Young Creators Project poet spotlight: Gillian Chamberlin

Each day this week, KCRW is spotlighting the homegrown budding talent from the Young Creators Project, a community arts mentorship platform celebrating the creative work of SoCal residents under 21. 

High school senior Gillian Chamberlin is a poet, filmmaker, and musician. She says her words guide her craft. 

“I feel that all the different forms of my writing go hand in hand, but they all root from my poetry,” says the California School of the Arts, San Gabriel Valley student. “Whenever I start to craft a story, I always start with a poem, it makes my thoughts so much more digestible. Poetry allows me to be concise with the themes and details that I want to include in my writing, and is the catalyst for all the stories that I tell.”

Chamberlin was recently recognized by Young Arts for her short film “The Dinner Party,” and is gearing up to study film production and screenwriting in college this fall. Her first self-published poetry book, “Miss America Is A Lesbian,” is currently on sale at Stories Books and Cafe in Echo Park. 

Though she pursues many mediums of writing, she seeks to tell stories that are “consistently honest and visceral.”

Read her poetry submission “Darling” below.