churchill fellow 2023 - performance poet - published poet
Churchill Fellow 2023
More about Hannah Stanislaus - Churchill Fellow
The Power of Poetry in Education: The teaching of poetry to UK school children would be lifesaving, life giving and life changing.
In 2023, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study Poetry in America, with the goal of changing the UK National Curriculum and having poetry as a separate subject and GCSE.
In 2024, I travelled to Boston, New York, Texas and Arizona to visit Dr Elisa New and the Poetry in America team.
I was filmed for season 5 of Poetry in America which premieres in 2026 and I was offered the first UK/USA partnership of Poetry in America.
My name is Hannah Maria Stanislaus.
I was born in 1987, to a young single mother, in South London.
I was kicked out of school at 13 and placed in a pupil referral unit. Groomed online at 13 by a paedophile and sexually abused for three years.
I became a single mother at the age of 28 and survived domestic abuse, ending up in a women’s refuge.
I started to write poetry on the 6th June 2020. I was 33.
In 2020, I was a homeless single mother in temporary accommodation, fleeing domestic abuse and I wanted to die.
Poetry saved my life, then changed my life and finally gave me a life beyond my wildest dreams. What could I have been if I had the power of poetry in primary school?
I became a published poet in 2022, my first collection 'Extremely Aggressive,
Uneducated and Rough' was released and in the same year, I created 'Lost Souls Events', starting with a poetry open mic night, for people who felt they could relate to the title 'lost soul'. Lost Souls poetry evenings were taken to the Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2022 and five shows were performed across the entire borough.
Next, I created a concept show called 'In Disguise', which premiered at Village Soho and The 2 Brewers, this combined poetry and alter egos of the featured poets. In Disguise was taken to the Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2023 and was sold out at both the venues performed at.
In just a few years, Lost Souls events has expanded to 3 poetry open mic nights a month (Twice a month at Exhibit Bar in Balham and once a month at the Spread Eagle bar in Wandsworth) and a quarterly poetry slam at The 2 Brewers, Clapham.
I sat my English and Maths GCSEs at the age of 34 and I am currently making my way through A-level English. I have not been to university and I do not have a high profile / high paying job that allows me to work full time as a poet.
My daughter, Lucy is eight years old and writes poetry. She has performed her poetry on stage and asks me all the time ‘Mama, can I read your poetry please?’. Lucy has the power of poetry in her life, every child in the UK deserves the same opportunity on the National Curriculum.
I have delivered four poetry workshops, in four different primary schools, across Wandsworth, South London.
All 300 children I delivered the course to wrote a poem. This was when I discovered the severe lack of poetry in schools, just in my local borough and I decided I wanted to make a change.
My aim in life is to ensure poetry is taught at every key stage level in the UK and a poetry GCSE’s curriculum is created and delivered. Furthermore, A-Level poetry and even a poetry degree is possible.
NOW is the time to turn things around and introduce poetry into the education system. Reading poetry and poems that reflect the children in our classrooms, writing poetry to explore their own identity and performing what they have written to encourage confidence and self-esteem. Our children’s mental health, emotional, social and communication development and the future generations, my grandchildren, deserve nothing less.
Poetry gives hope. Poetry gives light. Poetry gives life. Poetry is power. Poetry is freedom. Poetry is public property.
Do you know who Phillis Wheatley is?
No?
I did not know who she was until February 2024.
The Old State Meeting House in Boston is the home of both her statue and a copy of her poetry collection.
The powerful African American female poet, born around 1753, was sold into slavery from Africa at the age of seven.
Her name comes from the ship that she was brought to America on ‘The Phillis’ and Wheatley, the family name of her owners who educated her in reading, writing, religion, language, literature and history. She wrote and published poetry from the age of 12.
Travelling from Boston to London in 1773, her book ‘Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral’ was published and she even performed for the future 1st President of the USA, George Washington. She died penniless and alone in 1784, aged just 30 years old.
Poetry in America held a panel discussion at SXSW EDU conference 2024 titled ‘Teaching Literature and Civics with Phillis Wheatley’.
A former black slave from the 1770s, who was taken from Africa at the age of seven, is now part of the USA Curriculum for students in 2024.
The UK National Curriculum must modernise the way poetry is taught in schools, to ensure inclusivity, promote equality and champion diversity.
Hannah Maria Stanislaus CF
https://www.churchillfellowship.org/ideas-experts/ideas-library/the-power-ofpoetry-in-education/
Hannah Maria Stanislaus CF
GLASS DOOR SLEEP OUT 2024
I AM SLEEPING OUT FOR THE 5TH YEAR IN A ROW!
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It’s a wrap!
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