all news
Ruth Yates is Sheffield’s new Poet Laureate
Ruth Yates has been announced as successor of another Squad writer, Beth Davies, as Sheffield’s new Poet Laureate, taking on the city’s civic poetry role for the next two years.
The announcement was made at the Off the Shelf Festival, where Ruth was introduced as the latest writer to become an ambassador for poetry, creative writing and literary culture across Sheffield. The Poet Laureate role was established in 2018 to champion poetry across the city and inspire new generations of writers.
A Sheffield-based poet, Ruth’s work has been widely published in anthologies including Five: An Anthology and Like Flyering for the Revolution: The Verve Anthology of Protest, as well as magazines including The North, Route 57 and Pennine Platform.
A four-time winner of the Simon Elvin/Foyle Young Poets Award, Ruth has also been shortlisted for the Eric Gregory Award and highly commended in both the Resurgence Poetry Prize and the Disabled Poets Prize.
Ruth says “It’s a huge honour to be the next Sheffield Poet Laureate, following in the footsteps of such great poets: Danae Wellington, Warda Yassin, Beth Davies and Otis Mensah.
I feel very lucky to be in a role which involves sharing the joy of poetry in the city which has become my home.”