Write Now: The World We Want – 2026 Spoken Word Poetry Showcase
The 2026 Spoken Word Poetry Showcase, Write Now: The World We Want, was a joyful celebration of creativity, courage and student voice. Through original spoken-word performances, Year 7 and Year 9 students demonstrated how poetry can become a powerful vehicle for critical thinking, advocacy and positive change.
Inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), students explored global issues including climate change, inequality, conflict, wellbeing and access to education, responding to one central question:
What kind of world do we want, and what must we do now to create it?
Poetry with Purpose
The programme began with collaborative discussions exploring themes of People, Planet, Peace & Justice, Happiness & Health, and Creativity & Education. Students then researched an SDG of personal significance before transforming their ideas into original poems that combined research, imagination and lived experience.
The showcase opened with the collaborative class poem, Write Now: The World We Want, demonstrating the power of many voices coming together to imagine a fairer, kinder and more sustainable future.
From Page to Stage
Throughout the programme, students experimented with a range of poetic forms while developing performance skills including voice, rhythm, gesture, pace and expression. Watching them grow in confidence as performers was one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey.
A special thank you to former Spoken Word Poetry Showcase participants Alpha and Khongkwan, who returned as Year 9 mentors to support our Year 7 poets throughout the writing and rehearsal process. Their leadership embodied the spirit of mentorship and community that makes this programme so special.
Published Young Authors
Each student also created a poetry art print to accompany their writing, carefully considering how imagery, typography and design could enhance meaning. Their work was published in the 2026 Spoken Word Poetry Anthology, which will be archived in the National Library of Thailand, recognising every participant as a published author.
As facilitator of the Spoken Word Poetry Showcase at Bangkok Patana School and a spoken-word poet myself, I am incredibly proud of the creativity, empathy and courage these students demonstrated. Through writing, performance and publication, they discovered that their voices matter – and that poetry has the power not only to reflect the world around us, but to imagine the world we hope to create.
