Introducing our Writer in Residence - Sea Sharp

We’ve invited poet extraordinaire Sea Sharp to The Coast is Queer as our Writer in Residence. Sea will be performing as part of our Open Mic event on Thursday 9 October and will be closing the Festival on Sunday 13th October after Jackie Kay and Ali Smith in conversation.

‘I am honoured to be the 2025 Poet-in-Residence for one of the largest LGBTQ+ literature festivals in the UK, Coast is Queer! In addition to participating in the event’s activities, I am looking forward to working through a few writing challenges, such as:

• Writing more overtly queer poetry. Looking back at my writing over the last decade, I’ve noticed that references to queerness in my poetry have been rather modest. I am going to use this opportunity to challenge myself to write more honestly and lean into my queer identity in ways I’ve never dared to before.

• I also want to read some of my new, original work to an audience. The opportunity of this residency is giving me a purpose to not only write for myself, but also share my writing with others again.

• I want to continue learning and writing in poetry forms that I’m unaccustomed to, as well as developing my own experimental forms of poetry. 

Literature has always been an essential piece of our collective humanity. So have queer people. This festival is incredibly important during a time in which literacy rates continue to sink and trans and queer rights are experiencing another harsh wave of cultural backlash.

Over the years, this festival has been invaluable for so many book lovers, like myself.  It has helped us in fostering a sense of belonging, building empathy across communities, preserving and expanding queer stories, and inspiring innovation that reshapes artistic norms in storytelling. 

The Coast is Queer Festival is like an oasis for anyone who loves reading, writing, and queer people. See you there!’

Sea Sharp is a Pushcart Prize-winning poet of “The Tallgrass Shuffles” and author of the Prairie Seed Poetry Prize-winning debut, The Swagger of Dorothy Gale & Other Filthy Ways to Strut (Ice Cube Press, 2017). Their second collection, Black Cotton (Waterloo Press, 2019), was released the same year they developed and toured their Arts Council England-funded theatrical show, Brother Insect. Sharp is also an Obsidian Foundation (2020) and Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop (2004-2005) alumnus. Their writing has been described as “a visceral and sonic world of teeth and tornadoes” with “language that crackles.” Beyond the stage and page, they are often shy, claiming the right to remain invisible somewhere near Brighton, UK.