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Dear Reader,Thank you for picking up this year’s EiM Poetry Anthology. Whether this is your first time reading one of these collections or you’ve been following the project for a while, I’m so glad you’re here.This project has grown a lot over the past few years-and this has been our biggest and busiest one yet.We’ve had more schools involved than ever before,and, for the first time, we’re including work from our DUCKS poets alongside those from primary and secondary. The result is a brilliant mix-some poems are bold, some quiet, some hilarious, and someincredibly moving.Our theme this year, Everyday Superheroes, really struck a chord. Students spent time thinking about who the real heroes are in their lives, and what qualities areactually worth celebrating. Some of the responses were laugh-out-loud funny-especially from our younger writers, who imagined supervillain household objects and unlikely powers. Others turned the whole idea of heroism upside down. And many pieces gave careful,thoughtful insight into what courage, kindness, and strength can really look like in everyday life.If your work made it into this collection-huge congratulations. This was the most submissions I’ve ever seen across the EiM schools, and the quality was incredibly high. If you didn’t make it in this time, please don’t be disheartened-so many brilliant poems just missed out. I’m really grateful to have read your work,and I hope you’ll keep writing.We’re always looking for ways to push this project further-and it’s been amazing to see how it continues to evolve. This year, the creativity wasn’t limited to the page. Across the schools, students responded to the Everyday Superheroes theme through dance pieces,original songs, drama sketches, rap battles, painted portraits, and even VR installations. Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi in particular deserves a special mention for the sheer range and ambition of their work.One of my favourite additions to the anthology is the audio element. You’ll spot QR codes throughout the book-scan them and you’ll be able to hear students performing their own poems. It brings a whole new layer to the experience, and I really encourage you to give them a listen. Hearing a young writer bring their words to life in their own voice is something special For the best experience, we recommend to use yourphone’s own camera application to scan the QR code.We also ran this year’s EiM Poet of the Year competition, judged by the brilliant Theresa Lola and Harry Baker.The standard of entries was incredibly high, and choosing winners wasn’t easy. A huge well done to our two highly commended poets:Rose Z. - 'Mortal Wish' (Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou) Amelia P. - 'Her Hero' (Dulwich College Seoul) And the biggest congratulations to Sabina W. from Dulwich College Seoul, who became this year’s EiM Poet of the Year with her outstanding poem and performance of 'Insomnia'.Next year, we’ll be coming together in person for our first ever EiM Poetry Festival, which I’m really excited about. But for now, I just want to say thank you-to every student who shared their voice, and to all the brilliant teachers who help make this project such a success every year. And of course, to Jenni Harrison and Edgar Zillmann, whose support and hard work have been essential in making this project happen. There’s so much more we can do together-but for now, I hope you enjoy what’s here.These poems are thoughtful, funny, sharp and surprising. They’ve stayed with me, and I think some of them might stay with you too.With thanks,Mark Grist
