Damian Carlton is a spoken word poet and creative who uses the digital mediums as a form of artistic and literary expression. His work centers on the subconscious themes of nature and the expression of the human form in relation to how experiences such as, life, war, upheaval, conflict, heartbreak and violence affect the human psyche and the socio-constructivist reaction (how one reacts as a result of the way these experiences shape them).

Damian has performed at The Arts and Humanities Virtual Open Mic (Massachusetts, US), Scenes and Spoken Word Open Mic (Detroit, US), Word N Sound Digital Slam (South Africa), the Amazwi Museum of South African Literature, (South Africa), Detroit Writing Room Art of Poetry Open Mic,(Michigan,US)the Nuyorican Poetry Café (New York, US), Round Rock Public Library(Texas, US), As One Entertainment Open Mic(New Jersey, US), the Slipform Open Mic and Anthology(Washington DC, US) Poetry Aloud Open Mic(UK), Positive Words Open Mic(UK), the Wirral Poetry Festival(UK),the London Poetry Challenge (UK) and the Read3r’z Re-Vu Open Mic Poetry Slam(Australia).

Damian's work has been longlisted for the Emily Dickinson International Winter Poetry Contest. In August 2020 he was selected for the St Petersburg Virtual Residency. In September 2020, he was honored as a World Literacy Foundation Ambassador in recognition of his efforts to raise awareness over low child literacy rates in Colombia and was selected as a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador in 2021 and participated in the CO-RESIDENCY artist check in 2022 and the Gotham Writers Workshop Check-in in 2024.

His work has been featured in compilations and publications such as the Critique of the Gods anthology, Emily Dickinson Wingless Dreamer anthology, The Words of Power anthology, The Journal of African Youth Literature, Poetry Potion and I am Hip-Hop Magazine London and the Commonwealth Poetry Podcast. He has has exhibited poetic artwork (Poetry in Motion: A Hidden Haiku) at the Manjano exhibition hosted by the Go Down Arts Centre(Kenya), the London Biennale and the Prague Biennale and has been nominated for a Global Art Award and received a Luxembourg Art Prize certificate of recognition. Damian has also authored an audiobook called My Forty Five Truths of Being and is in the process of publishing a Swahili play entitled Mazungumzo ya Kishairi kuhusu Maisha (Poetic Conversations about Life) which was nominated for the Mabati Cornell Prize for Kiswahili literature.He also participated in the GoUNESCO Make Heritage Fun project where he documented the experience of visiting the Murumbi Heritage Collection in January 2016 and the Kowie Street Art History Project that investigated the pre existing socio economic effects of Apartheid and the remnants of its effects on Grahamstown’s residents in 2017.

He was shortlisted for the PeaceX Project BookPecker Fellowship(2021) and nominated for the award of Best International Spoken Word Artist at the National Spoken Word Awards (Chicago 2022).He has received a fellowship from the RSA(Royal Society of the Arts)(2022) and is a Bridport Prize Bursary recipient (2022). He is a Nairobi Writing Academy poetry scholar(2021), an LA Writers Lab Alumnus (2020) an Arts + Literature Laboratory Community Workshop alumnus (2021),a member of the Actors Theatre of Louisville(KY), a member of the Baraza Media Lab (2021-2022), the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (2020-2021), the Association of African American Museums (2020-2021),VANSA (Visual Arts Network South Africa)(2022),the National Association of Independent Artists(2022),Online Gallery(2021-2022) and the East Bristol Contemporary(2022-2023) and has studied Digital storytelling at the University of Houston and attained a Udemy certification entitled 'Hip Hop in Africa' by reknown Afro hip hop scholar Msia Kibona Clark.

Portfolio: