About Merlynda Robinson (LLAM)
About Merlynda Robinson (LLAM):
Merlynda Robinson (LLAM) is a multi award-winning, much-published and frequently radio-broadcast Poet:Winner of The Golden Grove/Forward Poetry Prize, second Prize-Winner of The PIM Poetry Award, Finalist of The National Poetry Slam, Highly-Commended Poet of The Portico Poetry Prize andHighly-Commended Poet ofThe Serendipity Poetry Awardamong others -and her poems are published in over 40 Poetry Anthologies and Poetry Collections to date- and in a variety of poetry magazines and publications. She has performed her poetry live on BBC Radio and was BBC Radio’s ‘Poetry Expert’ for their ‘Functional Poetry’ Initiative - and has performed live on: BBC Radio Solent, BBC 3 Counties, BBC Southern Counties, Radio Lion and Delta FM.
She has given live poetry readings at a variety of Poetry and Literary Festivals including: The Beer & Oyster Festival, The Ripley Festival, The Havant Literary Festival, The Christmas Festival, among others - and has performed at a variety of venues such as: GLive, Guildford, The Elvetham Country Estate, for Members of the Law Lords - The House of Lords,at Baroness Golding’s home, Belgravia, London, at The Lanesborough Hotel, Park Lane, London - and on a village green full of scarecrows! She currently gives Live Romantic Love Poetry and Nature Poetry Readings for Adults at her Studio and Garden in Nyewood near Rogate, weekly - Please contact Merlynda for further details regarding her forthcoming Live Poetry Reading Programmes and Exhibitions.
She has created Cabaret Sketches/Skits, Audio Visual Scripts, Puppet Scripts and Ventriloquist Duologues since the early 1980s when she worked in both the Film Industry for the Chairman of Columbia-EMI-Warner Bros Films - and for the Chief Barker of The Variety Club of Great Britain- andshe is theFounder and Resident Trainer of ‘The Ventriloquist Club of Great Britain’. She isa publishedComedy Monologues and Speech-Writer for Performers and Public Speakers (Publication Title: ‘ACT! Alone- Scene Stealing High Comedy Monologues and Verse For Performers and Speakers’ -Pubd. GAPP).
She is a commissioned and published Art Tutorial Course Author (Publication: ‘Master The Art’ Pubd. The Art Institute) - a former Magazine Columnist/Newspaper Columnist of ‘The Observer Series of Newspapers’ based in Chichester, West Sussex - and - a Copy Editor and Subs Manager with ‘The Financial Times’.
She is the Founder and Editor of ‘The Poetry Box Magazine’ -which has gone from strength to strength since 2010 (Testimonials are available to read on The Poetry Box website for further details) and has created 2 new Annual Poetry Awards. The Poetry Box Magazine -
She is a Licentiate and Associate of The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) winning 4 Honours Medals in Speech and Dramawith LAMDA -and undertook the rigorously intensive, highly demanding and challenging ‘The Mastery’ at ‘The Actors Institute’ in 1988 both performing her own Poetry - and Shakespeare’s tricky role ‘Portia’ - following-up with a tour of Surrey with her own One Woman Poetry and Monologues Show: ‘The 7 Deadly Sins’. A professional performer since her early teens (she performed her firstrole in Operetta at what is now ‘GLive’ in Guildford when she was 12) she was born into a theatrical, operatic and musical family - which created and ran their own Opera Company for over 50 years - and she professionally trained in theatre, speech, singing, music and dance.
She has since added puppetry, ventriloquism, lyric/song-writing- she is amulti award-winning Lyricist and Songwriter with ‘The UKSC’ - reaching the Semi-Finals on numerous occasions - and she is a Highly Commended Composer as judged by The BNMF and The William Matthias Composers Award For Song. She has composed several Suites of Piano and Keyboard music for Ballet and Dance - and her Ballet Music has been choreographed and premiered by a Royal Academy of Dance School in Ireland at The EQ International Festival of Dance. (Her cousin of whom she is very proud was the Principal of Leeds College of Music and is now the CEO of The Royal College of Organists.)
As an award-winning Cartoonist-Illustrator - aka: ‘Kitty Pigfish’ -she is the Winner of ‘The Leaf Book-Jacket Award’ and her illustrations are published by Thames & Hudson - in a variety of magazines- and are in the private collections of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and, McLaren Formula 1 Team Principal Ron Dennis - and members of The Lords Taverners.
She is a regular Exhibitor with The International Cartoonists and Caricaturists Salon, France and her Watercolour Illustrations have been exhibited by:The International Grand Prix of Watercolourists, France, by ‘The Artist Magazine’ in their ‘Britain’s Painters’ Exhibition, England, by The Royal Watercolour Society at The Bankside Gallery, London, by The Pastel Society at The Mall Galleries, London, by The USA Society of Artists at The Westminster Gallery, Westminster, London, at The Raw Gallery, Tower Bridge, London, at The Northbank Artists Gallery in Islington, London, at The Seagate Gallery, Dundee, Scotland, at The Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, at The KD Gallery in Surrey, at The Harvey Gallery in Surrey, at The Brighton Pavilion Gallery, Brighton, Sussex, at The Festival Hall, Petersfield, Hampshire - and at many other Galleries too numerous to mention here (please ask for a complete Exhibitions List to date). Many of her paintings also feature in private collectionswithin the USA.
Merlynda’sstudies to date include: Communications, Drama, English Literature, Fine Art, History of Art, Graphic Illustration at: Goldsmiths University London, Brooklands College, Weybridge, The Winchester School of Art, Guildford Technical College and Farnborough Technical College, The OCA for 4 years with Ian Simpson, at The Harvey Gallery with William Lawrence, at The BSY, at MindCare Organisation, and of course, at LAMDA. She has also added a variety of Therapies to her Studies with Diplomas in: Hypnotherapy, Astrology, Parapsychology, Criminology, Iridology, Psychotherapy. She conducts her highly popular & widely respected ‘Merlynda’s Workshops’ - at Festivals and from her Studio in Nyewood, near Rogate West Sussex.
In 2016, she is participating with an Exhibition of her Illustrative Poetry Artworks at the ‘Seventh Heaven’ venue - as part of the MADhurst Art Trail - and with her Poems at the MADhurst Finale Festival Eventin August.
As mentioned above, she also reads her Poetry live at her MERLYNDA’S STUDIO OPEN STUDIO DAYSand Organises PROGRAMMES OF LIVE POETRY READINGS – POETRY OPEN MICS– ‘CAFÉ CABARET POETRY EVENINGS’ – EXHIBITIONS & WORKSHOPS- at her Studio in NYEWOOD. Please ask for her forthcoming Open Studio and Poetry Events Dates/Opening Times - Tel: 01730 821030 - e:
Merlynda’s websites are: