AN exhibition curated by poets from across the country will celebrate the spoken word.

Renowned spoken word performers including Benjamin Zephaniah, Hollie McNish and John Hegley have helped to curate Poetry Pioneers: 35 Years, a retrospective exhibition hosted by Apples and Snakes.

It will chart the history of the UK's spoken word movement over four decades and will include flyers from early gigs, audio recordings, a video booth, listening posts and interviews that "characterise political and personal moments between 1982 and 2013."

It opens at the ARC in Stockton on Monday, January 15 and will run until Monday, February 12.