Renowned poet and mental health campaigner Hussain Manawer will take to the stage at this year’s unionlearn annual conference on 11th July in Congress House.

Hussain is an internationally recognised poet with a growing reputation for his socially conscious poetry, that all started after he was by a school teacher who urged him to enter a poetry competition. Fast forward a decade or so and Hussain Manawer now travels across the world to deliver raw performances that promise to pack an emotional and inspiring punch.   

Hussain recently launched the UK's largest mental health festival in partnership with Twitter UK at Hackney Empire and received an Honorary Fellowship from the prestigious Kings College London for his work in mental health and public sciences. 

His poetry has since garnered regular airtime on stations such as BBC Radio 1, 1xtra, Radio 4, 5, 6 and Asian Network.

Through his campaign work and poetry, the Ilford based wordsmith is challenging the stigma that exists around the topic of mental health. Hussain previously set a Guinness World Record for the 'World's Largest Mental Health Lesson' and appeared at Global Citizen Live alongside the late Kofi Annan, Emelie Sande, Maya Jama and Professor Green.

Hussain is a Samaritans Ambassador, who has been working with the charity to reach young audiences on the importance of mental health, and last year become the youngest person to receive an honorary fellowship from King’s College London.

Hussain uses social media to spread his work within the field of mental health, speaking openly and performing on topics such as bereavement and grief, whilst unpacking their relationships with depression and anxiety, along with tackling new age social pressures and cultural stigma.

Having shared platforms with Canadian Prime Minster, Justin Trudeau and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson as well as supporting superstar Ellie Goulding at the Royal Albert Hall and iconic Oscar winning actress, Cher Hussian is now looking forward to sharing his thoughts and poems with Union Learning Reps at this year’s unionlearn Conference.

Spaces are filling up fast and to book your ticket go to the unionlearn event page.