Young Writers Collective
The Young Writers Collective is a writing group for young people aged 18 – 30 and living in South East London.
The Young Writers Collective is the latest iteration of our work with young people.
Spread the Word’s created and ran a laureate programme from 2013, initially as the Young Poet Laureate for London, and from 2016 to 2020 as the Young People’s Laureate for London. The Young Poet Laureates for London were: Warsan Shire (2013), Aisling Fahey (2014) and Selina Nwulu (2015) and the Young People’s Laureates for London were: Caleb Femi (2016), Momtaza Mehri (2018), Theresa Lola (2019) and Cecilia Knapp (2020). Over four years, the Young People’s Laureate for London programme delivered workshops to 9,300 Londoners and performances to over 28,400 people and reached over 326,000 people through digital engagement campaigns.
What does it involve?
Our young writers:
- Meet other young people interested in writing
- Learn new techniques to improve their poetry, writing and performance skills
- Become more confident in their voice as a poet, writer or spoken word artist
- Become part of a supportive creative community
- Work with professional writers and get an insight into having a creative career
- Have their voice heard
- Get their work published
- Have fun and make new connections
- Have the opportunity to take part in Deptford Literature Festival
Who is it for?
The Young Writers Collective is for young people who:
- Are interested in creating poetry, spoken word or stories
- Are just starting out, or are already being creative with words and performance
- Want to get their voices heard about issues that matter to them
- Are aged 18-30 and live in London
- As we’re based in Deptford in Lewisham, we encourage applications from young creatives living in Lewisham, Bromley, Greenwich or Southwark
When does the collective meet?
The Young Writers Collective programme is active between October and April. We’ve run two editions so far, in 2024 and 2025.
Funding dependent, the collective will be back in January 2026. Applications will open in October 2025. Check back here or sign up to our newsletter so you’re the first to know when applications open.
