National Year of Reading Launch: poetry with Otis Mensah & Danaé Wellington

To launch the National Year of Reading, join us for a poetry showcase with former Sheffield Poet Laureates Otis Mensah and Danaé Wellington

To mark the launch of the National Year of Reading, join us for an afternoon of poetry with former Sheffield Poet Laureates Otis Mensah and Danaé Wellington.

Otis Mensah is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans fields of literature and sound, evoking ethereal portraits of the body, family and race. Otis draws from a rich lineage of Black musicality that informs their practice. Their texts explore childhood, dreaming and nature, queering and subverting scripture and parable.

Following their tenure as the first Poet Laureate of Sheffield, Otis published a debut poetry collection "Safe Metamorphosis". They have performed live at Glastonbury, We Out Here, Fusion and XJAZZ Festival, and shared stages with the likes of Benjamin Zephaniah and Little Simz.

Danaé Wellington is a Jamaican-British poet and multidisciplinary artist based in Sheffield. Former Sheffield Poet Laureate (2022–2024), her work spans poetry, music, and film, exploring faith, Black womanhood, and Caribbean diasporic identity.

Copies of Otis' and Danaé's books will be available to purchase at the event.

Photo of Otis credit: stephanie o'connor