NEEDLE (Arts Council Funded Project Announcement)
I’m absolutely over the moon to share that my Developing Your Creative Practice proposal, ‘NEEDLE’, has been awarded funding by the Arts Council.
Meet Cara:
Cara Thompson is a writer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist based in Nottingham, UK. Nottingham’s Nature Poet Laureate and Wasafiri’s Writer in Residence, Cara’s practice spans poetry, performance, textiles, sound, and oral history. A proud descendant of Jamaican migrants who came to Britain as part of the pioneering Windrush generation, her work explores the richness and complexities of Caribbean-British heritage, inviting audiences to reflect on shared histories, memory, and humanity.
Cara is currently developing NEEDLE, an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) funded project exploring textiles, oral history and sounscabes as tools for poetic and material storytelling. Through sewing, embroidery, listening, and interviews with family members and textile practitioners, the project investigates how knowledge, memory, and care are held and transmitted through fabric and handwork.
Cara’s poetry has been commissioned and featured by Penguin Random House, HuffPost, Oxfam, the NHS Leadership Academy, UNESCO, Simon & Schuster, and others. In 2021, Cara won UNESCO Cities of Literature’s international slam poetry competition Slamovision with the poem Island Screams (Where Are You From).
Alongside her work as an artist, Cara is a musician, educator, programmer, and an active member of Nottingham’s creative community. She has been a director of Nottingham Poetry Festival since 2023. From 2024 to 2026, Cara served as an Assistant Producer for Nottingham-based poetry collective GOBS, co-directing their development programme and live showcase Earth at Nottingham Playhouse. Cara is also a founding member of the Nottingham Black Creatives Network and hosted the group’s debut residency at Saltbox Presents in April 2024.
Cara holds a First Class Honours BA in English Literature, and an MA (Distinction) in Modern Contemporary Literature, both from University of Manchester. She also studied at McGill University in Montreal during her BA.
Navigation:
News:
Wasafiri Writer in Residence Announcement
Learn more about my role as Wasafiri's Writer in Residence and register for my workshop series 'Slow Poetry' here!
Nottingham Nature Poet Laureate Announcement
Learn more about my role as Nottingham's first Nature Poet Laureate here!
Interview with Cara Thompson (Nottingham College)
Check out my interview with Christena and the Journalism students of Nottingham College about my poetry journey!
Podcast - Where I Belong: The Legend of the River Mumma by Cara Thompson (New Perspectives Theatre)
Check out my episode from the New Perspectives Nottingham-Baghdad podcast project, 'The Legend of the River Mumma', here.
Interview - Cara Thompson: Creative, Candid, Champion (Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature)
Read my full interview with Charlotte Smyth here.
Interview - We Are Notts: The Power of Words with Cara Thompson and Meg Turner (BBC Radio Nottingham)
Listen to the full episode of We Are Notts here.
Crowdfunder - George Powe Blue Plaque Campaign / Don’t Blame the Blacks (Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature)
Learn about the George Powe Blue Plaque campaign and the reprint of George's seminal pamphlet Don't Blame the Blacks, featuring 'Island Screams', here.
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