British Sign Language and Visual Vernacular Poetry

A showcase of British Sign Language poetry, celebrating creativity, translation challenges, and the impact of visual poetry in the UK.

BSL laureates Translating poetry Wendy Cope Christina Rosetti Harry Guest Clive James

The Poetry Archive and the British Deaf Association (BDA) are collaborating to celebrate and share the work of the Deaf Laureate, alongside poetry created and signed by deaf poets and performers.

This collection celebrates the fluency and creativity of poetry created in British Sign Language. The annual BSL Poet Laureate initiative is the largest signed poetry competition in the UK. Each year poets send in videos of their poetry to the BDA and a winner is selected from thousands of entries.

Featuring the work of previous BSL Poet Laureates Kabir Kapoor and Ismael Mansoor, the collection also features four new commissioned recordings of British Sign Language translations of poems found on the Archive.

Poetry Archive will continue to add poetry in BSL and other visual vocabularies in future. We also aim to make translations available for as many poems as possible across our collections. Please get in touch for more information or if you can help us.

BSL Laureates: Kabir Kapoor and Ismeal Mansoon, provided by The British Deaf Association

Poem

Ismael Mansoor, BSL Poet Laureate 2024

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Poem

Interview with Ismael Mansoor

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Poem

Kabir Kapoor

Former BSL poet Kabir Kapoor performing his BSL poem

Poem

Behind the scenes with Kabir Kapoor (The British Deaf Association)

Ismael Mansoor, BSL Poet Laureate 2024

Interview with Ismael Mansoor

Kabir Kapoor

Behind the scenes with Kabir Kapoor (The British Deaf Association)

Ismael Mansoor

Ismael Mansoor has won the coveted role as the 2024 BSL Poet Laureate. Ismael will be supported by the British Deaf Association to create poetic works in British Sign Language around the campaign BSL in Our Hands, which advocates for free access to BSL for all deaf children and their families/carers. He will remain in post until the next National BSL Day on 28 April 2025.

Kabir Kapoor

Former BSL laureate, Kabir Kapoor, signing his poem which the British Deaf Association described as an 'uplifting poem about the Deaf and hearing community coming together and about positivity overcoming negativity. Kabir was the first UK BSL laureate.

German-born Kabir is a poet, visual language artist and designer. He uses expressive signed poetry, presented purely in a visual form for both Deaf and hearing audiences. Kabir has directed, produced and participated in performances both in the UK and around the world.

To win the Deaf Laureateship, deaf BSL signers 18+ from across the country were invited to submit a 2-minute video clip of their own original poetry in BSL. Entries were judged on the fluency and creativity of the language, the content and originality of the poem, and the confidence of the performance.

Rebecca Mansell, Chief Executive of the British Deaf Association, said: “We are thrilled to be hosting the BSL Poet Laureate for a second year. The excitement and passion around the competition has been a joy to see, and I’m excited to see it continue to grow for many years to come. Congratulations to our 2024 Poet Laureate Ismael Mansoor! The creativity that you brought to your BSL poetry really impressed the judges. The expressions that you gave from your own imagination were very strong and captivating."

The BSL/BDA collection features four new commissioned recordings of British Sign Language translations of poems found on the Archive.

The biggest challenges in translating poetry are understanding what the poet’s original intent was and the times it was written in, exploring metaphors and visual imagery, and acknowledging how we each as individuals interpret the poem and its meaning differently.

- Alexandra Shaw (RSLT)

The BSL/BDA collection features four new commissioned recordings made by the Archive featured British Sign Language translations of poems taken from the Archive. In this article we speak with Alexandra Shaw (RSLT), about the process and some of the challenges of translating poetry from English into BSL.

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'On a Train' by Wendy Cope, performed by Chisato Minamimura

On a Train

Performed by Chisato Minamimura

by Wendy Cope

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Chisato Minamimura

Chisato Minamimura is a Deaf performance artist, visual artist and British Sign Language art guide. Born in Japan and now based in London, Minamimura has created, performed and taught internationally and is currently a Work Place artist at The Place. Minamimura trained at Trinity Laban in London and holds a BA in Japanese Painting and MA from Yokohama National University. Minamimura approaches choreography and performance making from her unique perspective as a Deaf artist, experimenting with and exploring the visualisation of sound and music. By using dance and technology, Minamimura aims to share her experiences of sensory perception and human encounters.

'When I am Dead, my dearest' by Christina Rossetti, performed by Chisato Minamimura

When I am Dead, my dearest

Performed by Chisato Minamimura

by Christina Rossetti

The view of life after death in this poem is of a twilight where there may or may not be memory. In spite of Christina Rossetti’s avowed religion this is not a Christian view of the after-life. The paradox in the poem is that she’s able to summon up the pleasure of life so intensely and …

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'Spring, 1604' by Harry Guest, performed by Nadia Nadarajah

Spring, 1604

Performed by Nadia Nadarajah

by Harry Guest

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Nadia Nadarajah

Nadia Nadarajah is an actress who uses British Sign Language. She trained at the International Visual Theatre in Paris in physical and bilingual acting. She was also part of Deafinitely Theatre’s Creative Hub training scheme. Her credits include: Vampire Academy, See Hear, EastEnders, The Hub, One More Minute, Meet at the Edge, and Anthony & Cleopatra, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Grounded for Deafinitely Theatre.

'Where the Sea Meets the Desert' by Clive James, performed by Nadia Nadarajah

Where the Sea Meets the Desert

Performed by Nadia Nadarajah

by Clive James

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