“Anthea’s poetry is so powerful and so moving. I am so proud and thankful that we were able to give our students the opportunity to hear her speak – it was an incredibly inspiring and enriching experience. The session was tailored to our school and our students, showing a great understanding of the context and need, whilst, at the same time, enabling our students to meet the challenge of higher-level thinking. She helped our students understand the power of poetic voice and, because of the relevance and relatability of the work she shared, gave them a confidence about responding to poetry which has had a significant impact with their GCSE and A’ Level Literature assessment. She spoke to students about the value of literacy – a message that has had a profound and lasting impact. Her enthusiasm to engage with our young people, listen to their questions, develop their thinking and provide full responses, garnered their respect and ensure a lasting impact. Months later students refer to her messages and ideas, and have asked for her to visit again.”

Katie Young, Head of English, Bedford Academy.

“Anthea joined us for a whole school assembly, and it was the perfect way to kick off Black History Month with our students. She was incredibly engaging, funny, and extraordinarily inspirational. Anthea spoke about the richness of celebrating the outstanding achievements of black women and captivated us with her poetry and stories, taking us on an incredible journey. I can highly recommend Anthea and hope to see her at another event soon. Anthea is not just a speaker; she’s an experience.”

Dr May Lee, Head, Northampton High School GDST

“Anthea kindly offered us a last-minute poetry session for World Book Day which we took up eagerly. I wasn’t sure how our year 8s would react to have a poet reading their poetry to them but it was wonderful; Anthea gave us snippets about her life which at times were quite heart-wrenching, and read poems to the group, given us the background to what influenced her to write it. We learnt about her doing commissions, and whether you could make a living from it, and what happens if she go stuck for inspiration, but it was the actual poetry that was amazing; Anthea is very sincere and passionate about literacy and the importance of being able to read and what that ability opens up to young people for their future. We were very lucky to have had Anthea to do a workshop and extremely pleased to be working with her on some future projects.”

Kath Unwin, Librarian and Careers lead, Mark Rutherford School

‘ Excellent talk exploring challenge and change ‘

” We hugely enjoyed Anthea’s talk and especially her poetry. Her delivery was calm and confident and she engaged the students brilliantly. It was great for them to see a different way of dealing with life events and emotions, as well as learning to see themselves in the light that others do. We are really grateful for Anthea’s time and would highly recommend her for any school event. Thank you Anthea for inspiring our students.”

Lauren Maltby, 6th form Teacher, St Helen and St Katharine School