Nigerian-Mancunian Segun is a singer, poet, producer/composer, playwright, film-maker, club promoter and founder member of Manchester’s Speakeasy People poetry collective. Commonword took him onto its Hothouse advance black poets’ course. He subsequently won the BME Poets Poetry Competition and, after six months of rigorous editing and advice, had his first poetry collection, Praise Songs For Aliens published by Commonword in 2009. As singer for cult triphop band, Earthling, Segun has performed on MTV, BBC1, VH1 & Canal 5. As a poet and playwright, Segun’s work has been commissioned for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio Manchester. Segun’s debut solo show, Bro 9 at Contact, won Best Fringe Performer & Best Design in the prestigious Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards. In autumn 2005, Segun was nominated for the Arts Foundation Performance Poetry award. His plays include: Palm Wine & Stout – a musical, Venus & the Killer Bees commissioned by Contact Manchester & Eclipse Theatre. Segun’s first poetry collection, Praise Songs for Aliens was published by Suitcase Press in October 2009.