Poetry

Esme has been practising as a poet and writer since 2018. Her recent commissions include Kitchen Table Romance as part of Carrie Mae Weems Rehearsing in the Field, at the Barbican Centre in June 2023; The Journey of Cinnamon, commissioned by Poetry V Colonialism in collaboration with Keats House and the London Metropolitan Archive in September 2023; Cette Maison, in response Miryam Charles’s film of the same title, performed at the Barbican Centre in October 2023; A Brief History of Hands, commissioned by NHS Arts and Heritage and performed in November 2023.

She has previously performed her poetry at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Loud Poets at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Glasgow Women’s Library, PengTing Poetry at the Bush Theatre and BOXEDIn.

Her poem Uncle Theodore was featured as part of the poetry anthology Articulations for Keeping the Light In, published by Flipped Eye in July 2022. Her poem where things shouldn’t be was commissioned by English Heritage and was included in their Untold Stories digital anthology. Her writing has also appeared in The Colour of Madness, published by Pan Macmillan in July 2022, POSTSCRIPT and The Skinny.

She created two audio poetry pieces as part of the Institute of Contemporary Arts and BBC’s New Creatives Commission. one continuous loop aired on BBC Radio 3 in November 2021 and is available to listen to in the link here. UNDER THE NOISE aired on BBC Radio 6 in July 2021. She was a Roundhouse Resident Artist from 2022 to 2023. She is an alumna of the Barbican Young Poets programme and Roundhouse Poetry Collective

Esme is represented by Seren Adams at United Agents. You can find examples of Esme’s poetry and performances below.