Lemn Sissay was working at the organisation as Cultureword's literature worker and convenor of the "Tight Fisted Poets" group, nurturing new writing talent among many of Manchester's BAME writers.
[10] Young Identity has performed all over the United Kingdom, working with a diverse range of writers including Saul Williams, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Ted Hughes Prize Winner Kae Tempest and the late Amiri Baraka.
In association with the Manchester Literature Festival, Commonword holds the biannual Black and Asian Writers Conference, which aims to highlight the lack of diversity within the publishing industry and encompasses a series of talks, workshops and interviews.
and "Black and Dangerous: BAME representation of mental health in writing", the conference concluding with an event headlined by Lemn Sissay.
Previous winners include Dominic Berry, Mark Mace Smith, Ben Mellor, Joy France and Paris Kaur.