Bristol Young
City Poet
Creating opportunities for young people in the city to be creative and share their perspectives and stories.
Bristol Young City Poet was launched by Lyra Bristol Poetry in 2022, thanks to support from Bristol City Council’s Originators Fund. The inaugural Young City Poets were Altoma Elwasila and Nara Pring.
The Young City Poet project involves workshops available to schools and community groups based anywhere in Bristol, aimed at young people aged 14-17 (school years 10-12).
The workshops are delivered by professional poets including Deanna Rodger and Caleb Parkin and culminate in the appointment of a Bristol Young City Poet after a shortlisting process. The position lasts one year.
The Bristol City Poet, as with poet laureates in general, traditionally becomes the city’s conscience and reflects on relevant issues. Similarly, the Young City Poet acts as a voice for young people across the city, writing poems and performing at public events.
Our inaugural Young City Poets performed at City Hall, International Women’s Day, Bristol Beacon’s grand reopening, and Lyra Poetry Festival. They both appeared live on ITV News (scroll down to watch the video), and were finalists for the Bristol Young Heroes Award 2024.
The workshops themselves engage young people with self-expression, public speaking and self-empowerment through the medium of spoken word and poetry, inviting participants to write about what Bristol means to them - its people, places, history.
We plan for the Young City Poet scheme to run again in early 2025.
YOUNG CITY POETS
Altoma Elwasila
Altoma was one of the two inaugural Bristol Young City Poets. She was 14 when she started writing poetry during lockdown when the BLM movement began. “I felt so many different emotions at the same time and I didn’t know what to do. I was stuck at home thinking about these injustices all the time. It was everywhere. So finally one day I just randomly decided to turn all those emotions into poetry.”
As Young City Poet, Altoma performed at Bristol Beacon’s grand reopening event, at two annual Lyra Festivals, live on ITV News, and was a finalist for the Bristol Young Heroes Award 2024.
Nara Pring
Nara was one of the two inaugural Bristol Young City Poets. She took on this role at just 15 years old, writing poetry that is personal to her own life and seeking to reflect other young people in the city. “My poetry has helped me find the words to voice my experiences in life, and my experiences as a young poet have given me somewhat of a confidence boost as it feels like my poetry is even more real. It’s been an amazing opportunity for me to gather the courage to perform.
As Young City Poet, Nara performed at an International Women’s Day event at City Hall, at two annual Lyra Festivals, live on ITV News, and was a finalist for the Bristol Young Heroes Award 2024.
THE WORKSHOP FACILITATORS
Deanna Rodger
Deanna Rodger is a former UK Poetry Slam Champion who has recently written and performed commissioned pieces including ‘Bigger Than Sport’ for BBC1’s Sports Personality of the Year, ‘Black History Matters’ for BBC Sport 2020 and ‘If’ which was read by Serena Williams for International Women's Day 2021. Deanna has over ten years of facilitation experience and has designed long term programs for schools and youth centres such as Active Citizens (British Council and Lyrix Organix), Creative Facilitation Training (Roundhouse) and Black Lives matter homepack (Hamilton Trust).
Caleb Parkin
Caleb Parkin is the third Bristol City Poet (2020-2022). He won second prize in the National Poetry Competition 2016, the Winchester Poetry Prize 2017 and various other shortlists. His educational work is extensive, tutoring for Poetry Society, Poetry School, Cheltenham Festivals, Arvon and First Story. Publications include This Fruiting Body (Nine Arches Press, 2021), upcoming pamphlet 'The Coin' (Broken Sleep Books) and 'All the cancelled parties', his collected City Poet commissions (October 2022).
