Secondary conference

Keynote speakers:

• Alice Deignan – Professor of Applied Linguistics at Leeds University, and author of New Words, New Meanings – Supporting Vocabulary Transition from Primary to Secondary School 
• Kareem Parkins Brown - poet and visual artist from London. His work concerns grime, grief and humour. His debut poetry pamphlet ‘Oi You Lot’ is out now with Little Betty.

We were thrilled to welcome the expertise and prestige of Alice and Kareem, who spearheaded the conference as our keynote speakers, and we welcomed a raft of fascinating guest speakers who joined us throughout the day. 

Guest speakers

• Ruth Page, Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham
• Bobby Joseph, UK Comics Laureate
• Steven Camden, spoken word artist

Special performances

To wrap up the conference, we had three exceptional poetry performances by some of Birmingham’s extraordinary local poets. They shared their captivating poems written for the National Literacy Trust's latest campaign in Birmingham, Home Words.