Jasmine Gardosi is the current Birmingham Poet Laureate. She is a multiple slam champion, beatboxer and winner of the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry. Her work exploring identity, LGBTQ+ issues and mental health has appeared on Button Poetry, at the Tate Modern, Glastonbury Festival and across BBC Radio, including BBC Radio 3’s The Verb, Radio 4 and BBC Asian Network. She was featured on Sky Arts’ BAFTA-winning show, Life & Rhymes, and her poem about the pandemic, filmed on a rollercoaster, was broadcast across America on PBS after going viral on Twitter. Her performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall was recently broadcast on BBC Four and can be watched here. ​ A two-time recipient of an Honorable Mention for Outstanding International Entry in the Button Poetry video contest, her work has been featured on their channel to tens of thousands around the world. Her video-poem about trans voices, ‘Say It Anyway’, was commissioned by the Brontë Parsonage Museum as their Writer In Residence to mark the bicentenary of Anne Brontë, and was recently featured at Flatpack Festival. Her commission for Standard Chartered saw her showcased globally as part of International Women’s Day 2018 and she is a previous BBC Arts Young Creative and Poet in Residence for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. ​ She was recently commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre to create ‘Dancing To Music You Hate’, her debut show exploring gender identity, which features poetry, beatbox and Celtic dubstep. The show premiered to standing ovations and was shortlisted for Best Spoken Word Show in the Saboteur Awards. Now available for tour bookings, its next showing is at Symphony Hall on 24th Jan – tickets available here. ​ Jasmine led West Midlands Poets’ Place for eight years. She now continues to run school and community workshops around the country. ​ Her debut pamphlet Hurtz is published by Verve Poetry Press and is available here.