Anneliese Emmans Dean and Sara Hirsch are two poets who are renowned for their work in performance and schools – and who also write wonderful poems across a range of themes, including birds and wildlife, love and relationships. The conversation focuses on writing for children, taking poetry into schools and getting children enthusiastic about writing and reading poetry.
Anneliese Emmans Dean is an award-winning poet and performer, passionate about promoting learning through laughter, rhythm and rhyme. She performs her edu-taining poetry shows at festivals and theatres nationwide, and has been commissioned to write and perform by, amongst others, the BBC and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Her first book, Buzzing! Discover the poetry in garden minibeasts, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize and won the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Award for poetry.
The companion volume, Flying High! Discover the poetry in British birds, has just been published.
Sara Hirsch is a performance poet with punch. She is a former UK Poetry Slam Champion, ranked 3rd in the World Slam Championships and always has a story in her head and a rhyme between her teeth. Sara is a TEDx speaker, has toured internationally and has performed live on the BBC.
She recently published Louder Than Words, a poetry collection for young people, endorsed by Michael Rosen and has led workshops for the National Youth Drama School of New Zealand, the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and for the Museum of London.