Upper Sixth Form Oundle School pupil, Jonny Wiles (17) recently won the school-pupil category of The Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Competition, run by Cambridge University Political Forum.
The aim of the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize is to present new and captivating literary works to the world, propelling social change. The judges are especially interested in poets who enjoy performing their writings and competition winners were invited to read their poems at The Benjamin Zephaniah prize-giving event ‘Vibrant Visions’ on 1 November this year, as part of the University's Black History Month celebrations.
Jonny’s poem, The Rut opens with:
There is always something else.
There is always something more important.
Jonny has already published a book entitled 'Wet Tuesday' – a Quirky Little Tale (Written on Wednesday), which is available to purchase on Amazon.co.uk at a price of £4.99.
Jonny describes the book as a ‘stream of consciousness’ in the style of stand-up comedy but using the written word. Full of anecdotes, Jonny’s writing style may be compared to that of Stephen Fry – who Jonny considers to be his main influence. According to Jonny, his book is exactly what a bestselling book should be: it’s interesting, it’s factual, it’s relatable (hopefully), and it fits in with the stereotype of published works nowadays: self indulgent rubbish!
Jonny is currently studying Italian, English and Spanish and hopes to study English at Cambridge.
In ‘About the Author’, Jonny states his ultimate ambition is to act, or achieve fame by some other method that doesn’t involve him playing sports or being a genius!
Jonny is currently working on his next book and has also been working on a collection of (more serious) poems.