Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first female poet, the first Scottish-born poet and the first openly gay poet to hold the Poet Laureate position.
Simon Robert Armitage is an English poet, playwright and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is a British writer and dub poet. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.
Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author, in whose work "the journey is the stepping stone to lyrical reflections on the human condition". She is known for her poetic explorations of migration, and of science; also for her involvement in music, wildlife conservation, and Greece, ancient and modern. She is Trustee for conservation charity New Networks for Nature and has served on the board of the Zoological Society of London. In 2013 she joined King's College London, where she is Professor of Poetry.
Liz Lochhead Hon FRSE is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011.
Michael Wayne Rosen is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009.
Jacqueline Margaret Kay,, is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works Other Lovers (1993), Trumpet (1998) and Red Dust Road (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998 and the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year Award in 2011.
The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in the London Borough of Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, dance, applied theatre, production arts and the creative arts film and media production (FMP), interactive digital design (IDD), visual arts and design (VAD). Selective in its intake, the school is notable for its celebrity alumni.
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, is a British author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other, jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker.
Luke Wright is a British poet, performer, publisher, curator and broadcaster.
George Virden Watsky, better known mononymously as Watsky, is an American rapper, singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, poet, author, and illustrator.
Humza Mohammed Arshad is an English actor, comedian and writer of Pakistani descent. He produces the web series Diary of a Bad Man (2010–2013) and Badman (2015–present). His homemade YouTube videos have been viewed more than 100 million times, which makes him one of the most popular online comedians in the UK.
Don't Flop Entertainment is the largest rap battle league based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by longtime friends Eurgh and Cruger in 2008. Since then, notable performers include Oshea, Sensa, Lunar C, Rizzle, Tony D, Blizzard, Mercury Music Prize nominee Soweto Kinch, and Mark Grist. Several rappers from Don't Flop have also made appearances in the Canadian rap battle league King of the Dot, as well as youth and music broadcaster SB.TV. American rappers Illmaculate and Soul Khan have also made appearances on Don't Flop, both as rappers and judges. Don't Flop events feature all elements of hip hop culture, including cappella emcee battles, freestyle battles, grime clashes, DJ sets, live performances by hip-hop/rap artists and more recently at the 'BLAM' events there has been live art and breakdancing.
Lloyd Leonard Ahlquist, better known by his online alias EpicLLOYD, is an American internet personality best known for the YouTube video series Epic Rap Battles of History, along with Peter Shukoff. Ahlquist has performed as an MC, actor, improviser and writer. In addition to the rap battles, Ahlquist, along with Shukoff, appeared in a cameo in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
Adam Riches is an English comedian, and 2011 winner of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award. After his success at the Edinburgh Fringe, he became familiar to UK television audiences through his exaggerated comic parody of actor Sean Bean on the panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown between 2016 and 2020.
George Mpanga, better known by his stage name George the Poet, is a Peabody award-winning, British spoken-word artist, poet, rapper, and podcast host with an interest in social and political issues. Mpanga came to prominence as a poet, from which he progressed to spoken word and hip hop. This led to him being signed by Island Records and culminating in the release of his debut EP The Chicken and the Egg to critical acclaim. However, Mpanga felt constrained by the art form, quit rapping, and left his record label before the release of his debut album. He moved on to performing poetry and created a podcast entitled Have You Heard George's Podcast?
Scottee is an artist and writer from Kentish Town, North London
Harry Baker is a British spoken word artist, author and poet.
Hannah Lavery is a Scottish short story writer, poet, playwright and performer. Her poetry and prose has been published by Gutter Magazine, The Scotsman newspaper, 404 Ink, and others. In September 2021 she took on the role of Edinburgh Makar.
Ben Norris is a British poet, playwright and actor.
