The Laureateship begins!

Tue 16 Jan 2018

Our Canterbury Poet Laureate, Lemn Sissay, will be writing a series of blogs, to give us his perspective on his work in Canterbury. In the first, he looks back on what's been achieved so far.

It’s 30 years since first I visited Canterbury and read poems at Rutherford College. A lecturer called Fred D’Aguiar who is now a lecturer at Yale University in USA invited me and the first time I performed for Wise Words festival was in July 2012. I’ve performed every year since then and I’ve been lucky enough to see Wise Words become a fixture of the nation’s literary calendar. I am honoured to have been announced Canterbury Laureate in May 2017.

It’s been a busy and inspiring two hundred and ten days as Laureate. I am really proud of Warrior Poets a Canterbury project that will travel outside of Canterbury in 2018. You can view a video from Warrior Poets on youtube.

There was the unforgettable Forgiveness Project event at The Marlowe. A boy who killed the son of a mother met her as a man on stage. They both spoke their stories. There’s been radio and TV interviews to promote Canterbury and the laureateship.

Performing my play Something Dark at The Marlowe Studio (with a Q&A) was a highlight. This year Something Dark will be on the National Curriculum as a choice text.

Interviewing Sophie Willen as part of an in-conversation series was so moving Sophie wept. But most inspiring of all was The Canterbury Christmas Dinner. The idea is to provide a scrumptious Christmas Dinner for young care leavers of Canterbury and Kent on Christmas Day. We put out a call if anyone would be interested in helping to make it happen.

Between then and Christmas Day the residents found a venue, a chef, presents, volunteers, guests, food and transport for a Christmas Day Dinner that no guest would ever forget. It worked. They did it. Have a look at their Facebook page.

The Canterbury Residents Association, local businesses, individuals from all walks of Canterbury life made it happen. I feel that I am part of a dynamic community that can make things happen and it’s an honour to serve. I’m really looking forward to 2018.