Arji Manuelpillai is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. For over 15 years Arji has worked with community arts projects nationally and internationally. Recently, he was the Jerwood Arvon Mentee mentored by Hannah Lowe. His poetry has been published in magazines including Cannon’s Mouth, Strix, The Rialto and Bath Magg. He has also been shortlisted for the BAME Burning Eye pamphlet prize 2018, The Robert Graves Prize 2018, The Oxford Prize 2019, The Live Canon Prize 2020, The National Poetry Prize 2021 and Winchester Prize 2021. He has also come runner-up in the Robert Graves Prize 2020. Arji was provided a Develop Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council in January and has been using the time to interview and discuss extremism in its many forms. Arji is a member of Wayne Holloway-Smith’s poetry group, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen and London Stanza. Arji’s debut pamphlet ‘Mutton Rolls' was published with Out-Spoken Press.
“The poems in this brilliant, playful debut are multifarious though gratifyingly interlinked, addressing the subjects of Sri-Lankan British identity, masculinity, friendship, grief and love. The tone is sometimes satirical, but there is no hiding behind satire in Arji Manuelpillai’s work – great tenderness and beauty characterise these poems, and the poet’s voice is completely original, entirely his own.”
Hannah Lowe
Mutton Rolls
Published through Out-Spoken Press
“Arji Manuelpillai hits the ground running with this debut and I freaking love it. His poems are funny, irreverent, hugely affecting. He’s fidgety, darts moment to moment – you’ll rush after him, then suddenly find he’s stopped, spun on his heel and you’re face-to-face with his good-natured grin. Manuelpillai will dial up the volume just to whisper something damn beautiful beneath its surface. Every page of Mutton Rolls is tasty, and announces by increment a highly enjoyable new voice.”
Wayne Holloway-Smith
after being called a paki
my father used to say
the hardest oranges to peel
are often the sweetest
when he first came to England
he worked double the hours
took the jobs no one else would
when his roommate was beaten
outside Vauxhall tube station
he hardly spoke for a month
my father told him knuckle down
the only answer
was
to work harder
tonight when I tell
my father what happened
he covers his mouth
with his hand
an orange peel attaching
back onto an orange
Cecilia says we’re all fucked up
it’s only when I started therapy I realised how many people are in therapy like when you take magic mushrooms and start seeing mushrooms all over the place I don’t remember my dreams sometimes make them up to please her as a kid I’d go for an eye test learn the board just before I sat down she must get so tired death and sex and death and make some time in the day to allow yourself to be sad that’s therapist stock material I can see her reading me like a public toilet door there is a dragon I tell her squeezing up my trachea choking me it isn’t easy choosing paintings for a room like this or vases or paperweights my friend died when I was 24 I never got to say goodbye I was busy being strong that’s why abstract paintings work so well she’s leaning back must be time wipe the tears away like face paint how long before I’m wandering drunk down the Old Kent Road not knowing how I got there
Whatever your cause a poem can get you closer to your audience
A poem can be a fight for freedom.
This poem was created in conjunction with Live Canon and UNICEF. It was written to celebrate Human Rights Day in 2020.
A poem can raise awareness about issues and political problems.
This video was a commission by Kazzum Arts. Arji worked with young migrants to create this poem.
a poem can heal
A poem can bring people together
A special project brought to you with Stockton International Street Arts Festival. After the festival was cancelled I was commissioned to write 45 poems for local, isolated people in Stockton. The poems were inspired by friends and family drawing on their loves and strengths to create rhyming bundles of beauty.
A poem can be a lifeline.
The project was brought to you with The Spring in Havant. I was commissioned to write poems for people struggling with loneliness. These poems were then delivered over the phone.
Arji has created poems for a host of organisations including:
a good poem can inspire
Arji’s Poetry Pickle Jar
Whether you’re new to poetry or an old whizz Arji Manuelpillai has created a poetry podcast guaranteed to get you reading poems in a completely different light.
Have a listen as each week he is joined by some of the world’s best poets analysing a poem they truly love.
15 minutes of eye-opening poetry discussion that will leave you inspired, excited and brimming with creativity.