Charmaine Riley
I’m Charmaine Riley 28 years of age, born and bred in Leeds West Yorkshire England UK. However, I’m proud to say that both my maternal grandparents (Sylvia White Riley and Will Riley) hail from Montserrat particularly my grandma who brought me up from the age of six which wasn’t easy as I have a condition called Cerebral Palsy this means I’m unable to walk. As a result, she was, is and always will be my biggest inspiration!
I began writing poetry in my mid teens as a way of expressing myself. Many of the poems I had written during this time became part of my first collection Eye-Opening published 2004 thanks to help and encouragement of a very talented performance poet Michelle Scally-Clarke. Eye-Opening is now on its 3rd edition, something I can’t quite believe.
Around the same time I had the privilege of joining the performance poetry group Leeds Young Authors and they made me see that my work was worthy of been listened to. On my debut performance with the group we were on the same stage as the renowned poet Lem Sissay which was pretty cool. Experiences such as this and other creative endeavours shaped my current collection My Global Comment published December 2010. You’ve probably worked out from the title that the most of the poems within this book are much less introspective and focused more on the outside world. Therefore, I’m hoping that this collection is one with which more people can relate.
Participants will be given an opportunity to hear Charmaine’s work during the Speakers’ Corner on Saturday November 12, 2011.