A voice for the city’s conscience, reflecting events, anniversaries, communities, histories and futures of Bristol.
Bristol City Poet
Since 2016, Bristol has had a City Poet to tap into public opinion and act as a communicator of local views.
If you are interested in booking or commissioning Bristol City Poet Sukina Noor, or for any other media enquiries, please contact info@lyrafest.com.
The current Bristol City Poet (2024-2026) is Sukina Noor.
Sukina was named Bristol City Poet in October 2024. She will write 10+ commissioned poems, perform at civic and community events, and run outreach projects and initiatives around the city.
Since becoming City Poet, Sukina has been exploring the themes of homecoming, belonging and what Bristol means to different people. She has:
delivered a 5-week workshop series with Bristol Drugs Project
ran workshops at her former schools (including Montpelier High and Fairfield High)
written a poem for the BBC live coverage of the Women’s Rugby World Cup Semi-Final in 2025, seen by millions of people around the country (see poem and video below)
written and performed a poem at the Women’s Football League Cup Final, which took place at Ashton Gate in 2026
performed her inaugural poem to a sold out St. George’s Bristol for Lyra Festival 2025
curated ‘Poetry and the Sacred’ at Loco Klub for Lyra Festival 2026, blending poetry, sound bath and spirituality
been on the judging panel for the 2025 and 2026 Lyra Bristol Poetry Slam
ran public workshops at Arnolfini themed on ‘The Pen as Protest’, ‘Myth, Movement and Personal Legend’ and ‘Words That Carry Us Home (inspired by Muslim writers).
ran workshops for a Caribbean Elders group in Bristol (see poem ‘Gold’ below)
performed, and written a poem for, the Race Relations Act 60th anniversary event at Wills Memorial Building
performed at the One City Gathering at City Hall
attended a writing residency in Mull, Scotland (see poem ‘What Mull Taught Me’ below)
delivered a keynote speech on ‘Ecosystems’ at University of Bristol.
delivered a keynote speech for Bristol City of Sanctuary
In her final months as City Poet, Sukina will deliver a workshop for St. Paul’s Carnival, write and perform a poem for the official opening of the University of Bristol Temple Quarter campus, and produce a poetry pamphlet which will be launched in October 2026.
Sukina’s Poems:
Sukina Noor has written 10+ new poems during her time as Bristol City Poet. You can view them below:
“The first poem I wrote as the Bristol City Poet was a poem of curiosity, I hadn’t started any of my projects or workshops around the city so didn’t know where to start, other than to explore what it means to be the Bristol City Poet. This poem is a poetic inquiry into what it means to be the voice, soul or heart of the city.”
Sukina wrote her second poem on a residential writing retreat at Mull, Scotland. In the poem, she explores her own Scottish ancestry.
“This poem was produced as a part of a nationwide initiative called Our Freedom: Then and Now which marked 80 years since the end of WWII. Trinity Arts Centre was the Bristol host of this project and I led poetry workshops with various community groups in the city. This workshop was produced after a session with a Caribbean Elders group called Golden Agers who spoke about their experiences in Bristol as young nurses after the war. Their words and lived experiences inspired this poem.”
“When I first got the role of Bristol City Poet the first organisation I reached out to was Bristol Drug Project who do incredible work in the city. I had been a guest poetry teacher on a project called Hip Hop Gardens there and fell in love with the community and the people. This piece was written after I led a 4 week poetry course reflecting on my experience holding space for this community to write poetry and tell their stories.”
“The skeleton of this poem came when I first moved back to Bristol after having lived in London for 18 years. I felt this deep urge to feel grounded here and understood that this city is where my story began. This idea of being rooted here became an important reflection due to the rise of the far-right protests, the idea of being from somewhere and deeply wanting it to feel like home, the sense of yearning to belong is the sentiment of this poem.”
