October Artist of the Month – Damani Dennisur
Our October ‘Artist of the Month’ is poet Damani Dennisur.
About Damani Dennisur
Damani Dennisur is a Jamaican born, UK based poet and musician who is passionate about visiting schools.
What a visit from Damani entails
Damani is very flexible with his work in schools and can work with all ages as well as offering a range of session lengths to suit your school needs. He offers sessions on poetry writing and performance, story writing workshops and creative writing.
You can read more about Damani and his school visits here
Testimonials from previous visits.
"The visit went really well, he was amazing. The students were engaged & couldn't wait to read out some of the poems in front of their year group."
Arnold Hill Academy
“Damani was amazing- the students all really enjoyed the day, and he adapted the sessions well for the year 8s and sixth form students. He worked really hard.”
St Thomas Aquinas Catholic School
“The event with Damani was outstanding. He was excellent at getting every child involved and they simply adored him. By the end they were clambering to share their poetry with him and get his approval. Managing to get 250 teenage boys all fully on board and excited to write poetry is quite a feat and he did it with ease with his enthusiasm and energy and seemingly limitless knowledge of rap lyrics!”
King Edward’s School
“Damani was really great and he had a great rapport with our students. The content of what he showed was exactly what I wanted for the workshop. It was also great that he did a collaboration with our West African drumming instructor on the second day where he played his guitar and sang. We even had some students that got up and danced!”
Harris Academy Federation
“Damani was an excellent addition to our World Book day celebrations: he sang, he danced, he serenaded Year 9 as they wrote sensory descriptions and he provided maximum energy throughout.”
Park Hall Academy
Interview with Damani Dennisur
How did you first get into poetry?
I always knew I needed to write, I’ve been writing since I was 8, but poetry specifically after one of these workshops I run now. I was once one of these kids, the responsibility feels a little overwhelming when I think about how greatly it impacted me.
You were one of Birmingham’s Young Poet Laureates, how did you get the role and what were your aims whilst in post?
My teacher sent in my application because I failed the year before, I guess I was a more interesting poet that year. My aims were to become famous and get rich, give great performances and get a massive ego boost
You work with quite a wide range of ages and abilities, how do you manage to ensure every young person has a chance to engage with poetry?
I simply give the people what they ask for, I have an arsenal of poems and ideas so extensive I can pretty much fit into most environments and market to most age ranges.. so I guess I just think of giving them what they want, that their teachers may not be able to.. if that’s a fun experience sharing words, or an intense workshop fuelling creativity for creativity sake. I’m an artist, I don’t play by the same rules as the institution, so facilitating an inclusive space where people of all ages can engage in creativity comes easy when I remove the regular restrictions.
What do you enjoy most about school visits?
The hospitality
STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) get a lot of attention for how important they are as subjects. Why do you feel creativity and literacy should also be given high praise and consideration?
You can’t live without creativity, the world you live in is a soup of ideas made matter by creative hands, the chair you sit on was first a drawing, the computer you type on was designed by artists, people that use their skills to create, its fun to know stuff (STEM) but creativity is the application of that knowledge, without creativity you raise followers and workers, the world needs innovators and people willing to feel, it always has and it always will. Do something with your life, learn how to create, learn how to trust in your ideas and follow your own creative vision, you’ll get nowhere without the ability to trust your own ideas, all the greatest scientific minds, Tesla, Einstein, Darwin were weirdos that thought and lived differently, STEM is awesome, but it teaches you submission, art teaches you to be a weirdo, like the architects of our world.
Which poets did you find inspiring when you were starting out?
Soulja Boy
Do you believe everyone has the potential to write something great?
Of course, if you live then you have something valuable to say.
You were a judge at our Worcestershire Slam final last year, how did you find the experience?
It was fun, those kids did GREAT, took me back to when I was slamming at their ages, I remember just how important all that was to me, it was my whole life, it was my moment, its kinda scary being a grown up in a space like that.. for something so impactful.
You have developed some fantastic talks and days in schools to celebrate Black History, what can be the impact of a school hosting one of these days?
It shows kids that their lives are whatever they choose to make of it, they aren’t limited by their environment and experiences, they have the ability to change the world as they see it, and it all starts at home. Its important for a kid to see that real superheroes exist, and understand that in one way or another, we all have our own superpowers.
National Poetry Day was at the start of this month, do you feel poetry is starting to get as much recognition as prose?
I don’t care, I hear poetry when the leaves crunch beneath my foot and the tree’s shuffle, everything is poetry to me. its like when Neo figured out the matrix and he could see the code, I can’t escape poetry, it follows me everywhere I go, I don’t see a difference but the label.. but people are obsessed with putting things in boxes, because it makes for easier shipping and delivery, call it whatever you want, the glorious words that touch your soul will find you one way or another, you can’t hide, or disregard it as poetry, spoken word, prose, lyrics, graffiti or a strange note left on a napkin at a coffee shop, it will find you.
Back me up here please, schools should be celebrating and embracing poetry, creativity and the written and spoken word year round right? Not just celebrating on National Poetry Day or World Book Day and then putting it away again.
The world would be a better place for it, of that I am sure..
Kids deserve to have their minds expanded with new ideas and experience, help them become people that can provide real value to society.
What has been your proudest achievement so far?
Every achievement is my proudest achievement, my life expands and grows into its ultimate daily, if my past is any indication of my future, then my proudest achievement will be my next one.. but I guess to answer simply, my last one was getting a pet dog. He’s really cute.
You are currently working on your first book for children and young people, what can we expect from your debut?
Joy and the book is universal.
More people are using social media to share poems, their work and creative expression. Do you think the good outweighs the bad for social media?
This is a tough question to answer, social media is a reflection of our collective consciousness and energetic disposition, if it is evil its because we are evil, if it is beautiful, it is because we are beautiful.. I don’t think either outweigh the other.
You are also a musician, does any of this come into play during your school visits?
Yeah, sometimes I’ll bring my guitar for more intimate writing sessions with eager audiences.. Not for assemblies, though I may play them a few songs from YouTube
What advice would you give to young people who would like a career in the creative industry?
Don’t listen to anything anyone has to tell you, trust you’re ideas, they’re the ones that REALLY have your back.
Empathy Lab creates reading lists for books that are chosen to develop empathy. In a time when there are many divisions in the world do you feel fiction and poetry can help create empathy for others and bring society closer?
Stories and art are how we communicate feeling, it is the only way, outside of personal experience. Whether the story be one your mother told you, one you saw in a cinema, one you read in a book or heard in a song, its the only way.
What are your future goals?
To forgive my enemies, forgive myself and release my worries unto God
Quick Fire
Early bird or night owl?
Night Owl, but my dog has had me up early every day for the past month, he’s a good boy :)
Would you rather be able to travel forwards or backwards in time?
Backwards, I would deeply abuse this power
Last time you laughed out loud?
I can’t remember, it was funny though.
If you were Prime Minister for the day, what law would you introduce?
Ban overdraft fees.
Why would you financially penalise someone for having no money?
Arrange for Damani to visit your school
To make an enquiry about Damani Dennisur, please contact us as follows
UK visits
Email:UKbookings@caboodlebooks.co.uk
Or contact Yvonne on - 01535 279851
Overseas Visits
Email:Overseasvisits@caboodlebooks.co.uk
Or contact Overseas Manager, Robin - +44(0) 1535 279853