The Duelling Duo by Joseph Coelho (Grades 4-6)

Joseph Coehlo grew up in the last village in London - Roehampton. “I don’t recall wanting to be a writer when I was little. '' Joseph says, “Writers were special people who existed elsewhere… they didn’t exist in Roehampton.” His earliest memory of writing a poem was from when he was in grade three. “There was a poetry competition. I wrote a poem about the life of a performing bear, chained and made to dance… it was titled “Unbearable” alas the judges were not that impressed.” Despite his loss in the competition Joseph continued to write. At university he studied archaeology but despite spending a lot of his time in a different field Joseph still wrote poems and even started directing and writing plays. His career is as illustrious and varied as his poetry. One day Joseph discovered a poetry course at Battersea Arts Centre. He continued writing and performing his poetry, one day dreaming of becoming a published author. His very first poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules was published in 2014 and he has been steadily writing and performing ever since.