“This poem was something that I had wanted to write for sometime. Ever since the far-right protests that took place on Old Market. My first intention was to write about how Bristol stood up against them, but as the Marches continued I was aware of how heavily this feeling of being the other was sitting in my bones, I was aware of feeling anxious and afraid. So this poem emerged first. I wrote it for an Education Conference for Bristol City Council that explored the lived experiences of people in the city, and as a Black Muslim woman I think these words spoke to the reality that many people like me face.”
“I was very honoured to have been invited to write a poem for the Women’s World Cup and the semi-finals were being held in Bristol. The poem was recorded at St George’s in Bristol and aired before the match. It was a great opportunity, slightly different style of theme that my usual but it was such a great experience.”
You can also watch the video below from BBC’s live coverage of the Women’s Rugby Cup Semi Finals 2025. The poem was seen by millions of viewers across the country.
Media/Blogs
About the Role
Traditionally, the person who holds this role can become the city’s conscience and can also reflect on what makes the city tick. What they convey through their poetry and creative writing can provide important insights onto contemporary events and feelings.
Some of the events that City Poets have performed at include the State of the City Address, World Book Day, Windrush Day, Bristol Pride, International Women’s Day, and many more anniversaries, celebrations and community events. Poems may be written for the opening of new buildings, commemorative anniversaries, current events, and in collaboration with community groups and young people.
The role of the City Poet was founded and run by Bristol Ideas in 2016, in association with the Mayor’s Office, and since 2024 has been run by Lyra Bristol Poetry.
The current City Poet is Sukina Noor (2024-2026). Former City Poets include Kat Lyons (2022-2024), Caleb Parkin (2020-2022), Vanessa Kisuule (2018-2020) and Miles Chambers (2016-2018).
Sukina’s response to being named Bristol’s 5th City Poet:
“I am beyond thrilled to have been selected for the role of Bristol City Poet for the next two years. It means so much to be given this opportunity to connect to my city through the art of poetry.
I am a daughter of Bristol, born and raised in Easton and after 18 years of living in London I returned home to lay my roots in the city of my birth just before the pandemic hit, so this role is a stunning opportunity to reconnect, to listen to the pulse of my city and pay attention to its heart beat. Being chosen for this is a beautiful homecoming gift, a way to reconnect to the soil where I took my first steps, whose streets shaped me and impacted the way I exist in the world. I am excited to explore how much Bristol has changed and how much has stayed the same and what new worlds are brimming beneath the surface.
To be able to explore this renewed relationship with Bristol through a poetic lens would give birth to a rich body of work, the perspective of a familiar stranger. I am very keen to explore the potential poetry has to connect communities and am bursting with ideas of ways to bring poetry into unlikely places within the city and make it more accessible. I'm interested in cultivating places of sanctuary where poetry is a safe space to explore our truth and finding ways to highlight the plethora of voices who call this city home.”
Previous City Poets (2016 - 2024)
Kat Lyons was Bristol’s fourth City Poet, appointed in July 2022. At the end of their term, Lyra Bristol Poetry published a pamphlet of their work, ’Everything comes from somewhere’, which is available to download as a PDF via the link below. You can also view their poetry video ‘10 things to remember about surviving climate crisis’ here.
Kat Lyons (2022 - 2024)
Caleb Parkin (2020 - 2022)
Caleb Parkin was Bristol’s third City Poet, appointed towards the end of 2020 when Bristol was in a state of flux with endlessly changing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. At the end of Caleb’s term, Bristol Ideas published an anthology of his commissions, ‘All the Cancelled Parties’, which is available to download as a PDF at the link below.
Vanessa Kisuule was the second Bristol City Poet to be appointed. At the end of her term, Bristol Ideas published an anthology of her commissions, ‘The View From Above and Below’, which is available to download as a PDF at the link below.
You can view the film made by Bristol City Council of her 2020 poem City of Hope here.
Vanessa Kisuule (2018 - 2020)
Miles Chambers was Bristol’s first City Poet. At the end of his term, Bristol Ideas published an anthology of his commissions, ‘This is Our City’, which is available to download as a PDF at the link below.
Miles Chambers (2016 - 2018)
