This London Bridge terror attack survivor has channelled his trauma into poetry

A poet who was caught up in the London Bridge terror attack has written a new collection based on his experience.

Richard Osmond, 31, was on a stag do in Katzenjammers German beer bar when plain-clothed officers stormed the premises and told everyone to “get down”.

Moments earlier, terrorists had ploughed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge. They then jumped from the vehicle and stabbed passers-by. Eight people were killed and 48 were injured.

The writer has now penned a new collection of poems, entitled Rock, Paper, Scissors – the chance game which led the group to spend the night in the market bar.

The book, to be published in 2019, juxtaposes his writing with Quranic excerpts and new translations of Beowulf; an epic seeing an intruder storm into a beer hall and begin to rip punters apart.

Mr Osmond believes it has helped him process the attack and that poetry is a “useful” way for society to deal with traumatic events.

Speaking ahead of a performance of its central poem at the Southbank Centre on October 23, Mr Osmond told the Standard: “The actual experience of being in a terror attack is confusing. The constant experience was trying to work out what was going on. That continued in the wake of it - remembering the experience and thinking about it.

“To process I started writing poems about it, almost as a way of sorting out the experience in my mind.”

He added: “The poem that I am reading is the first one that I wrote. I have only read it out a couple of times and it does tend to be quite intense - you dip briefly into quite an uncomfortable area. But in another way, that makes you know you are onto something grabbing people’s imagination.”

The poem is being read in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, which Mr Osmond, who has since been shortlisted for a Costa Book Award, won aged 17.

He said: “The award was a big boost in that type of validation a writer needs to be confident, and it was amazing to receive that at such an early stage in my career.”

More than 6,000 young poets aged between 11 and 17 enter the global competition every year. Former winners and renowned poets Sarah Howe, Helen Mort and AK Blakemore will also read at the event.

Judith Palmer, Director of The Poetry Society, said: “Foyle can be life-changing for so many of our winners. It has helped start the career of many exciting new voices in contemporary poetry today.”

The event, entitled Air Sang, is at 7pm tonight. Tickets, which cost £10, can be bought here.