In my country... Out of Bounds Young Poets Anthology

IN MY COUNTRY...

OUT OF BOUNDS YOUNG POETS ANTHOLOGY

In my country...

Out of Bounds Young Poets Anthology

Out of Bounds Poetry Project James Procter, Percy Building, Newcastle University, NE1 3UG, james.procter@ncl.ac.uk Gemma Robinson, Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, gemma.robinson@stir.ac.uk https://outofbounds.digital outofbounds@newcastle.ac.uk @OoBPoetry

ISBN 978-1-83853-421-9 © Out of Bounds Poetry Project and authors, 2020

The title of this anthology, 'In my country...', is from Jackie Kay’s poem, ‘In my country’, in Darling: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2007).

Anthology designed by Natalie Jayne Clark, natalie.jayne.clark@hotmail.co.uk

IN MY COUNTRY...

OUT OF BOUNDS YOUNG POETS ANTHOLOGY

Acknowledgements This anthology has been produced by the Out of Bounds team at Newcastle and Stirling Universities. We are truly indebted to our partners who have, in various ways, helped to create this book: Bloodaxe, British Library, Cultureword/Commonword, Great North Museum, New Writing North, Scottish Poetry Library, Seven Stories, uberpup have all been tremendous sources of advice, support and encouragement. Particular thanks to Bloodaxe for giving permission to use Jackie Kay’s ‘In my country’ (in Darling: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2007)) as the prompt poem for the competition . The first activities of the Out of Bounds Poetry Project were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and we continue to feel the benefit of that initial support. Continuing thanks to the poets who contributed to the original Bloodaxe anthology: Out of Bounds: British Black and Asian Poets. Their work remains a source of inspiration for anyone thinking at the intersections of place, poetry, identity and belonging. This new Out of Bounds anthology contains the winning entries from the poetry competition, ‘In my country…’, aimed at young poets from across the United Kingdom. The wonderful poets, Jackie Kay, Malika Booker, Vahni Capildeo, Kayo Chingonyi have been crucial to the conception of this competition and, indeed, in the case of Jackie and Malika in judging the entries. The poems are written by young people who were encouraged by their teachers and learning communities. We offer our thanks to those educators and schools: Allerton High School, Leeds; Bingley Grammar, Bingley, Yorkshire; Prospect School, Cockney Hill, Reading; Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire; Frederick Bremer School, London; Kingsmeadow Community School, Gateshead; Mearns Academy, Aberdeenshire; Monkwearmouth Academy, Sunderland; Ashby School, Ashby de la Zouch; St Dunstan’s School, Glastonbury; Whitley Bay High School, Whitley Bay. Thanks also to the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Book Cultures for their advice on publishing, and to Natalie Jayne Clark, who has designed this striking anthology. On a daily basis Jake Campbell and Jack Webb have helped to make Out of Bounds a bigger, better team of poets, academics and educators. The biggest thanks of all, though, must go to all those young people who entered the competition. Our head judge, Jackie Kay, summed up our sentiment towards all these poets when she said: ‘Everybody who writes a poem is a winner in my book because you’ve gone through that process of thinking about something in a complicated way, being moved by something and getting it out of your head and onto your page’. Our heartfelt thanks.

Contents Introduction

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Results

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Jenny O’Gorman

‘Heather remembers the trudge of boot…’

5

Maryam Hussain

‘Last year my family in Kashmir were smiling…'

6

Ngaire Barr

‘As rain falls like glass sheets on the mountain…’

7

Ruby Guilfoyle

'I remember the smiles and the endless laughter…’

8

Anna Barbosa

‘It falls, ever so gracefully…’

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Mia Blood-Schiffers

‘My heart is like a drummer boy…’

10

George Breakspear-Dean

‘On the coast of…’

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Orla Faherty

‘Suns up over the heather, glittering in the snow…’

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Sam Kershaw

‘Sometimes I think I want to move away…’

13

Sanya Malik

‘5 hours forward in Pakistan…’

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Jack McRavey

‘Poverty-stricken cities lay on flattened land…’

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Ivy Silver

‘Early spring mornings that still cling to winter’s chill…’

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Hester van Schaik

‘Home, here, now…’

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About Out of Bounds Poetry Project

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What To Do Next

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‘In my country...’ Poetry Posters

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About The Judges

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Introduction: In my country...

Jackie Kay stands in her garden. The sun is shining and she is smiling. ‘I’m sorry we can’t all be together in person,’ she says. It is April 2020 and across the UK we are living in lockdown due to COVID-19. It is clear now that the ‘In my country...’ Poetry Competition straddles two very different times.

Young people in the UK aged 11 to 17 entered the competition at the end of 2019, writing with their classmates as part of a school project, or encouraged by a teacher, or working on a poem at home as an individual challenge. When Jackie came to announce the thirteen winning poems everyone in the UK was confined to their homes, and she congratulated the winners by video. Jackie, along with fellow judge, Malika Booker, chose a diverse list. With each reading, the poems take on new poignant meanings as they encourage us to think about place and people at a time when we are divided from family, friends and favourite places.

Our competition asked young poets to read Jackie’s poem, ‘In my country’, and write their own poem with the same title. Questions about place, identity and belonging are at the heart of the Out of Bounds Poetry project, which organised the competition. They are also at the heart Jackie’s poem. It opens: walking by the waters down where an honest river shakes hands with the sea, a woman passed round me in a slow watchful circle.

The lines don’t refer to a specific place – where are ‘the waters’? Where might you find an ‘honest river’? But the prompt for writing the poem was very precise. In her congratulatory video Jackie describes the many times her sense of belonging in Scotland has been questioned. The frequency of these encounters led her to write the poem, ending it: ‘Where do you come from? / “Here”, I said. “Here. These parts”’. It is a powerful claiming of identity and a pointed take on racism and the slipperiness of place and belonging. The ‘In my country…’ competition was an invitation to young poets to take on the slippery idea of ‘country’, to voice their own poems about ‘here’, to think about what ‘my country’ means to them.

The Out of Bounds Poetry Project grew out of a Bloodaxe anthology of poetry about places, Out of Bounds: British Black and Asian Poets, edited by Jackie, James Procter and Gemma Robinson. Since then, Vahni Capildeo and Kayo Chingonyi joined the team as Out of Bounds ‘Poets on Tour’, curating a series of events and activities about poetry and place across the UK. We’ve organised poetry workshops and poetry readings. We’ve made film poems with the British Library as part of their exhibition, ‘Windrush Stories’, to present a new map of Britain written by black and Asian poets who have been born into, lived in, or passed through, its landscapes.

Working with poets, schools and arts organisations, Out of Bounds now provides a unique collection of free online materials by black and Asian poets, and advice for young people keen to reflect on and explore their communities’ places and poetic voices. At the heart of the Out of Bounds approach is supporting new poets as they respond to ideas about place.

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As Vahni said, ‘we are rethinking poetry of place in terms of imaginative belonging, crossings, travels, encounters, and polyvocality, not just ownership or loss’.

The tremendous response to the competition is proof that young people have much to say about their ‘country’ and how that controversial word might be interpreted. We received entries from the north of Scotland to the south of England and many places in-between. In this pamphlet we have gathered the prize-winning poems. Malika was impressed by the variety of poems: ‘These are poems depicting political situations, reflecting a sense of place, or narrative poems exploring memories with tenderness, and harsh portrayals of the impact of our actions on earth’s ecological crisis. There are also frank insights into the impact of war on its diaspora communities, and beautiful nature poems capturing the essence of our diverse landscape whether urban or rural’.

Summing up her sense of optimism, Malika said: ‘It was a great pleasure to read the preoccupations of young poets and a relief to know that our future is in such thoughtful hands’.

Jackie had words of particular praise for the first, second and joint third-prize winning poems.

She described Jenny O’Gorman’s compelling historical imagination: It is a tour de force and it moved me to tears. It is an astonishingly accomplished and thrilling poem. It makes you think of the way that writers are their places, and the way that their characters embrace them. Tam O'Shanter is in there, and Norman MacCaig and Muriel Spark and past Makars. It's a truly stunning arc that the poem draws for us beginning with perhaps the clearances and taking us up to the present day. When I read this poem I thought Jenny O'Gorman is a writer to watch out for. I fully expect to be reading a book of hers one day.

Maryam Hussain’s poem was admired for its poetic focus on crisis: I was so impressed by this poem - its humanity, the way the poet has to deal with the most difficult of circumstances - a family disappearing due to crisis or war. It is something you wish no child or teenager had to go through. There's something incredibly poignant about the contrast of last year with this year. It is the young writer trying to make sense of the vagaries of time, trying to get her head around how much has changed in a single year. The poem thrives on the details, 'the sugar falling to the floor fluttering like ash'.

This writer knows how to let an image speak for itself. Brilliant!

Third prize was shared by Ngaire Barr and Ruby Guilfoyle, two poets addressing belonging, one from a global perspective, the other dedicated to the very local. Jackie summed up her response to Ngaire’s poem: This is a beautiful poem - the poet ruminating on where she belongs. The descriptions of Scotland are wonderful and so is the sense of Scotland as a welcoming country. There's a sense of the poet being omni-present in this poem, almost looking down on her country from a vantage point of the sky. It lends itself to a sweeping, all-encompassing vision, and makes you think again about allegiance and belonging. In the poem she is the migrating

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bird. ‘No idea how I got there / No idea how to return’. Identity is complex in this poem and she is both.

Ruby’s poem was singled out for its attention to family relationships: I loved this poem - how it captures a close relationship with a wonderful grandfather, how it captures the rapport between their imaginations. There are so many ways for the imagination to take flight. It has great tenderness to it. But also a real maturity. I was so impressed that this was written by a thirteen year old! The poem even acknowledges 'childhood fading away' and we feel a kind of Proustian sadness. Wonderful! It made me wish I had had a grandfather like that!

These are wonderful comments for young poets to read about their work. We are also tempted to read them more generally, and hear Malika's and Jackie’s advice to anyone seeking to develop their poetic voice. Have you got a story to tell in your poem? Is there something you want to celebrate or criticize? What kind of arc could give your poem structure? Think about the ways that people and places connect. How might the vagaries of time appear in your poem? What are the details that are essential to your poem? Remember that powerful images speak for themselves. What descriptions does your poem need? Think about a vantage point for your poem. Is there a close relationship that you want to communicate? What emotions do you want to convey? As Jackie noted: ‘Everybody who writes a poem is a winner in my book because you’ve gone through that process of thinking about something in a complicated way, being moved by something and getting it out of your head and onto your page’.

This winners digital anthology celebrates thirteen brilliant poems, and we hope it will inspire young poets and educators to continue to explore the intersections of place, poetry and identity.

The poets received book tokens and donations to their nominated school or group in order to keep building their reading and writing communities. To accompany this anthology, new digital poster poems of the first, second and third prize winners have been designed by the multitalented uberpup. You can find these at the end of this anthology, along with information on downloading poster templates to create new Out of Bounds poster poems, and instructions on how to use your own images to customise the cover of this anthology.

We encourage you to take a journey of writing, reading and visualising poetry. The works in this anthology are fantastic examples of ‘Out of Bounds’ poems – they offer us flights of imaginative belonging. The poems challenge us to think about encounters, travels, borders and boundaries. They invite us to see the world from multiple perspectives, in multiple voices. And in a time of stoppages, closures, grief and unrest, they show us how poetry can open up new visions of your, our and my ‘country’.

The Out of Bounds Team

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Results List of Prize Winners First prize: Jenny O’Gorman (age 16) ‘Heather remembers the trudge of boot’ (Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire) Second prize: Maryam Hussain (age 15) ‘Last year my family in Kashmir were smiling' (Allerton High School, Leeds) Joint Third prize: Ngaire Barr (age 14) ‘As rain falls like glass sheets on the mountain’ (Mearns Academy, Aberdeenshire) Ruby Guilfoyle, (Year 8 age 12-13) ‘I remember the smiles and the endless laughter’ (Kingsmeadow Community School, Gateshead)

Highly Commended Anna Barbosa (age 12) ‘It falls, ever so gracefully’ (Prospect School, Cockney Hill, Reading) Mia Blood-Schiffers (age 17) ‘My heart is like a drummer boy’ (Ashby School, Leicestershire) George Breakspear-Dean (Y8 age 12-13) ‘On the coast of’ (Kingsmeadow Community School, Gateshead) Orla Faherty (age 14) ‘Suns up over the heather, glittering in the snow’ (Mearns Academy, Aberdeenshire) Sam Kershaw (age 14) ‘Sometimes I think I want to move away’ (Whitley Bay High School, Whitley Bay) Sanya Malik (age 12) ‘5 hours forward in Pakistan’ (Bingley Grammar, Bingley, Yorkshire) Jack McRavey (age 14) ‘Poverty-stricken cities lay on flattened land’ (Monkwearmouth Academy, Sunderland) Ivy Silver (age 12) ‘Early spring mornings that still cling to winter’s chill’ (St Dunstan’s School, Glastonbury) Hester van Schaik (age 11) ‘Home, here, now’ (Frederick Bremer School, London) 4

First Prize JENNY O’GORMAN In my country Heather remembers the trudge of boot; Tenant farmers and families of the moor Their absence – a pounding desolation.

Eccentric writers enveloped in brown coats Fidgeting as thoroughbred horses do When their sides are starred with mud.

Poems knocked at MacCaig’s door, Burns’ Meg skirted past Alloway’s Auld haunted Kirk, Miss Jean Brodie and her Girls Sauntered through Cramond.

Their spirits ask questions Half-written, half-said. Murmured word by word ‘Are we still welcome here?’

Like when travellers return and stand where they first stood.

‘Always, always’ There are trees slanted out like partners in a waltz, Babies sent like skimming stones into the light Stain-glass rivers that course with life.

Electric writers composing lines; Sending out all the light they know. Border-crossing From genre to genre, country to country.

Makars’ bracken poems are rooted in boggy Scottish soil, But they uncurl and spread into stanzas that make connections Across the globe.

In our country, people from Other shores ask ‘Am I welcome here?’

The reply ‘Always, always.’

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Second Prize MARYAM HUSSAIN In my country Last year my family in Kashmir were smiling This year I can’t see their faces Last year the children went to study and learn This year they can’t leave their homes Last year they roamed the region freely This year they stay inside Chapattis, Kashmiri tea, jalebis Consumed in silence Floury, sticky fingers licked quietly Sugar falling slowly to the floor Fluttering like ash Last year I was planning my visit This year I watch the news Scanning for their faces

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Joint Third Prize NGAIRE BARR In my country As rain falls like glass sheets on the mountain I feel like a bird migrating from foreign lands despite being raised here.

An alien on these lands, lost in strange traditions No idea how I got there No idea how to return.

But I feel welcome This land with its hills that rise high above the clouds That feel imposing like ancient guards on this land The three minutes of sun a year that give warmth and life.

Grey skies and mist that block my view on the rocky highlands.

As rocks fall to the loch below As ripples spread in the murky water The fish scatter to the depths below As I stand there watching Not understanding.

But marvelling at this landscape The hills rising above the mist The heathers that dot them The little villages down below With tiny dots moving around As I tower above them Hearing the wind blowing around me I feel free In my country.

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Joint Third Prize RUBY GUILFOYLE In my country I remember the smiles and the endless laughter The blurred feet of my baby cousin Camouflaged in the jungle at our feet The daisies that towered as we pretended Playing around the flowerbeds Like little pixies floating through the summer air.

I remember the age I spent in awe as my grandad Built the foundations of my imagination I can tell you the exact shade of bright red The rustic scent of the painted wood The slick feeling of the paint on my fingertips.

It took me anywhere and everywhere I remember the ‘five more minutes’ As we flew through the air Jumping higher and higher Striving for the sky Only to land again In a circle of blue reality.

As childhood fades away Left in Grandad’s garden.

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Highly Commended ANNA BARBOSA In my country It falls, ever so gracefully, Drops sparkle in sunlight, All shades of aqua, Ripples as a soft pebble skids over, All this grace, Yet it’s just one thing, Natural beauty, Water, oh, water.

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Highly Commended MIA BLOOD-SCHIFFERS In my country My heart is like a drummer boy That springs from beat to beat, Flags fly all around me, Red, white, blue, in summer heat.

“I’m so proud to be British,” The band says, march, stamp, march, Trampling past the frail man’s home Wrapped cold beneath the arch, Old libraries: once full of life And now collecting dust, Behind which children gather, Discuss and swap their lust For shadowy white powders That pocket money claims, Gangs of knives haunt backstreet paths Just children playing games…

The band is marching forward, Smiling all the same, Gazing at a country Great only in a name, Lines of people waiting, Babies cry in fear, The Food bank overflowing As the band approaches near.

The marching band just paces Gazing proudly at this life, Smiles at ORDINARY people.

Living ORDINARY strife.

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Highly Commended GEORGE BREAKSPEAR-DEAN In my country On the coast of Bullfights and sweet, smelly symphonies, Crisp flavoursome spices, all different colours and salted luxuries galore.

The sun flying ever so high amidst cotton candy and blue Giving sunbathing glisten.

