Top performance poet visits Perse Prep for National Poetry Day fun

Performance poet Simon Lamb provided lots of laughs and smiles at The Perse Prep’s National Poetry Day celebrations.

The Scottish wordsmith, who released his first anthology A Passing On of Shells last year, enthralled pupils from the Prep and Fawcett Primary School with a funny, energetic and thought-provoking talk about his journey to becoming a poet.

Simon told children that although maths had been his best subject at school and what he went on to study at university, he always had a passion for writing and performing.

He explained how he became a teacher before deciding to realise his dream of becoming a poet and performer only for the Covid lockdown to make him doubt his career choice.

However, Simon adapted his performance poetry to YouTube, from where his work attracted the interest of a publisher.

He rounded off his talk by asking children ‘what is poetry?’, sparking lots of inspiring ideas from the audience.

Year 6 also had the chance to take part in special workshops with Simon in which he invited them to brainstorm lots of thoughts around their favourite places, by asking them different questions as a basis for writing their own verses.

Simon concluded his fantastic visit by taking part in an interview about his career with members of the Year 6 Journalism Club.