On World Poetry Day ... Three to Consider

HARRY BAKER
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British poet Harry Baker (@harrybakerpoet), who is currently studying for a degree in mathematics, is the UK's youngest ever World Poetry Champion. His poetry collection 'The Sunshine Kid' was completely sold out at this month's Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The poems combine maths and science and his 'Love Poem for Lonely Primary Numbers' is fierce!

His charming performance at the Dubai-based festival earned him his spot as the most talked-about appearance and it's no surprise that old and young alike rushed to get their hands on his book. You must. Check out his TED-Talk HERE to see his unbelievable performance.

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GRACE NICHOLS

This Guyanese poet whose first collection, 'I is a Long-Memoried Woman' won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1983. The book was subsequently dramatised for radio by the BBC, and adapted for film, winning a gold medal at the International Film and Television Festival New York.She also writes books for children, including 'Come on into My Tropical Garden' (1988), and 'Everybody Got A Gift' (2005) which includes new and selected poems. Her two new children's books, 'Cosmic Disco' and 'Sun Time, Snow Time' were released in August 2013.

In 2011 Nichols was a member of the first ever judging panel for a new schools poetry competition named Anthologise, spearheaded by Poet Laureate Carol-Ann Duffy. School students aged 11–18 from around the UK were invited to create and submit their own anthologies of published poetry. The first ever winners of Anthologise were the sixth form pupils of Monkton Combe School, Bath, with their anthology titled 'The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead'.

This amazing woman had the audience rapping with her at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature this month! Yes! Rapping!

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KIKA HOTTA

In 2015, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the Japan Arts and Culture Foundation collaborated on a Writers’ Exchange Programme between the UAE and Japan, with writers from each country visiting the other as part of a joint mission to offer young writers a chance to broaden their horizons and find new inspiration. Kika Hotta was one of these young participants.

As such, Kika Hotta's new collection, published in March 2016, features haikus inspired by his visit to the UAE and his encounters with its people and culture. Again, all copies of his recent new collection were sold out at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature this month and he is definitely a rising talent to look out for in the future!

Born in December 1975, in Tokyo, Kika Hotta has studied at Brown University and Princeton University before attending University of Tokyo’s Ph.D. program. He is a poet and translator and has translated poems in classic haiku and tanka styles to English, Japanese, Chinese and French. His mentors include Kane Kasugi and Minoru Ozawa. He has also adopted the haiku theories of Ban’ya Natsuishi.

He is a winner of a number of awards including the third Shiba Fukio Haiku New Talent Encouragement Award, the 13th Sawa New Talent Award (both for haiku), the second Ishikawa Takuboku Prize and the Chuubu Tanka New Talent Award (both for tanka).