Source : Times of India
Spread the Word has announced it’s second ever new young people’s laureate for London- Momtaza Mehri. She is a 24-year-old with a background in biochemical science. She wrote a poetry chapbook, sugah. lump. prayer, which was shortlisted for Brunel African poetry prize and had won Out-Spoken Page poetry prize last year.
“It’s an unexpected and thrilling feeling being the Young People’s Laureate for London. I want to use this role to amplify the voices of young Londoners and showcase their creative potential. I know they will inspire me as much as I hope to inspire them. I am excited by the possibilities we can imagine together, through and with poetry”, she said.
According to their website the Young People’s Laureate’s mission is to:
• Raise the visibility of poetry in the capital, nationally and internationally.
• Engage and inspire London’s young people with poetry through the issues that affect them.
• Support the development of London’s talented young poets in a tangible way.
Caleb Femi was the first Young People’s Laureate. Momtaza and he and young people have co-created a Youth Manifesto to inform Momtaza’s work as Laureate.
She will be engaging people of the age group 13-25 years with poetry across London and in six outer London boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Bromley, Redbridge, Sutton, Brent and Kingston. She told the Guardian she hopes to make people “see poetry as part of their every day, rather than in some dusty tome, or academic niche interest”. She wants to hear what they have to say, “to let them lead conversations, to be as inspired by them as hopefully they can be inspired by me”.
