World Poetry Day – Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Introduction

With every year group looking at a different writer, your school will discover a whole new world of poetry! The writers we have selected include …

Rupinder Kaur – mixing influences from her family’s heritage in the Punjab with her experiences as a 21^st century British Asian woman to create something entirely new.

Raymond Antrobus – winner of the 2019 Ted Hughes Award – and whose work is influenced by his experiences of deafness …

Malorie Blackman – who was spurred to write after realising that none of the characters in the books she had read as a child looked like her …

Levi Tafari – born in Liverpool, a performance poet who has worked within a wide range of music traditions – with partners from dance and drum band Delado to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra …

Andrea Levy – proving that it’s never too late to write by publishing her first book at the age of thirty eight, sharing with the world some of the experiences of the Windrush Generation.

Benjamin Zephaniah – a hugely influential poet who, who despite his dyslexia, received sixteen honorary doctorates, and became a Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing.