New Bristol City Poet to be announced on BBC Radio Bristol

The announcement of the next City Poet will be made on BBC Radio Bristol at 19:30 Tuesday 12 July 2022. The new City Poet will hold the role from 2022-2024.

Traditionally – and in line with the national Poet Laureate objectives – the City Poet taps into public opinion and acts as a communicator of local views. They can become the conscience of the public and can also reflect on what makes the city tick. What they convey through their poetry and creative writing can provide important insights onto contemporary events and feelings, not all of which may make for comfortable reading.

The role includes 10 formal commissions to be written over the next two years, along
engaging local communities and young people with poetry.

The role is a collaboration between Bristol City Office and Bristol Ideas. 

Zoe Steadman-Milne, Creative Content Producer Bristol Ideas and part of the Judging Panel says “We can’t wait to tell the city who the next City Poet is. We had a really strong long and shortlist. Truly a city of poets!”

The new City Poet take over from current City Poet Caleb Parkin. As City Poet, Caleb has written and performed poems for a wide range of organisations and occasions including this year’s Jubilee, two State of the City Addresses, Bristol Remembers (the first anniversary of the pandemic lockdown), the Museum of the Moon at Bristol Cathedral and Bristol Zoo Gardens. He has recently run workshops at Christ the King Primary in Knowle West and with Bristol Refugee Rights. A formal handover event from Caleb Parkin to the new poet will take place in the autumn.

Caleb Parkin says "Being Bristol City Poet has given me the chance to deepen my
knowledge of and love for this City in all its sparkly, messy glory. I've explored archives, primary schools and got to perform under a moon in the cathedral. It's led me to build relationships with new organisations and make new connections – as well as to find creative ways to write about things I might not usually have addressed."

"I hope that my poems reflect the dynamics of the last two years' strifes and delights. The first and last poems are about parties, in very different ways – I had no idea how significant parties would become when I set out! But hope these poems provide a vivid lens on 2020 - 2022 ("May you live in interesting times" indeed) and in a way which is uniquely my own, while reaching the people of Bristol and representing us to the world.”