Autumn Vibes
Creativity. Cosiness. Community.
London Summit
Photo: Daniel Watson
It was a total privilege to step out onto the stage of St Paul’s, Hammersmith on 14th Oct and share spoken word poetry as part of the Gather Movement London Summit 2025. It brought together over 200 leaders from churches, charities and civic organisations representing every London borough with the aim of exploring how faith and civic sectors can work more effectively together for the wellbeing of the city. A couple of my favourite speakers on the day were Superintendent Angela Gentry from the Met Police and Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, Deputy Mayor of London. I shared 4 pieces throughout the day and it was so encouraging to read this report afterwards,
“The summit was interwoven with powerful artistic moments that gave emotional depth and pause to the day’s discussions. Poetry and spoken word by Naomi Hutchison and Ty’rone Haughton brought the human heartbeat of the movement to life, reminding attendees that transformation begins not only with policy or data, but with empathy and imagination.”
You can read the full report of the day here. A reminder again that we need the arts. I simply love allowing people to see, feel and be inspired to act with crafted spoken word poetry.
Poetry & Puds
It was such fun hosting this women’s creative evening for National Poetry Day on 2nd Oct. The premise was simple - enjoy puddings while having a go at writing poetry. I had the privilege of kicking the evening off performing a set of my poems, some of which were accompanied by a string quartet (my first time ever performing with strings!) It was such an incredible joy to rehearse with the strings players, deciding which kind of arrangement would go with which poem. Performing them together on the night was magical - it brought such depth and emotion to the pieces and confirmed again my love of various art forms coming together. I love the German phrase ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ which translates to ‘total work of art’ and refers to the combining of several art forms. Any kind of collaboration like this continues to excite me.
Then each person was encouraged to spend some time crafting their own poem and we finished the evening with an Open Mic. Woman after woman bravely made her way to the mic and shared her words with us. It was humbling and inspiring. There were tears, there was laughter and we all left with our hearts full of creativity and community…and our tummies full of pudding!
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ~ Edgar Degas (French Impressionist, 1834 - 1917)
Spoken Word Greenhouse
Passion For Evangelism is a brilliant organisation that empowers, encourages and equips women to use their voice in various different ways from podcasting to giving talks, writing to spoken word poetry. In October I was invited to spend the day with these brilliant spoken word poets and give some training on how to use their poetry specifically in the Christmas season. We talked about taking a creative lead in sharing the old, old story this season; the power of reduction - distilling something big into something shorter that people can take in; and how creatives can help us all find our place in the big picture.
It was a really powerful day as we encouraged one another to use our voices well and as the ever-brilliant Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing writes in her book ‘Lead Like The Real You’,
“A woman who is confident and secure in her God-given voice is a powerful thing to behold. And her voice is embodied, not theoretical. Her voice is designed to be heard by others”.
J.John - Facing The Canon
I love the behind-the-scenes work I do for the speaker & author J.John for his Facing The Canon programme. I have great fun researching the interview guests; giving J.John background on them and suggesting a steer for the interview. There continues to be a whole range of thoroughly interesting guests with fascinating stories - I highly recommend you check them out. Some of my favourites recently have been adventurer Bear Grylls, author Philip Yancey and spoken word artist Storm Cecile.
You can catch up with all the Facing The Canon episodes here.
Cosy Cabin reads
This cosy season has been perfect for curling up with 'The Camouflaged Sacred - A Collection Of Liturgy, Poetry & Prayer' by the brilliant Jo Hargreaves (ideally with a blanket and scented candle!). Jo is a psychotherapist and an Instagram sensation as The Faith Filled Therapist. She is very down to earth and easy to relate to, but highly knowledgeable about how the mind works and brilliantly blends that with her Christian faith. I’ve found this book beautifully holding in tension the ordinary and extraordinary. I love these words from her poem ‘Eyes To See’,
“Give me ears to hear and eyes to see
That miracles reside in the mundane
That the sacred is often camouflaged.”
Coming Up
Can’t wait to head to South Wales to record a Christmas concert for BBC Radio Wales. ‘A Mal Pope Christmas In Mumbles’ will include songs from singer Mal Pope and his special guests, a glorious choir and my Christmas poetry. It will be available to listen to on BBC Sounds from 1st December…jingle all the way!
I’m looking forward to being the after dinner speaker, sharing poetry and stories, at the Colkins Mill Church women’s meal in East Sussex in early December.
What a privilege to go into East Sutton Park Women’s Prison and Young Offender’s Institute to speak at their carol service in mid-December. Last year this was such a highlight of my Christmas season as the setting is so different to any other carol service I attend.
Thanks so much for being on the journey with me.
With love from the Cabin,
Naomi x
This is brilliant Naomi