Poet & Teaching artist
Anita Govan
is a neurodiverse spoken word poet and performer based in Edinburgh.
Live Event Productions
Anita Govan is an Edinburgh-based producer, curator, and event host. She currently produces and hosts Lost in Leith presents: Spoken Word & Music, a monthly event showcasing creative talent from across Scotland at Lost in Leith Bar & Fermentaria.
Throughout her career, Anita has produced and co-founded many creative and artistic productions, events, and organisations. She is an early pioneer of Scottish spoken word and performance poetry. From grassroots community events to theatre production, poetry events, and multimedia showcases, Anita has supported many artists and fostered artistic movements in Edinburgh and beyond.
Lost in Leith presents: Spokenword & Music
Anita has been curating and hosting multimedia events at Lost in Leith Bar & Fermentaria since 2022. To date, the events have platformed and offered paying opportunities to 64 creatives and artists from a diverse range of backgrounds including musicians, prose writers, poets, spoken word artists and so much more.
To stay up to date with Anita’s events, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X) and Eventbrite.
Scottish Youth Poetry Slams
In 2004, Anita took her original idea and concept of the Intercity Schools Slam project to Rachel Jury at Confab. Together they produced and developed the project with different local councils and funding pots with Anita as the primary teaching artist and poet.
The Intercity Schools Slam is for at young people in S1-S3 who are struggling at school. The long-term goal of the National Slam project was to connect schools across Scotland. The vision and mission of the project were fully realised in 2016 and 2018 with the aid of funding from Creative Scotland and other funding bodies and organisations.
"Kickstarted an interest in poetry not seen since Hugh McDiarmid and Dylan Thomas" - Scotsman on Sunday
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BigWord & Scottish Slams
At the start of the new millennium, Anita kickstarted an interest in poetry not seen since Hugh McDiarmid and Dylan Thomas according to Scotland on Sunday when she co-founded BigWord with Jem Rolls.
BigWord was Scotland’s first poetry club dedicated to performance poetry. Anita and Jem produced regular biweekly shows in Edinburgh and monthly shows in Glasgow, as well as dedicated workshops, tours, and Scotland’s first Poetry Slam events. Anita later went on to produce other performance and spoken word events including the BBC Poetry Slam and the Scottish Youth Poetry Slam.
Artistic Upstarts
In 1993, Anita co-created and ran Artistic Upstarts, a multimedia showcase for artists born or based in Scotland with Kresanna Aigner. Together they curated a programme of more than 22 acts in one night all from different disciplines such as visual arts, music, theatre, and dance. With notable acts such as Shooglenifty and Martyn Bennet performing.
Artistic Upstarts received positive press attention and later Scottish Arts Council funding. Many of the artists involved in the project went on to form or be involved in the Bongo Club on New Street where Anita went on to help set up the Cutting Room Studio
