World Poetry Champion Harry Baker will launch his new tour at Preston’s The Ferret this month.
The performance poet has chosen Preston to launch his 2024 tour after the city’s audiences gave him unforgettable nights on his previous visits.
Baker has a massive following due to his TED talk, which has been viewed almost three millions times on YouTube, and his appearances on BBC Radio 1, which led to him being labelled ‘the greatest performer on earth’.
After a sellout Edinburgh Fringe Run and subsequent 40-date UK tour, Baker is back with a brand new show celebrating the wonder that is being alive.
Preston has become the go-to destination for performance poets thanks to Garry Cook’s Enjoy the Show. Cook has brought the likes of Hollie McNish, Tony Walsh, JB Barrington, Louise Fazackerley, Jess Green, Henry Normal, Toria Garbutt and Mike Garry to perform sell-out shows in the city.
Cook said: “With the support of The Ferret and a hugely enthusiastic Preston audience, I’m delighted to be able to welcome back Harry.
“If you’ve never seen performance poetry before, this is the show that will blow your socks off. You’ll laugh a lot and be totally enthralled. Harry is one of the leading poets of his generation.
“This is not just the launch of Harry’s tour, it’s also the first performance in Enjoy the Show’s spring season. We had a break over the winter but when Harry called and said he wanted to kick things off in Preston I jumped at the chance.
“It’s fantastic to be able to keep bringing performers like Harry to Preston, particularly when there are so few performances like this taking place in the city at the moment. I’ve been going to Manchester, Blackburn and Lancaster to see shows, so it’s great to see Preston back as a host city for live performance.
“What you are getting with these shows – and the ones we have planned – is unique performances that the other towns and city in the region are not getting. That’s down to our relationship with these artists, how we welcome them to the city and how enthusiastic the audiences are to them – that’s the bit the performers love the most.”
Baker is a poet and a maths graduate. He writes about important stuff like hope, dinosaurs and German falafel-spoons. He has performed all over the world and his latest collection Wonderful is out in May alongside the UK tour of the same name.
Featuring brand new poems about death, postcodes and German wheat bear Schöfferhofer, Harry Baker: Wonderful brings the signature playfulness and poignancy that has made Harry a fan favourite and reached millions of people all over the world.
This will be Harry’s third visit to The Ferret after sell-out shows in 2020 and 2022. Harry is on X @HarryBakerPoet.
Harry Baker: Wonderful is at The Ferret on Wednesday 24 April. Tickets are available from Skiddle.
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