Up Coming Events / Poetry Readings / Videos

EVENTS: Autumn 2023

Saturday 16 September ‘Country Voices’ with Kuli Kohli, Jeff Phelps & Simon Fletcher at the Water Rat Inn, 29 Buildwas Rd, Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Telford TF8 7BJ, 2.30-4pm. Ample Parking. Disabled access. Tickets £5 on the door.

Saturday 23 September Kuli Kohli and the Punjabi Women’s Writing Group with other poets will be performing poetry as part of the Get a Word in Edgeways event at Newhampton Arts centre, Wolverhampton WV1 4AN. The event will open at 2pm and finish around 7pm, the poetry will start at 3pm. Free entry.

Wednesday 27 September Artist Sahjan Kooner in conjunction with the Eastside Project will be providing a workshop for the Punjabi Women’s Writing Group and other Punjabi communities around Wolverhampton on Punjabi Village Art to share, tell and recite experiences of village life in Punjab, this is an intergenerational project, so voices, histories and stories are part of experience. These stories and archives will be published in the gallery as a large billboard. It will emerge as a multi-sensory exhibition which will be presented in Eastside Projects’ main gallery in Digbeth from 6 October – 16 December 2023, touring to Kunsthal Gent in Belgium in early 2024. Venue TBC (either at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery or a space at Wolverhampton University). Free entry. Please contact Kuli Kohli if you’re interested in taking part on email kuli.kohli@hotmail.co.uk

From July 2020 - Commissioned to write for Sandwell Stories by Multistory. ‘Black Country Wonder Woman' by Kuli Kohli is a commissioned long-form poem exploring the anxiety of giving birth to a premature baby at a time of crisis. With beats and rap verses by her son Akaash. You can listen to the poem here: https://bit.ly/3819jIP

Interviewed by Leslie Tate from Radio Dacorum on 20/4/22:

Poet Laureate for Wolverhampton, Kuli Kohli, talks about writing in the community and living with mild cerebral palsy as well as reading from her poems/writings that reflect that experience. Plus lots of interesting, original music!

Kuli Kohli Wolverhampton Poet Laureate with cerebral palsy talks to Leslie Tate Radio Dacorum20/4/22 by Radio Dacorum | Mixcloud

Read the Express & Star April 2023 article click here.

Wolverhampton's Poet Laureate talks about the power of poetry and helping others to find their voice

By Heather Large

M/Otherwords - Read interviews, reflections, commentary and original writing from authors, poets, anthropologists and more for different perspectives on motherhood.

Originals … with poet Kuli Kohli 'Becoming a mother was a big surprise'. click here to read.

I am available for performances at gigs, schools, colleges, libraries etc.

I am happy to take commissions.

To contact me please email kuli.kohli@hotmail.co.uk

Poetry for me has been a very important aspect of expressing myself personally, emotionally and getting the people around me to realise that there is someone very sensitive who lives in my body. I was born with cerebral palsy and throughout my childhood and teenage years I was ashamed of myself. I wanted to be “normal” all my life, however, I didn’t know myself what normal was.

Sharing your voice and views to complete strangers can be a scary process but also very rewarding. At first I was petrified, but as I began to perform more to different audience I began to enjoy it, because I could see my work was making an impression.

I think performing is important because the audience can get a feel of the poet, why and what drives them to write. When I sit down on the stage to read my poetry there’s a sudden silence in the room. When I get going the audience begin to relax and start to enjoy my poetry and by the end of the performance the audience fall in love with me. The audience seem genuinely interested in hearing my poetry and stories.

I have read and performed at many events and festivals across the West Midlands, London, Oswestry, Ironbridge, Coventry’s Peace Festival, Shrewsbury Literature Festival and via Skype to University of Delhi, India.

In November 2018 I was invited as guest lecturer at Humboldt University in Berlin.

I have been involved in many projects - including readings at the University of Greenwich and Liverpool Hope University.

In December 2019 I was invited to the British Museum in London for Purple Light Up event for International Disabled Persons Day 2019.

In 2020 I have been commissioned to write bespoke poetry for many events, especially during lockdown, where it has not been possible to attend gigs. I have been commissioned to write, record, video my poetry which has been shared on social media and other media platforms.