Walthamstow resident Aisling Fahey is celebrating after being appointed the Young Poet Laureate for London on National Poetry Day. 

The Young Poet Laureate for London is a Spread the Word programme supported by The Legacy List, the independent charity for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

The 21-year-old follows in the footsteps of Warsan Shire, who was appointed to the position last year. 

Aisling participated in a series of workshops creating new poetry and was then selected from a shortlist of six young poets aged 18-25 by a high profile panel, including professional poets Nick Makoha and Jacob Sam La Rose. 

Describing her win, the former Holy Family Catholic School and Sixth Form student says: “Finding out I’d won was a bit of a whirlwind to be honest – it feels really surreal! 

“I didn’t think I would win. I didn’t know what the judges were looking for. It was an all-woman shortlist, which is amazing, but we were all so, so different, even though we were all of a similar age and from London. 

“As part of the competition I had to create a series of new poetry – my work is always personal, so one of them about a reccurring dream I used to have as a child, that me and my sister were being chased by our parents! It wasn’t a nice dream, but it made for an interesting poem.“

As Young Poet Laureate for London, Aisling will provide comment and reflections on current events across the capital throughout the coming year, as well as working with communities and London-based organisations to inspire and inform through poetry. 

“It’s an amazing opportunity to push myself as a professional artist and I really hope that by the end of the year I will have a strong body of work and that I’ll be on my way to releasing my first collection,“ gushes Aisling. 

“I hope Walthamstow is proud of my achievement. I’ve had a message from my old English teacher who wants me to come back to the school for a visit and support from Waltham Forest Poets. Hopefully I will be doing some work around the local area as well – it’ll be great to share my win and connect with the local community.“

 

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

 

Extract from Shape Shifters by Aisling Fahey
After the main, which did not satisfy me, 
I go to the bathroom, apply red lipstick I was not wearing to begin with.
When I come back you pull out my chair,
look at my mouth like it is a burning bush you want to die in.
Maybe I will open up to you like blooming flowers in Jasmine tea,
maybe I will always wear this lipstick now – 
it makes you stare like I could burn the knowledge out of you,
like I have the answer to this existence,
and am just picking the right moment to interrupt.