The vast turquoise ripples As pebbles flutter willingly, In the sweet, subtle breeze My uncle and I, hand-in-hand Stepping, calmly across the pier Whilst a bitter, sweet sensation Filled and swirled in our mouth The icy frost on winter’s day Snowflakes trembling, a great display I remember the impact Sharp and intense A ball of white Across my arm, a smile on my face Twinkling in the light And it will only ever be a memory

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Highly Commended ORLA FAHERTY In my country Suns up over the heather, glittering in the snow If it’s pouring a bucket or crisp as day It feels like hame, all the way. The smell of the weather The darkness aff the day, it always feels like hame tae me.

Laddies in kilts, tossen a caber oer the waa Picturesque views all the way. It always feels like hame tae me.

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Highly Commended Sam Kershaw In my country Sometimes I think I want to move away, From Newcastle, North Shields and Whitley Bay. Away from the faces I know so well, The sights, the sounds, the tastes, the smells.

But once in a while, I feel a glimmer, To see the glass of the silver Sage shimmer.

To see the Tyne Bridge over the river, To see the water snake and slither.

To hear the life of Northumberland Street, The chatter, the laughter, the pounding of feet.

To experience the smells of the Grainger Market, From chocolate, to pasties, to shoe shops, to carpets.

To taste the flavours of Chinatown, Along the winding streets cars and people crowd down.

To feel the buzz and hustle and bustle, Of the city built around the majestic castle.

And though it’s familiar, and it’s all I know, And sometimes I just want to pack up and go.

Whether I am with family, friends, or on my own, I know that this is my country, my city, my home.

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Highly Commended SANYA MALIK In my country 5 hours forward in Pakistan, After a 10 hour flight, I wake up to the smell of chapattis.

Hear the sound of people speaking another language‌ Taste the buffalo milk, Swimming with cereal, Feel the warmth of the blazing sun, Casting down on the city.

The spices are all lined up ready for a bath, With exotic meats, the perfect cuts, Ready to prepare, The delicious dish.

I wait a couple of hours, I get impatient, Wifi’s down, what do I do?

I run outside to see, beautiful birds, so unique.

Down to the fields, pure greenery, All the grass trodden on by the excited children, Playing a match of cricket, All cheering, all excited, all so happy!

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Highly Commended Jack McRavey In my country Poverty-stricken cities lay on flattened land, Men lay on the streets as their brothers watch and laugh, For a kingdom named ‘United’, we’re most certainly not, Or leaders fight and bicker as our society rots.

Children in backalleys, fighting for just scraps As the rich’s food is paid for with our tax.

A country of lions led by rats, Controlled by lies – they’re hiding the facts.

Millions of homeless, left cold and bitter, As society treats them just like litter.

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Highly Commended IVY SILVER In my country Early spring mornings that still cling to winter’s chill, Melting frost and birds sitting on the windowsill, Listen to the cries of crows, the hoots of owls and smile.

Our green and pleasant land, so beautiful.

City life, huge red buses, and young mothers fussing, Men in suits pass by with calls of, ‘How do you do?’

Listen to the engines billowing black smoke, LOOK! We can’t ignore the elephant in the room, This isn’t some prophecy of impending doom, But before you throw away that plastic cup, think about what you’re doing.

Factories are choking the sky and I’m just asking you why?

Just think of all the things we could lose, They sky with all its hues of blue, well mostly grey, But every day is precious so please don’t forget it.

I want to talk about my country but all I do is worry.

Listen to the young generation and try to make a change.

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Highly Commended HESTER VAN SCHAIK In my country Home, here, now Where my feet are planted The place my roots have spread My home I walk to school Clouds of smoke Billowing out from cars close by Blocks of flats towering higher than high It is still home Grey skies, trash on the ground Scars on trees Where cigarettes have been stubbed out It is still home Houses packed so tight they could burst Mine is in the middle My old school just across the street It is still home Trees strangled by skipping ropes Gum from years ago staining the ground Sparrows flitting from hedge to hedge It is still home These are the things you see on the outside Before you really know

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About Out of Bounds Out of Bounds is a collaborative education and outreach project exploring the power of poetry to reimagine place and identity. It is based at Newcastle and Stirling Universities, and organised by James Procter and Gemma Robinson.

Why poetry, place and identity?

Poetry has always shaped the way that we think about places, and places have often become famously associated with particular writers. But what does 'place poetry' look and sound like now? How can poetry reflect the global communities in Britain’s imperial past and present? How can we look again at the UK’s local and regional landscapes through poetry? How do our ideas about identity and ethnicity, and the places we call home, affect the way we read and write poetry? These are some of the guiding questions of the project.

