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Jan Noble is a poet, performer and maker of contemporary epic works inspired by literature, history and place. His poetry has been recorded by producer Craig Leon at Abbey Road Studios and featured on the album Cesarians 1 (2009). His ongoing collaboration with composer Donna McKevitt includes the EP This Is What I Wanted To Give You (2016) and Song for a Lar (2020), a commission from the Kent–Medway Museum Partnership funded by Arts Council England.
He has performed at the ICA in London, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York and the Teatrino Di Palazzo Grassi in Venice. He has taught creative writing in prisons and psychiatric hospitals and was poetry facilitator for leading London mental health charity Core Arts. He established a creative writing class for the homeless at the Union Chapel, Islington. In 2023 he was awarded the ‘Silver Wyvern’ at Poetry on the Lake with Carol Ann Duffy.
Across poetry, performance and verse drama, Noble reimagines the epic tradition for the contemporary world, drawing together literary history, place and pilgrimage into a distinctive body of work. My Name Is Swan is a poetic monologue performed at every London pub bearing “Swan” in its name. Documented on film, it won Best Narrative at the International Poetry Film Festival, Los Angeles (2023). Noble was a principal reader in Speaking Dante (2021), a live 24-hour reading of the entire Divine Comedy performed alongside an international cast including Ralph Fiennes and Helen Mirren.
His verse-drama, A Masque for Shelley (2022), marked the 200th anniversary of the death of the English Romantic poet and was performed at Keats-Shelley House, Rome and at the British Institute, Florence. His award-winning verse drama Body 115 (2023), a contemporary odyssey inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, opened at The Hope Theatre, Islington, before touring in the UK, France and Italy. It won the London Pub Theatre Standing Ovation Award for Best Innovative Play.
Reynard (2024), a 45-minute narrative poem read by John Nettles, was released as a vinyl album. A Masque for Byron (2024) and A Masque for Keats (2026) continue Noble’s series of verse dramas inspired by the Romantic poets. His debut poetry collection, My Name Is Swan, will be published by Ink & Ribbon in October 2026. His debut collection of poetry, ‘My Name is Swan’, will be published in October 2026 by Ink & Ribbon.
AWARDS: WINNER ‘Best Narrative’ (My Name Is Swan) Los Angeles International Poetry Film Festival (2023) WINNER ‘Silver Wyvern’, Poetry on The Lake (2023) WINNER ‘Best Innovative Play’ (Body 115) London Pub Theatre Awards (2023) PUBLICATIONS: My Name Is Swan (Ink & Ribbon, October 2026) SELECTED READINGS: The ICA, London | The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York | Keats-Shelley House, Rome | The British Institute, Florence | Teatro Filodrammatici, Milan | Teatrino Di Palazzo Grassi, Venice | Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. BROADCASTS: Channel 4, BBC Radio, ITV. COMMISSIONS: Kent Medway Museums | Heritage Lab | The Deutscher Chor London. GUEST LECTURER: Università degli Studi di Milano | UCL. FILM: My Name Is Swan, premiered at the Curzon, Aldgate, London [with support from the Arts Council England & the East End Film Festival] FEATURED ARTIST: Poetry on The Lake, Italy [with Carol Ann Duffy] | Stoke Newington Literary Festival [with Irvine Welsh] | Turner Contemporary, Margate | Bowery Poetry Club, New York.
JAN NOBLE | CV
PUBLICATION: My Name Is Swan, Ink & Ribbon, October 2026
RESIDENCY: Keats-Shelley House, Rome 2026
NATIONAL THEATRE TOUR: (Body 115) 2025
GUEST SPEAKER: British Institute, Florence 2024
FEATURED ARTIST: Keats-Shelley House, Rome 2024
AWARD: Silver Wyvern, Poetry on the Lake 2023
AWARD: ‘Best Narrative’ (My Name Is Swan) Winner, Los Angeles International Poetry Film Festival 2023
AWARD: ‘Best Innovative Play’ (Body 115) Winner, London Pub Theatres 2023
GUEST SPEAKER: UCL 2022
FEATURED ARTIST: Speaking Dante, with Ralph Fiennes 2021
COMMISSION: Kent Medway Museums 2021
COMMISSION: Heritage Lab 2020
COMMISSION: Deutscher Chor 2020
FEATURED ARTIST: Poetry on The Lake, Italy 2020
FEATURED ARTIST: Bowery Poetry Club, New York 2019
FEATURED ARTIST: Teatro Filodrammatici, Milano 2019
GUEST SPEAKER & LECTURER: Università degli Studi di Milano 2018
FILM PREMIERE: Curzon Cinema, East End Film Festival, London 2017
FEATURED ARTIST: Poetry on The Lake, with Carol Ann Duffy 2017
FEATURED ARTIST: BBC Radio 2016
RESIDENCY: Myriam Blundell Projects, France 2015
RESIDENCY: East End Film Festival, London 2015
FEATURED ARTIST: Stoke Newington Literary Festival 2013
CREATIVE WRITING FACILITATOR: WEA 2010
CREATIVE WRITING TUTOR: Union Chapel, London 2005 – 2010
POETRY & CREATIVE WRITING FACILITATOR: Core Arts Hackney 2000 – 2010
PRESS / AWARDS
WINNER: My Name Is Swan ‘Best Narrative’, Los Angeles International Poetry Film Festival, 2023 WINNER: Body 115 ‘Best Innovative Play’, London Pub Theatre Awards, 2023 WINNER: ‘Silver Wyvern’, Poetry on the Lake with Carol Ann Duffy and Imtiaz Dharker, 2023
‘Fantastic!’ BBC
‘Intense and chilling’ THE GUARDIAN
‘Sophisticated urban narratives’ NME
‘Poetry of strength and impact’ LA STAMPA (Italy)
‘Fucking awesome’ ★★★★★ METAL HAMMER
ABOUT BODY 115
‘A poetic masterpiece’ ★★★★★ NORTH WEST END
‘Jan Noble has gilded tonsils’ ★★★★ LONDON PUB THEATRES MAGAZINE
‘One hour of literary and poetic brilliance.’
‘Not to be missed.’ ★★★★ A YOUNG(ISH) PERSPECTIVE
‘A triumph in poetic theatre performance.
Utterly captivating’ ★★★★ THE REVIEWS HUB
‘Jan’s performance is moving and mesmerising. He paints an animated tapestry of contemporary life that taps into the fragmented roots of our collective past to evoke our simultaneously objective yet illusionary present. It projects us toward a future that is dream and desire, ungraspable yet apparently concrete, underpinned by a yearning to escape the only partly understood bondsthat still tether us to our history and define our personality and our contemporary dilemma.’ DANIEL RICHARDS, Unimi
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