Liv Torc – Hot Poet
Liv Torc is a poet, performer, participation expert, artist and project weaver. In 2019 Liv’s climate change in the face of motherhood poem The Human Emergency went viral across the world, she performed at Glastonbury Festival and became one of four SIREN Poets commissioned by Cape Farewell to explore climate change in the face of COVID. In 2022 the UNFCCC (United Nations Climate Change) nominated Liv and 50 other visionary thinkers and interdisciplinary thought leaders worldwide to join the Resilience Frontier Initiative, and co-create visions of desirable climate-resilience futures beyond 2030.
A Radio 4 Slam winner, a former Bard of Exeter, host of The Rainbow Fish Speakeasy and of The Hip Yak Poetry Shack – Liv Torc runs the poetry stage at WOMAD, Banana Poems, the Hip Yak Poetry School, Hot Poets CIC (alongside Chris Redmond) and the lockdown haiku and photography project, Haiflu – as featured on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme.
Liv was kind enough to answer some questions we had for her:
Science and poetry are both about ideas and enquiry, they have lots of touch points. Climate scientists and poets are on a very similar mission, so there is a lot of camaraderie in collaborating. What scientists often lack is the skill to turn their study into story, to find accessible and human ways to communicate their work.
Poetry often lacks rigorous investigation and complexity of information. Working together, poets are given the knowledge and insight to explain and educate on an intellectual level but also weave journey, emotion and relatability into the science.
Could you tell us a little bit about your experience of working with different communities and any future plans you might have to work with schools?