Who we are
A community that takes young poets seriously
Punpoets Media is a poetry community and mentorship platform. We create a platform for poets, we redefine the art of poetry, and we inspire the writers coming after us.
Our story
It started with a room and a microphone
Punpoets Media was built for poets who had outgrown writing alone. What began as a community became a mentorship programme, then an anthology, then a stage — and along the way it turned into a place where a poet could be workshopped honestly and sent out better than they came in.
Five editions of the Punpoets Mentorship Programme later, our alumni are performing, publishing and teaching. The recordings from those sessions live on our channel; the writing lives in FRAGMENTS.
The Pun Poets Creative Club is where that work goes next. Instead of waiting for young writers to find us, we are taking the mentorship into primary and secondary schools — a weekly club, a trained facilitator, and session plans built for the age in the room.
Vision & mission
What we are setting out to do
Awaiting the client’s own vision and mission statements — the two below are placeholders written to hold the layout.
Our vision
A country where every child has met a poem that was written for them, and has written one of their own. PLACEHOLDER — to be replaced.
Our mission
To put a trained facilitator and a weekly creative writing club into every school that will have one, at no cost to the school. PLACEHOLDER — to be replaced.
What we hold to
Four things we refuse to compromise on
Craft over clout
We workshop honestly. A poem that gets applause but does not work still does not work.
Access, not gatekeeping
Talent is evenly distributed. Opportunity is not. The Club exists to close that gap.
Safe rooms
Every facilitator is trained. Every session has ground rules. Children write freely or they do not write at all.
Page and stage
Writing it is half. Standing up and saying it is the other half. We teach both.
The beginning
A community forms
Punpoets Media starts as a gathering place for poets and poetry lovers who wanted somewhere serious to bring their work.
Mentorship 1.0
The first cohort
The Punpoets Mentorship Programme pairs emerging poets with mentors for the first time.
On camera
Orange Poetry sessions
Spoken word from mentorship sessions is recorded and published, putting our poets in front of an audience beyond the room.
In print
FRAGMENTS
The community anthology is published, collecting work from across the programme.
Mentorship 5.0
Five editions in
Alumni from the programme are now performing, publishing and teaching in their own right.
Next
The Creative Club
The mentorship model moves into primary and secondary schools as the Pun Poets Creative Club.
The people
Who runs this
Punpoets Media
Founding collective
Programme Lead
Creative Club
Mentorship Lead
Punpoets Mentorship Programme
Partnerships Lead
Partnerships & sponsorship
Come and build this with us
Schools, facilitators, volunteers and partners — the Creative Club only works because people show up for it.