Shelley Memorial Project welcomes Malibu!

Carol Hayton explains how the Shelley Memorial Project team were delighted to welcome a special guest to the August project meeting.  

Nathan Hassall speaking in Malibu

Nathan Hassall is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Malibu, California, where he made history as the city's fifth, and youngest ever, Poet Laureate. And what's even more exciting about this achievement is that Nathan hails from Horsham.  

The Shelley Memorial Project committee was first introduced to Nathan when he entered their annual poetry competition from a Horsham address; he mentioned on his application form that he was mainly resident in Malibu, California. The SMP team is always delighted when the competition attracts interest from overseas and was intrigued to know more about the journey that took a poet from Horsham to the sun-soaked shores of the West Coast of America. They were even more intrigued to learn that Nathan had achieved acclaim as the Poet Laureate of Malibu.   

When the Shelley Memorial Project committee members contacted Nathan to invite him to tell them more about his experience, they were very pleased that he agreed to join them on his next visit to Horsham to visit his family. 

Nathan holds a Master's degree (Distinction) in Creative Writing from The University of Kent.  He now lives in Malibu with his wife, who is from the city. His involvement in community poetry projects in Malibu resulted in him being encouraged to apply to become the city's poet laureate, which he did and was duly elected for a two-year term. The aim of the Laureate's role, which is funded by the city council and forms part of the Malibu Arts Commission's programme, is to encourage community engagement with poetry and promote the positive impact on well-being of involvement with the arts.   Nathan's term as Poet Laureate ended this year and in recognition of his dedicated two-year term, the City of Malibu will honour his service by permanently installing a sculptural stone in Malibu Legacy Park, with one of his original poems etched into the surface. 

Nathan is also the founder of The Poetry Vessel, a poetry education company he runs with his wife, Rachael.   Nathan describes their mission as ' to entertain, inspire, and educate through the art of poetry using videos, podcasts, online courses, and live workshops. The Poetry Vessel helps people find and refine their creative voice, develop their poetry practice, and become part of a global community that values the transformative power of language.' 

Following the meeting with Nathan, David Hide, Chair of the Shelley Memorial Project, commented, 'It was fantastic to find out about another poet from Horsham who has achieved such brilliant recognition of his talent. Talking to Nathan about the work he has done as the poet Laureate, and continues to do through the poetry Vessel is a real inspiration to the Shelley Memorial project which shares Nathan's aim of encouraging community engagement with poetry and the arts.

Arts and poetry lovers interested in finding out about Nathan's  work can subscribe to the The Poetry Vessel with Nathan Hassall’s YouTube channel and sign up to the official mailing list.  

‘We think the idea of having a poet Laureate for the community is an excellent one and has caught on in many communities in this country as well as other parts of the world, and the  establishment of an Arts Commission, with a defined mission statement to recognise the value of the arts and support them locally, would be a great asset to our community, maybe something that should be considered in the new local authority structures that are due to be implemented.'     

Nathan and some of the SMP committee at the September meeting