Yemisi Blake writer-in-residence

Yemisi Blake has been writing poetry and short stories at the age of fifteen. After hearing the poets such as Francesca Beard and Selina Godden on Dotun Adebayo’s BBC London radio show, he decided to try his hand at performing. He developed an addiction for open mic poetry nights and over a couple of years began to perform his poetry around the UK. In 2005 he took part in an Apples and Snakes course for young poets and since then hasn’t looked back. Yemisi has gone on to be commissioned by The Wellcome Trust to write poems based on Charles Darwin and his theories, published in Rising Poetry Magazine and has performed at various London venues including Tate Britain, The Roundhouse Studios and The Royal Festival Hall, alongside artists such as Fleur Adcock, Michael Horovitz and Roger Robinson. He is currently an Emerging Artist In Residence at The Southbank Centre, and writer-in-residence on the Barking Metamorphosis project.