Ambassadors for Wales
With Wales’ two new children’s laureates about to begin their two-year tenure, Jenny White asks what drew them to the role and what lies in store...
Alex Wharton was 26 when he started writing poetry. He’d hit a low point in his life and, in between juggling the demands of being a young dad, working as a builder and plasterer and attending college to boost his professional qualifications, he started journaling.
This led to writing poetry – and to say he took to it is an understatement. He is now an awardwinning writer and performer of poetry for children and adults.
His first book of poetry for children, Daydreams And Jellybeans, was shortlisted for several awards and he has two books in the pipeline with Firefly Press. He’s appeared at festivals such as the Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival and from September he takes the helm as Children’s laureate Wales 2023-2025.
He’s eager to use the role to help others discover poetry as he did, but earlier – and to get them expressing themselves in words.
“I want to shake up this idea of what creativity means to them, finding out more about yourself through writing,” he says.
“When I started, I was just trying to make sense of life, but then I never let go of poetry – or it never let go of me. It’s helped to improve my own life, which is why I’m so passionate about using literature – and poetry especially – to connect with other people.
“Poetry really found me at the time I needed it. I want to invite people to use it or to just know that it’s patient and it’ll be there for you if you ever need it.
“That’s why poetry pops up at weddings and funerals or when someone leaves work, for instance.”
Taking poetry into schools has always been an important part of his work. His key message is that creativity can be fun.
“I want to make literature and poetry accessible,” he says. “I want to invite the readers
and the listeners into this world of creativity, this world of magic with almost no boundaries.
“I want to just show them that literature is there for them.
“When I go to schools, I’m not just trying to encourage people to be writers. I know that that’s not going to be the scenario for the most part, but I hope they enjoy it. I hope they feel entertained and I hope that they can feel transported by the literature.
“I hope that the things I say and the way that I perform and the things that I talk about inspire them to touch base with the things that they enjoy, that they’re passionate about and, if they don’t know it already, I hope that encourages them to find that out themselves.”
He’s also keenly aware that literature can help broaden a person’s options – just as it led him to a whole new career.
He’s committed to improving literacy and communication skills in order to widen pupils’ opportunities.
“The better you can speak, the better that you can articulate yourself and express your feelings, the more likely that you’re going to find the right people and find a better direction for yourself that’s more natural and authentic,” he says.
Plans for his activities in the role are still being formulated, but he hopes that in spring 2024 he will be able to walk through a section of Wales collecting stories as he goes and visiting schools along the way.
“I’ll turn up in a new school in a new village every day and perform to the children and hopefully they can walk me out of their village, say goodbye, and I’ll carry on in my way. It’s about rooting yourself to the area, understanding more about our landscape and people and place – it’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages.”
As Wharton takes on the role of Children’s Laureate, Nia Morais takes on the Welsh language equivalent, Bardd Plant Cymru.
Morais is a writer and playwright from Cardiff who first discovered writing while studying English and Spanish at Exeter University. She went on to complete a creating writing MA at Cardiff University and, about a year later, started pursuing writing opportunities in earnest.
During the Covid pandemic she successfully pitched the script for a 20-minute audio drama for the Sherman Theatre’s Heart of Cardiff project.
“It was a big jump to go from publishing one short story to then doing a whole audio drama,” she says. “I was surprised but really pleased that they liked my pitch.”