Yrsa Daley-Ward (born 1989) is an English writer, model and actor.[1][2] She is known for her debut book, Bone, as well as for her spoken-word poetry, and for being an "Instagram poet".[3][4] Her memoir, The Terrible, was published in 2018,[5] and in 2019 it won the PEN/Ackerley Prize.[6] She co-wrote Black Is King, Beyoncé's musical film and visual album, which also serves as a visual companion to the 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift.[7]
In her late teens and early 20s, Daley-Ward was a model, "working for brands such as Apple, Topshop, Estée Lauder and Nike".[8] In search of better opportunities, she found the money to buy a ticket to South Africa, where she eventually lived for three years, and has said: "The thing that attracted me to South Africa was that the models look like me and there's so much more diversity".[9]
In her mid-20s, she began to perform and get recognized for her poetry in Cape Town, South Africa, while also working as a model. Not long after returning to London in 2012, she was invited back to South Africa to work alongside the British Council, headlining two poetry festivals in Johannesburg.[10]
Daley-Ward was then listed as one of the top five female writers to watch for by Company Magazine.[11]
Daley-Ward is known for her poems and writings on topics such as identity, race, mental health, and femininity.[12] She is vocal on topics of depression, particularly in her poem "Mental Health", published in her collection Bone. First self-published in 2014, and subsequently issued by Penguin Books in 2017 with additional poems and an introductory essay by Kiese Laymon, Bone has been described by Hanif Abdurraqib in The Atlantic as an "impressive debut" that "honestly excavates a writer’s life, not simply presenting pain, but also showing an individual working through it."[13]
Before publishing Bone in 2014, she released a book of short stories entitled On Snakes and Other Stories in 2013.[12]
Daley-Ward has used social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter in order to promote her work and connect with her fans. She also made an appearance in a TEDx Talk[14] conference with her talk Your Stories and You.[15]
Daley-Ward has been quoted as saying: "If you're afraid to write it, that's a good sign. I suppose you know you're writing the truth when you're terrified". In an interview with ELLE, she talks openly about her past and struggles along her own journey in developing thicker skin in the face of criticism.[16]
In June 2018, her new book The Terrible was published, a coming-of-age memoir that The Evening Standard called "a rare combination of literary brilliance, originality of voice and a narrative that commands you to keep going until you’ve reached the last page",[17] while the reviewer for The Sunday Times described Daley-Ward as "a stylish writer, as well as an unusual voice".[18] The same month, Daley-Ward discussed her life on BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour and read her poem "Poetry".[19] In 2019, The Terrible won the PEN/Ackerley Prize.[6]
Daley-Ward's 2021 book, The How – Notes on the Great Work of Meeting Yourself, is "a compilation of essays, poems, heartfelt musings and earnest advice that provides a 'nudge toward' finding your voice".[23]
