Hi! My name is Chalice Am Bergris, and I’m a poet who is half Colombian and half Pakistani, queer and living in London. I believe good poetry should be like shaving off God’s beard! I’ve been published in journals and magazines in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia and have won the Over The Edge poetry prize in Ireland and Black Spring Press’ competition to be included in an anthology of the Best New British and Irish Poets. I was a finalist in the Write Bloody UK poetry competition, was nominated for the Best of the Net, longlisted in the Building Bridges and Interwoven poetry competitions, shortlisted and published for the Spectrum Identity poetry competition, shortlisted for the Creative Future Writers’ Award, and won a place to be mentored by Cinnamon Press for a year. I’ve been taught by poets such as Richard Scott, Maurice Riordan, Joelle Taylor, Malika Booker and Pascale Petit. I’ve performed poetry in various venues including The Poetry Café and The Royal Court Theatre.

I am physically and mentally disabled and suffer with multiple conditions including chronic pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety, bipolar 1 and psychosis, which leave me unable to read, write or have a conversation and make it difficult for me to move, for parts of the day. I can only go out for a few hours a day due to the severity of my pain. I was in a coma after a suicide attempt, have spent three months living on the streets of London in winter and a year locked up in mental hospitals. I also had to flee to a domestic violence refuge in fear of my life, and had someone set fire to my flat with me inside it. These experiences have greatly informed my writing – one of the things I write about is pain and the beauty that can sometimes transcend it. I hope that my hard-earned clarity sings.

I have been a church organist, a mediator, a PhD anthropology student, a teacher of anger management to offenders, a stand-up comic, a sketch writer for BBC Radios 2 and 4, a theatre musical director and a teacher of Medicine in Society to medical students, among many other things.

Going out in the cold, wind and rain is risky for me, but riskier still is occasionally playing poker, backgammon and scrabble for money when you have trouble concentrating..!