‘I felt her poems were more like my life’: cultivating BPoC teenagers' writer‐identity through a poet residency

Abstract

This article examines the impact of a poet‐led classroom‐based poetry programme on secondary school students' writer identities and self‐expression, particularly focusing on BPoC teenagers. Drawing on the Writing Realities framework, the research uses focus groups, participant observations, and interviews with the poet‐in‐residence. Rather than analysing the students' poems, the study explores their engagement with poetry writing and the poet‐in‐residence, highlighting the contribution to self‐reflection and meaning‐making. The findings reveal how the residency introduced students to diverse poetry forms, community‐based poetry, and collaborative writing, facilitating critical engagement with themes relevant to their lives. However, the school's status as a Predominantly White Institution hindered full expression of BPoC students' identities. The presence of the poet‐in‐residence, a young mixed‐heritage Muslim woman, positively influenced students' relationships with writing, particularly for BPoC students, by providing a protected space for self‐expression and identity exploration. The study underscores the importance of creating supportive environments in schools to nurture BPoC students' creativity and writer identity, emphasising the need for anti‐racist practices and culturally sustaining pedagogies to empower students from socially marginalised groups.