Starlight by Solli Raphael

This genre-defying publication follows Solli Raphael’s earlier Limelight and Spotlight, and maintains the same up-beat life-affirming attitude found in his earlier books. Starlight splits into two parts: the first a kind of self-help activity workbook followed by a selection of his latest poems.

The first section could be used privately, individually, to work through ideas of identity and purpose; or alternatively it could be used as a class project on identity, as there are many ideas that a teacher could draw on for exploration in class to challenge thinking and encourage writing. An example is the creative activity asking the person to write from the perspective of an object in their life, from the perspective of a photograph, or their bicycle. What would it see, and what would it tell? Another example is writing about contrasting aspects of identity, personal identity, and shared group identity. There are many interesting activities exploring the ideas that Raphael introduces. Each section of the workbook ends with a summary of the key takeaways. The theme that runs throughout is self-knowledge and self-understanding.

Solli Raphael is a slam poet and activist, who at the age of 12 won the 2017 National Slam Poetry title in an all-adult poetry competition. He writes that as a young person he envisaged the person he wanted to be and set about achieving that. His poetry is an inspiration to think about your identity, think about what is important, and act to achieve your vision. There is just a hint in one of his poems in this book about the obstacles he has had to overcome, about being ‘severely bullied for what feels like an eternity before somehow befriending everyone and becoming school captain’. This is never dwelt on; the overwhelming message is incredibly positive, that with an idea of oneself, each person can achieve what they want and together we can all make the change the world needs.

He writes . . .      Dare to be you / dream big and not small / keep your eyes on the ball / and things might work out alright after all.

Themes: Identity, Self empowerment, Writing, Passion, Activism.

Helen Eddy