Asher Sophia Romina Hoyles was born in Chapeltown, Leeds. She moved to London at the age of sixteen without any educational qualifications. She has since gone on to graduate from the University of East London with an Honours Degree in Education and Communication Studies. Also a qualified teacher, Asher has qualifications in Technical Training and a Postgraduate Certificate in Dyslexia from UCL.

Asher has subsequently spent her working life in the area of special needs, with a particular interest in performing arts, special needs, and dyslexia.

Performances

Asher Hoyles has been writing & performing poetry for the last seven years. Her performances have taken place in a variety of venues including: the ICA, Chat's Palace, Black Sisters of Camden, Union Chapel, Survivor's Poetry. Asher has also been invited to perform at festivals in Hay-on-Wye, Luton, Leicester, Hemel Hempstead, and Glastonbury.

The poems are written in a variety of styles, based on Asher's experiences of living as an African Caribbean in England.

Alongside performing, Asher runs performance workshops at primary & secondary schools, and prisons including Maidstone men's prison and Bullwood Hall women's prison in Rayleigh.

Her work has also taken her to the theatre where she is currently running performance poetry and dyslexia workshops. She has been involved in a number of musical performances and helped write lyrics for the youth production of The Darker the Berry at the Albany Theatre.

Themes

Asher feels her poetry can be fitted into a number of cross-curricular themes; subjects include English, Social Studies, History, PSE, Drama, and Careers. Her poems are also relevant to policies on equal opportunities, racism, sexism, bullying, and multiculturalism, e.g. Black History Month.

She is particularly interested in looking at the influences of Africa and the Caribbean on Black Performance Poetry in England.

Publications

Asher has written and co-authored a number of poems and articles for a variety of publications. These include:

Respect published in the Camden Racial Equality Booklet;
Back to the Caribbean as part of the Stoke Newington Festival 1997;
London Underground selected by Roger McGough to go on London buses in 1999;
Remember Me: Achievements of Mixed Race People, Past & Present - co-author and published by Hansib 1999;
Moving Voices: Black Performance Poetry - co-author of book and accompanying CD published by Hansib in October 2002;
Standpoint Magazine November 2003 - contributed articles on Chapeltown and Black Performance Poetry;
English in Education Vol. 37 No. 1, 2003 - co-author of article on Black Performance Poetry.

Contact Asher

To get in contact with Asher, e-mail her at M.Hoyles@uel.ac.uk


	Empowering and influencing the black community through history, family genealogy and heritage. Supported by the Musician Ronnie Laws