A WOMAN from Bridport is representing the UK in an international performance poetry competition.

Kathryn Jeanes, who uses the stage name Kathryn O'Driscoll, won the UK Slam Championship in March.

Kathryn, who grew up in Bridport, will now move on to represent the country in the World Slam Poetry competition taking place this week in Paris. The competition will culminate on Sunday, May 16. Kathryn’s heat in the world slam will go ahead online this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Kathryn is a spoken word poet, writer and activist who talks openly about disabilities, mental health and LBTQIA+ issues and gender politics in her wide range of work.

Having grown up in Bridport and attending St Ronan’s, St Mary’s, St Catherine’s schools and Beaminster comprehensive, she is now living in Bath.

As well as performing across the south west she has featured on local radio stations and was one of the twenty poets featured on the Sky Arts Life and Rhymes series with Benjamin Zephaniah.

She has appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe and is active in promoting spoken word throughout the UK and participating in events.

She graduated from Bath Spa University and still maintains her contact with the university including coaching the UniSlam Team who , this year, came third.

Her debut collection will be released by Verve Poetry Press in February 2022 next year.

To find out more about Kathryn's work visit www.kathrynodriscoll.com