Jacob Sam-La Rose is one of the country’s most inspirational poets. He is the author of two poetry collections, Communion (2006) and Breaking Silence (2011), and his writing appears in many anthologies, including Identity Parade: New British & Irish Poets (2010), Poems For Love (2009), and Red (2010), but it is his collective work across literature that has earned Sam-La Rose the title of ‘one-man literary industry’. Sam-La Rose has played a pivotal role in many projects that have been key to developing a generation of literary talents, such as Barbican Young Poets and the London Teenage Poetry SLAM. He has worked with the Ministry of Education in Malaysia, the British Council, the National Theatre, the Arvon Foundation, the Barbican, the Roundhouse and Apples & Snakes in mentoring young and emerging poets. He says, ‘My work as a poet came to mean more than just being the best writer I could be. For it to exist in the real world, my work has to be bigger than myself, in the same way that so many of my elders worked for the benefit of future generations – and so it extends into changing mainstream attitudes towards poetry, and helping to nurture other emerging poets.’ It is this generosity of spirit and collectivist outlook that sets him apart from many other poets and performers. His collection, Breaking Silence, is taught on the UK’s A-Level syllabus. He currently teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at Goldsmiths University.
