Matt Abbott

Matt Abbott (b 6.1.89) is a poet, educator, and activist from Wakefield, UK. After starting out as a spoken word artist at the age of 18, he soon formed a musical partnership with songwriter/producer David Gledhill. The project became a band called Skint & Demoralised, which enjoyed moderate success from 2007-2013. At the height of this, the band was signed to Universal Records and had recording sessions with The Dap-Kings at their iconic studio in Brooklyn, NY. Abbott's poetic lyrics formed a significant part of the band's appeal. They were praised in national publications including The Guardian, The Sunday Times Culture Magazine, Q Magazine, and NME Magazine. The band also received significant national airplay on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6Music as well as some airplay on BBC Radio 2, Absolute Radio, and Radio X. The band appeared at festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude, and Leeds/Reading, and Abbott appeared live on ITV's Loose Women. When the band originally folded after their third album in 2013, Abbott switched his focus back to spoken word poetry. He soon established himself as one of the UK's rising stars and a leading political poet. His debut solo show 'Two Little Ducks' earned 5* reviews at Edinburgh Fringe 2017 and on a UK theatre tour in 2018. The poems from the show were published as his debut collection by Verve Poetry Press in 2018. In 2019, Abbott's debut kids' poetry collection 'A Hurricane in my Head' was published by Bloomsbury Education. It was a National Poetry Day 2019 recommended title, which led to Abbott appearing live on CBBC's Blue Peter. He was also appointed a patron of The Poetry Society's prestigious Foyle Young Poets of the Year award in 2020.