Andrea Mbarushimana and Diamond Kayode-Osunlana have been awarded the titles of Coventry Poet Laureate (2025-27) and Coventry Young Poet Laureate (2025-27) by Coventry Central Library.
The poets were presented with their awards by Lord Mayor Councillor Rachel Lancaster, at an event at Coventry Central library.
During the event, Diamond (Coventry Young Poet Laureate), read her poem called 'Glorious Indeed' and Andrea (Coventry Poet Laureate), read 'Emergency rescue poem (after Bob Dylan)'.
Andrea's poetry journey start early with a love of children's verse. Her first collection 'The Africa in my House' was published in 2017, followed by the competition winning 'Airshow' in 2019 and Fatbergs in 2021. Her latest collection 'Chatbot' was published this year by Hedgehog Press.
Diamond is a 16 year-old writer whose work provokes deep thought, and bursts with rhythm. Hailing from Coventry, Diamond blends spoken word poetry and page poetry to explore community, society, and identity, on a personal level, and on a wider scale.
Both poets faced a challenging selection process to achieve the prestigious titles.
Cllr Dr Kindy Sandhu, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said:
“The importance of poetry, performance and reading for pleasure is invaluable for our emotional enrichment, literacy, learning and future attainment.
“I’d like to congratulate Andrea and Diamond for their achievement in becoming Poets Laureate for Coventry for the next two years and in representing our city nationally through verse.”
The Coventry Poet Laureate and Coventry Young Poet Laureate are honorary positions which will involve during their tenure, writing poems to commemorate significant moments, giving performances of their work and encouraging an interest in poetry across the city.
The Coventry Poet Laureate has been offered a place on Writing West Midlands' prestigious Room 204 Writer Development Programme. The Coventry Young Poet Laureate will be given free membership of Writing West Midlands' Spark Young Writers Programme.
Andrea will be returning to Central Library to sign books at an event on Saturday 8 November 3pm-4pm.