my band Skint & Demoralised returned with brand new music on Fierce Panda. All four singles were played on BBC Radio 6Music, and our fourth album, We Are Humans is out digitally and on limited-edition white vinyl (purchase here).
I also undertook some major commissions, including this poem for Cancer Research UK, this poem for Leeds United FC’s centenary kit launch, and this poem for Jeremy Corbyn’s General Election campaign.
2020-23 | Radio, Beano, international collabs & more
With the UK on lockdown, I continued to host Roaring 20s Radio on Soho Radio alongside Salena Godden and Amah-Rose Abrams, and began hosting weekly Insta sessions. The Poetry Society made me a patron of 2020’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.
2021 was dominated by Nymphs & Thugs‘ #DisarmHatePoetry project. I also appeared in cartoon form in the legendary Beano magazine. In 2022, an artist-in-research heritage residency at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley led to my poetry being permanently displayed on-site.
In 2023, I was one of LEEDS 2023’s international exchange poets, paired with world-renowned poet Titilope Sonuga at BBC Contains Strong Language Festival. I also visited an international school in the Swiss Alps.
2024 began with LIVEwire Poetry evolving from Nymphs & Thugs. I also had a series of poems translated into Arabic for leading Middle East newspaper The New Arab and was longlisted for The Poetry Society’s prestigious National Poetry Competition.
2025-27 | Substack tips, Monaco trip & two new books
I began 2025 by completing my début adult poetry collection, Peacocks Can’t Swim. This was picked up by Broken Sleep Books for publication in January 2027. In June 2025, my début novel was shortlisted for the Sid Chaplin Award. This will be published in spring 2027.
Recently, I’ve dedicated most of my online output to my Substack newsletter, The Day Job. I also added to my anthology appearances with Space — Royal Observatory Greenwich Poetry Book and Write Out Loud’s Echoes competition anthology.
In July 2025, I had poems longlisted in The Plaza Prizes and in Write Out Loud’s Echoes competition. From October to December 2025, I was part of Screen Yorkshire’s script lab talent hub cohort.
In March of this year, I visited two international schools on the French Riviera, including the International School of Monaco in Monte Carlo. And in June, I was Highly Commended in The Caterpillar Poetry Prize and longlisted in the Forward Prizes for Best Single Poem – Performed.
Matt Abbott Poet 