Janice Whyne is a Jamaican by birthright, a Londoner by birthplace, and a proud descendant of the Windrush Generation. A words person since childhood, writing prose-filled Christmas cards, songs and poetry, she sees poetry as a conduit for our individual and collective expressions, feelings and lived experiences.

She participated in her first open mic at The Poetry Cafe, London in 2016. It was a ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ moment and the first milestone on her journey of rediscovering her creative self.

Her practice includes page and spoken word poetry. Her spoken word pieces are often responses to occurrences that captured–sometimes demanded–her attention. They are also a means of personal protest. Injustices such as the murder of George Floyd, the strip search of Child Q and similar incidents instinctively made her put pen to paper. Other themes in her work include identity, race, challenges, hopes, loss, and grief.

Her debut poetry book, ‘In Conversation’, was self-published via Kindle Direct Publishing in 2022 and the Audible version is due for release in December 2023. Her poem ‘Sitting with Amazing’ is in The Poetry Archive Now Worldview 2021 Winners collection. Other poems appear in ‘Coffee & Contemplation: a taste of empowerment’ (2020), Coffee People Zine, Issue 10 (2020), All My Relations, Volume 5, Talbot-Heindl (2023), ‘Her locks unveiled: poems from the Black in White poetry competition’ (2023), plus other online and printed mediums.

She’s performed at Flovortex, The Mother Wolf Club, Poets Palace, Voices in Power: London, and Ubud Writers Readers Festival Poetry Slam. –Winning 1st runner-up in 2019 and 2022.

IG: @jjsmuse W: www.janicewhyne.com/