Plymouth Laureates
Plymouth Laureate of Words
Plymouth Laureate of Words is a creative partnership between Literature Works, Plymouth Culture and The Box. The Laureate represents their city in words, illuminating its life, culture and stories through a combination of creative writing commissions and public events. The locally based Laureate meets the Plymouth community to inspire and encourage the sharing of stories; reflecting the voices at the heart of the city.
2023-2025
Rosemarie Corlett
The public vote to find the Plymouth Laureate of Words for 2023-25 closed in September 2023, and the current Laureate is Rosemarie Corlett. The shortlisted candidates all wrote and performed new work responding to a ‘Blue Spaces’ theme, and you can watch Rosemarie’s piece here:
As an author, workshop lead and teacher, Rosemarie has worked extensively within not-for-profit, educational and community projects in Plymouth, including The Children’s University, Poetry Cares, Mayflower 400 and the Association for Literature and Environment. As a bilingual poet, Rosemarie has been published by Guardian Faber, Plymouth Culture, Poetry Wales and Shearsman Books.
Rosemarie’s work as Laureate of Words has continued to focus on climate and blue spaces. During 2024 she led creative writing workshops at The Box, where ‘Letters to the Sea’ activities connected to their major exhibition Planet Ocean, and at Theatre Royal Plymouth for a special Global Climate Cafe, responding to ecological crises. In September 2024 she worked with the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park on a variety of activities across the city for SeaFest, including a Poetry stage at Royal William Yard, where Rosemarie brought together some of Plymouth’s finest poets and spoken word performers for a word-filled celebration of the city’s blue spaces.
Why not sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about Rosemarie’s commissions and activities as she continues her Laureateship?
2020-2023
Laura Horton
In November 2020 Plymouth playwright, facilitator and publicist Laura Horton became Plymouth’s first ever Laureate of Words. Over the three years of her Laureateship, Laura responded to a series of commissions from partners and organisations across Plymouth. She developed monologues with primary schools, ran free playwrighting workshops, created an audio play, and ran workshops with our partners at The Box, with participants responding creatively to a famous artwork in their collection.
You can read several of Laura’s blogs and commissions created during her time as Laureate here. As Laura’s time in the role came to an end, we posted a thread on Twitter celebrating many of her achievements.
Plymouth Young City Laureate
The Young City Laureate is the writer voice of the city’s young – they receive paid writing commissions to develop their creative work, which they are given the opportunity to share and perform at special events and occasions at libraries, schools and festivals in Plymouth. Literature Works collaborates with Plymouth Culture to support the Young City Laureate.
2024-2025
Frankie Baldry
Frankie Baldry is the Plymouth Young City Laureate for 2024-2025.
In response to the news, Frankie said:
‘I am absolutely delighted to have been chosen as Plymouth Young City Laureate! As a born and bred Janner, my writing is endlessly inspired by my family, my love of astronomy from nights stargazing on the moors and our shared ancient myths and legends. My aim in this role is to uplift marginalised voices within our city, in particular to champion queer and disabled youth to know the power of their words and have agency over their own stories. I can’t wait to see what this amazing opportunity to connect with my community brings. ’
If you or your organisation would like to commission Frankie to be part of a project or activity in Plymouth get in touch via info@literatureworks.org.uk.
2023-2024
Mimi Jones
Mimi Jones is our current Young City Laureate. They are a talented young poet, playwright and artist based in Plymouth. They primarily write about love from a queer and autistic point of view, but also enjoy ‘slice of life’ plays and fiction. Alongside reading their work at open mics and working on their first anthology, they also host their own events with QueerOutLoud – helping find and share queer creatives around the city.
‘I’m honoured to have the chance to keep working on my writing as the new Plymouth Young City Laureate. We have such an amazing queer and neurodiverse community that I am thrilled to work with further, and to share more writing as a queer, autistic writer.’
Mimi’s Laureateship has been closely connected to With Flying Colours – a four-year project funded by Arts Council England and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The project ran from 2019-2023, working with schools and delivery partners across Plymouth to co-create performances with young people.
