Poet & Teaching artist
Anita Govan
is a neurodivergent spoken word poet and performer based in Edinburgh.
Performance poetry's, Jannis Joplin
"Passionate performance delivered straight from the heart"
Across her almost 30-year creative practice and career, Anita has performed alongside greats such as beat poet Ron Whitehead, Seattle-based poet Michel Brown, Grand Slam Master Bob Holman, the first World Slam Champion Shane Koyczan, Tony Walsh, and a young Ed Sheeran, and The Fugees once got in touch to say hello after they heard her poem, Three Monkeys and Me
"Bright glittering vocabulary " the Guardian
Anita has performed her poetry around the world at festivals including Amnesty International Refugee Festival, Book Week Scotland, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Stirling Festival, Glastonbury, Wickerman Festival, Leith Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Aye Write Festival, and StAnza. She has also been invited to perform at the Nuyorican in New York, USA, London Soho Theatre in London, UK, and Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada.
"beautiful words and evocative imagery," the Scotsman
Anita’s work has appeared on TV and radio featured by STV, Sky TV, Sunny Govan Radio, BBC Radio Scotland, and BBC Radio 7. She was also Stirling Makar from 2012 to 2015, and Poet-in-Residence for UNESCO in 2023 and previously at ITAC3 in 2016.
"A musicality that rolls out in rhythmical rhythms", Down Home
Jane, Anita’s poetry collection was published by Luath Press in 2005. She has also been published in a variety of publications including Interpret Magazine Issue 5, The Scotsman newspaper, The One O’Clock Gun, Poets Against the War by Salt Publishing, and Scottish Book Collector Issue 6.
