In 2019, Our Island has partnered with a new initiative, the Manx Youth Bard.

Budding poets aged 11 to 17 have until February 16 to enter and compete to become the Island’s first Youth Bard.

We spoke to the accomplished Manx poet and creator of the role, Bridge Carter, to find out why she believes that poetry and storytelling are such important mediums and why we should all give them a go.

’Storytelling and poetry go back further than the Stone Age, and we as humans have always been fascinated by fables, whether they are told by way of cave drawings, Egyptian hieroglyphics, or in children’s story books,’ said Bridge.

’Storytelling unites us with others from a very young age. It’s how we learn about great explorers, adventures and characters, and it fuels our imagination and creativity with the spoken word bringing life to the stories and sonnets from the page.

’As a child I loved reading stories and soon was inspired to write my own. Often the only way I could remember things was to put them into rhyme and so my love poetry was born.

’Whilst my prose has changed in many ways over the years, I always try to base it on a story, whether from the depths of my imagination or the funny anecdotes that I encounter in life.

’In 2012, I took the plunge and entered into the first Manx Litfest Poetry Slam and I was fortunate enough to win.

’That event took me on a rollercoaster of other creative and poetic paths which included my moving on to work behind the scenes of the Poetry Slam to paving the way for the idea of The Manx Bard.

’The Youth Bard seemed like a natural progression of the project. Our island has a special relationship with poetry and storytelling and there has been a major resurgence in the art form in recent years particularly with our younger generation.

’Since starting my journey I have been lucky enough to be part of the interschool poetry slams and have found many of the performances poignant, electric and so very exciting and I am so looking forward to how our future Youth Bards will share their stories through the spoken word.

’As they say "the pen is mightier than the sword" and once written the power engulfs the soul and when performed, it’s out there, your words working in conjunction with your expressiveness a togetherness that is a very powerful concept.’

For more information on how can get involved in the Manx Youth Bard, you can email [email protected]. To find out more about what Our Island has planned in the coming months, go online to ourisland.im, email [email protected] or call 687007.

by the Year of Our Island Project Team

www.ourisland.im