Testimonials

"The Poem:99 competition is a fantastic initiative which celebrates the creativity of children through poetry, words and literature. We were pleased to support the 2023 edition of the competition and we were really impressed by the quality, skill and talent of all the children and young people involved. Poem:99 is really important in celebrating a love of culture and creativity from an early age and i am sure that their work will have a lasting impact for years to come. " (Andrew Fletcher - Director of Attenborough Art Centre)

"A very safe, supportive place for women to read out poetry."  Bard of Bradford females' only open mic." (Ella Sanderson-Poet) 

" Sheena's voice is utterly unique; she's developed her own style that can only portray her own powerful experiences - the hope and the illusion, the exasperation of living in a deceptive and hypocratic world, the banality of politics - so vividly, so satrically and sometimes so directly. I love each word in her poetry because it comes from sincere, honest and true feelings." (Ahmed Kaysher- Poet)

 "I thoroughly enjoyed the writing experience and it has set my fingers alight, wishing to do more. The English language and words has always been a passion of mine, but never taken steps to further my ambition...this could be my introduction to that journey." (Yasmin - Poetry, Prose & Passion Workshop)

"Alhamdulillah we had the pleasure of commissioning Sheena the poet (also one of our mingle supporters and volunteers) to write a beautiful poem which was dedicated and read out at our first annual mingle volunteers lunch.  We had 50 poems printed out and framed. The service we got from Sheena was not only professional but very humble and she had a very caring approach to her work. Many thanks and big jzk." (Sister Qamar - Faith Centre Mingle Coordinator, commissioned poem) 

"I would definitely recommend Sheena’s adversity workshop to other organisations. The content was relevant and age appropriate, it opened up the teenagers’ eyes giving them an insight in how to deal with their emotions and mental health in an effective way through poetry. Sheena had a good method of delivery and was very engaging with the teens. She was encouraging and helped the girls open up, giving them confidence and stirring up their creativity- we had lots of great verses flying about! The girls left feeling thoroughly inspired and motivated to get writing, using poetry as a positive outlet for their emotions. Great Job Sheena, Jazakallah Khayr!" ( Sister Asmah Khan  - MMTQ, Adversity Workshop)

" A fantastic book, very inspiring! An excellent book that is a good read - some really deep thought provoking poems (very touching). The issues that the Author has faced, gives hope and courage to many. An overall, very inspiring book - definitely a good read."  (Amazon Books - Customer)

" Turning a stigmatised topic into inspiration through ones personal journey. What a fantastic read! I want to read more. I have not had cancer myself but what an inspiration, it really is so humbling. The text it so intriguing, it really made me rush to read the next line. Such an inspiration on such a stigmatised topic, with a hint of humour." (Amazon Books - Customer)

“Without Passionate individuals like Sheena, Poetry would be none existent in Bradford. I had the pleasure of meeting Sheena on a number of occasions, the amount of effort she puts into Poem99, is amazing. Not only that, there are not many projects like hers, which allows individuals to express the language of Poetry. This is a unique project, which I feel over the future coming years will evolve into something big and will hopefully benefit the younger generations to come." ( Majid Hussain - Chairman of Bradford All Stars Football Club) 

"The Poem:99 competition was introduced by Sheena Hussain to the children of Horton Park Primary school in accordance with National Poetry Day. Sheena came in to school and read some of her poems whilst telling the children her initial reasons for writing poetry during assembly time. The children found this inspirational as Sheena hadn’t started out as a poet but talked to them about how she used a journal to jot down her initial ideas. In particular, the poetry group in Year 6 took on this approach and used their own journals to start their poetry process. 

Thank you again Sheena for all your support with launching the competition at Horton Park." (Laura Naylor - Assistant Head, Horton Park primary)