A visit from Karl Nova

On Wednesday 20th of May, Karl Nova paid a special visit to our Year 7 students.

Karl Nova is one of the UK’s leading poets and hip-hop artists delivering his work in his own unique, witty and energetic style.

Born and raised in London, as well as Lagos, Karl always found it difficult to fit in. This reflects in his music because he speaks as one who knows what it is like to be on the on the margins, in a world where conformity seems to be the key in gaining acceptance. He has always been one to defy expectations and go against the grain.

Karl has also won the CLiPPA 2018 Award, and one of the UK’s most prestigious literary awards, the Ruth Rendell Award 2020.

The poet gave a presentation for the whole year group, wherein he talked about his childhood experiences, ones that many of our students found they could relate to, he described how his love for rap music encouraged him to become a poet, and he even performed a few of his poems for our students in a fun and interactive way.

Towards the end of the presentation, the year 7s had the opportunity to ask the author their questions, some of which, funnily enough, centred around football, thanks to the author’s choice of T-Shirt, which sported the Arsenal logo. When the Q&A part of the presentation was over, there was a book signing for the students who pre-ordered Karl’s books, Rhythm and Poetry and The Curious Case of Karl Nova.

After the presentation, Karl led a poetry workshop in the library for a select 30 students who were nominated by their English teachers, based on their academic efforts and good behaviour. The students enjoyed exploring the repetition technique in popular songs, which they later incorporated into their very own poems.

This was a fun, rewarding and enriching experience for our Year 7 students, many of whom were enthusiastically asking at the end if and when Karl would return to Barking Abbey School for another visit!