Listen: you are going to give underrepresented people the opportunities we need to tell stories, but what you are also going to do is respect us as ARTISTS: that means editing us properly, challenging us, encouraging us to be formally inventive and experimental where applicable.

This DOESN'T mean insisting we must write or think like white men of yore to be taken seriously. It DOES mean that you will not platform sub par work from us just because you cynically assume our audience is more invested by what we represent than by our actual craft.

I've had a career as a writer for 11 years, 2 published books, work in the Guardian & other reputable publications yet have never been rigorously edited when I should have been! I am a good writer & getting better every day, but would have been better sooner with more guidance.

We're in a rough time for quality control. Editors are being slashed from magazine and newspaper payrolls, the internet has, for better & for worse, democratized the publishing process. It's hard not to be seduced by the ease of broadcasting your work with a simple click.

But yo, I'm looking back at so much of my work and thinking: now, why did you let me publish this?? I take responsibility for the limits of my writing prowess at various stages of my career, but we also need to invest in diverse editors and mentors to keep our shit cute!

I think I'm still dealing with the after effects of coming up through the spoken word scene which I will love and be grateful for til my dying day but it's a scene arguably predicated on permission giving over editing and craftsmanship (at least in my v specific experience!)

There are many spoken word poets who are EXCELLENT craftspeople and attend masterclasses and workshops regularly, please don't get that twisted. But that wasn't me. I got 10s in slams and basically thought that was all I needed to test the success of my writing, lol.

Let me wrap this up, this is a long reckoning that I need to have with me, myself and I. But just wanted to throw this provocation to the arts world that whilst you're rushing to publish and commission us, you also should be pushing us to be the best we can be!