Karl Knights
Photo: Thom Bartley

Karl Knights was born in 1996 in Suffolk where he still lives. He describes himself as an ‘autistic writer with ADHD and Cerebral Palsy’, and has written for The Guardian and several journals. He has volunteered for mental health charities and appeared on BBC News in July 2021 discussing the impact of COVID on disabled people who were shielding.

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'The Voice You Never See' is Karl's first community video poem and will be made in collaboration with film-maker Alex Jeffrey of Creative Nation and produced by Poetry People. The video poem will be launched at the end of March 2022.

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Karl has a big following on Twitter where he posts frequently about disability and about poetry – @twitter.com/Inadarkwood

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Here's the title poem from Karl's debut pamphlet Kin, which won a major national award in 2021, the New Poets' Prize.

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Kin 

I was teaching and then I saw him, 

out the window in his walking frame, 

playing football with the other kids. 

I saw the way his legs bent inwards, how his toes 

touched the floor before the heel. 

I wanted to catch his eye, have a chat, 

show him my splints. 

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from Kin (Poetry Business 2022)

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