Last night, Griot Gabriel won the Forward Prize for his poem ‘Where I’m From’ in the Best Single Poem Performed category.

We nominated Gabriel for this award after his incredible performance at the UNESCO Cities of Literature Slamovision last year, and we’re delighted to see it shared and recognised once more on this prestigious stage.

Gabriel’s poem ‘Where I’m From’ is, in his words, testament to the Manchester communities, particularly Longsight and Ardwick and the areas that raised him.

The poem itself says it all, “I’m from a place where we set the usual urban scene
I’m from a place where there’s an urban youth from the inner city and he’s got urban dreams.”

Our biggest congratulations to Gabriel who works hard across Manchester as a youth worker, bringing poetry to young people as well as running The Poetry Place at Factory International.

He is a hip-hop influenced poet, who describes himself as ‘Underdog, Under armour, Under God’. His poetry explores race, resistance, personal identity and relevant social issues. In a very short space of time as a creative, Griot Gabriel has been commissioned to write and perform with Chanel, Warner Bros, Manchester United, Manchester International Festival, performed at Glastonbury 23, and performed at the opening book launch of Jason Reynolds (the creator of Miles Morales, Spiderman).