At the beginning of 2018, BBC Radio 5 Live decided to be the station that shone a light on Spoken Word.

To highlight the huge wealth of young talent currently in the UK - the experiences they go through every day and crafting that into beautifully, honest reflections of their world.

We focused on some of big news stories and talking points ranging from poverty to mental health, knife crime to Brexit and the Royal Wedding to the FA Cup Final and asked some of the UK’s emerging and established artists to write about how they see these stories.

To look back on our Year in Spoken Word, Afternoon Edition's Nihal Arthanayake invited poet and musician Hussain Manawer and author Chidera Eggerue to review our past 12 months.