Why ‘Out of Bounds’?

The phrase ‘Out of Bounds’ encourages us to think about location, limits and borders.

Imagine a signpost declaring: ‘Keep off the grass’. It tells us where we can and can’t go. Is poetry the kind of writing that stays in or out of bounds? Poetry can be a form of expression that helps us explore and explode our physical and mental boundaries or expectations, and it can also offer ways to be creative within specific forms or ‘bounds’ (e.g. haiku or sonnet).

Resources Through books, poetry workshops, public events, a poetry app, filmed poetic performances, and a web-series of poetry pathways, the project has created a bank of material that showcases ways for remaking the map of Britain. Out of Bounds now provides a unique collection of free online materials by black and Asian poets, and advice for young people and teachers keen to reflect on and explore their communities’ places and poetic voices.

Out of Bounds: British Black and Asian Poets is a Bloodaxe anthology (ed. by Jackie Kay, James Procter and Gemma Robinson), gathering over 100 black and Asian writers and 300 poems on the places that make up Britain. https://outofbounds.digital/#/resources

Out of Bounds Activity Pack includes 20 collaborative activity plans to get you thinking in and outside the classroom about diverse voices and writing about place. Download it for free: https://outofbounds.digital/#/resources

Out of Bounds Pathways is a series of film-poems, recordings and conversations drawn from activities curated by Vahni Capildeo and Kayo Chingonyi. The four Pathway themes are Water, Borderlands, Belonging, and Voices. https://outofbounds.digital/#/grid

Out of Bounds Windrush Stories is a series of film-poems by award-winning poets, commissioned by the British Library for its Caribbean ‘Windrush Stories’ exhibition (2018) and website. https://outofbounds.digital/#/resources

Follow us on Twitter @OoBPoetry and sign up to the Out of Bounds mailing list: https://outofbounds.digital/#/contact

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What To Do Next Design Your Own Poster On the pages that follow you’ll find the ‘In my country…’ Poetry Posters designed by the multi-talented uberpup. On the Out of Bounds website we’ve also included Poster Templates so that you can create your own new ‘Out of Bounds’ poetry posters about place and identity. Print out the Poster Templates and add handwritten poems and designs, or edit the PDF posters using any PDF editor. Share them in places that needs a poetry boost!

Poetry prompt: we asked Ria Dastidar from uberpup for three words that she would include in poem about place titled ‘In my country’. She chose: identity, passion and discovery.

For further poetry prompts, have a look at the Out of Bounds Activity Pack, or write a response to one of the ‘In my country’ poems in this anthology.

Download the Poetry Posters, Poster Templates and the Out of Bounds Activity Pack from the Out of Bounds Resource area: https://outofbounds.digital/#/resources Have a look at uberpup’s other design work here: http://www.uberpup.net/

Make Your Own Front Cover To This Anthology Download the Front Cover Template from the Out of Bounds Resource area: https://outofbounds.digital/#/resources Print out the Cover Template and add handwritten poems and designs, or edit the PDF of the cover using any PDF editor or go to https://bit.ly/2YjfCmx to edit using Canva.

Send us photos of your new posters and front covers: @OoBPoetry or outofbounds@newcastle.ac.uk

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‘Everybody who writes a poem is a winner in my book because you’ve gone through that process of thinking about something in a complicated way, being moved by something and getting it out of your head and onto your page’.

- Jackie Kay

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About The Judges Jackie Kay is the Scottish Makar and an award-winning poet, novelist and shortstory writer. https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/jackie-kay/ @JackieKayPoet

Malika Booker is an award-winning writer, poet, theatre-maker, multidisciplinary artist and creative writing lecturer. http://malikabooker.com/ @Malikabooker

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The ‘In my country...’ competition was an invitation to young poets to take on the slippery idea of ‘country’, to voice their own poems about ‘here’, and to think about what ‘my country’ means to them. This anthology gathers together the thirteen brilliant winning poems, along with comments from the judges - Jackie Kay and Malika Booker - and ideas for exploring the intersections of place, poetry and identity.

‘I was really blown away by the standard of these poems - some of them made me cry, others gave me the poetry shiver’.

- Jackie Kay ‘It was a great pleasure to read the preoccupations of young poets and a relief to know that our future is in such thoughtful hands’.

- Malika Booker