Anthology 2020: The Story of Us

The Story of Us is an anthology of poems which explores the connections between the past, present and future in poems reflecting on love and loss, family and faith, time and hope. Written and produced by students who are part of Nottingham Trent University’s WRAP programme, it features poetry which teaches us to learn from the past and present as we step into the future.

We’re sharing a poem a day between the 1st and 21st of March on Instagram, celebrating UNESCO World Poetry Day on 21st March with 21 poems for 2021. This year the theme of World Poetry Day is ‘Reconnecting People’, so we send The Story of Us from students at Nottingham Trent University, in the heart of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, to people we know and miss, and people we don’t know (yet), in the hope of connecting and reconnecting.

So, we are proud to present the WRAP anthology. Ta-dah! Click on the poem title to see the poem, swipe to find out more about our writers, and download the whole anthology below.

• Foreword by Dr Becky Cullen
• Maps Of The Future by Justyna Cuglewska
• Past by Munashe Dziva
• KISMET by Alessandra Leone
• Captured In a Photograph by Rebekah Hemmens
• Moving on by Andra Tanasescu
• Present by Munashe Dziva
• Autumn Loss by Lucy Bint
• and waits for snow by Hannah Siam Gascoyne
• When I Remember by Justyna Cuglewska
• Fleeting Time by Alessandra Leone
• Memory by Lucy Bint
• Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021 by Rebekah Hemmens
• Future by Munashe Dziva
• The People Will by Justyna Cuglewska
• Talking to The Moon I by Shannon Fletcher
• Talking to The Moon II by Shannon Fletcher
• Oh, December I by Abigail King
• Oh, December II by Abigail King
• Blue And Yellow by Lahien
• Wishes by Alessandra Leone
• Letter to the Sun by Shannon Fletcher

Thank you to all our contributing poets, to Shannon Fletcher, who has curated the anthology and to Lauren Terry, one of our team of lead writers, for editing advice. Leave us a comment to say hello to our writers, the majority of whom have been writing since October 2020 and are publishing for the first time here.