Hayes, Karen: - Karen Hayes spent the early part of her working life as an actor and musician and later artistic director of the Bristol- based theatre collective Public Parts. From theatre she moved towards lyric and libretto writing and poetry and found herself creating verbatim texts with marginalised groups, most particularly with people living with dementia. I Had an Angel, written with composer John O'Hara, was produced live and also as an opera film for WNO. The Bargee's Wife, also written with John O'Hara, was produced as a community opera for the 3 Choirs Festival as was their song cycle "I Can Hear You Waiting." Most recently she created a libretto for an oratorio with composer Thomas Johnson, The Street of Bugles, which was performed at the 3 Choirs Festival. She was Charles Causley poet-in-residence at Cypress Well in 2016. In 2017, her poem "The Belgians" won the Foreign Voices competition.