'Tamils are now breaking through set expectations' - Interview with Arji Manuelpillai

Following the success of his royally commissioned sonnet for Armistice Day, British-Tamil poet Arji Manuelpillai sat down with Tamil Guardian to discuss his poetry, performances and the transformative power of the arts.

Arji Manuelpillai remembers the exact moment he was asked to write a poem by the Princess of Wales last month.

The poet-in-residence at the National Memorial Arboretum, the ‘Nation’s Place to Remember’, was running youth workshops when he was told that Her Royal Highness had asked him to create a sonnet for Armistice Day.

“My first thought was [confusion because] I thought the Princess of Wales was Diana,” said Arji, “and then when they said ‘no it’s Princess Catherine’, I thought ‘[it’s] Kate?!

“Obviously I was really surprised but also humbled that she had seen my poems and connected with the work.”

The poet and Princess Catherine, wife of Prince William, heir to the British throne, share a love of community work and participation in the arts, common ground he found integral to the writing process.

“One veteran I’d spoken to previously told me that we don’t go to war because of what’s in front of us, we go to war because of what’s behind us,” says Arji, “that’s what I wanted to focus on.”

The poet, who was in Great Yarmouth at the time, cleared his schedule to write a poem which he knew would make his parents and community proud. Despite substantial success with numerous shortlisted poems and the co-production of poems for institutes such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, there was no denying the reach of this sonnet amongst Tamils. 

“I chose to go down the non-traditional route and I really wanted my mum, dad and [Tamil] community to sit up and be like ‘wow, he really worked, he really grafted and achieved that.’”

Arji’s poem, titled ‘A Sonnet for Us all’, reflected on the human relationships and emotional significance of memorials and was read at the Armistice Day ceremony on 11 November 2025, attended by the Princess of Wales herself.

The response from veterans, families and the wider community and Tamil community blew him away.

Those involved in his father’s One Child Foundation Charity which provides meals and education for children in Sri Lanka called his achievement a ‘great win for the diaspora’.

“It was the ultimate symbol of [Tamil] assimilation to write a poem for the Princess. I’m proud of that really.”

His Tamil heritage features heavily in his debut book Mutton Rolls. One poem reflects on an interaction at a petrol station in which a worker remarked to Arji that he ‘was not a real Tamil’ for his inability to speak the language. 

“It ground on me,” says Arji, “I felt so threatened by it. I carry that fear [of the conflict between language and culture] around with me and it lurks in some of my poems.”

Arji admits the Tamil community have struggled to understand his work at times due to a lack of vocabulary or foundational knowledge of the arts. 

However, he asserts that the next generation of Tamil artists are embodying the idea of a ‘shifting Tamil culture’, echoing similar comments from actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan last month.  

“What we deemed as real Tamil a year ago is not the same today. Tamils are now breaking through set expectations with new genders and sexualities - [they are showing that] they can be whoever they want to be underneath the umbrella of Tamil.”

The Tamil independence struggle and brutal armed conflict on the island, also feature in Arji’s work. His second book Improvised Explosive Device features poetry that was also inspired by conversations around the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers. “All of us have the potential for radical thinking,” says Arji, “My work helped me empathise and understand what people will do in the face of such desperation.”

He has familial experience of the genocide too. Arji’s grandfather owned a stainless steel factory during the deadly pogroms in Sri Lanka, when state-backed mobs murdered thousands of Tamils. It was one of the biggest Tamil-owned businesses at the time. 

“My grandfather lost his voice when he saw his stainless steel factory burn to rubble,” says Arji, “I’ve written a lot about how much he loved us even though I never heard his voice.”

He admits that his work is not always palatable to a publishing industry that wants him to ‘package his Tamil-ness for a white crowd who can understand it’. But he says that the ingrained Tamil work ethic is key to Tamil success in the mainstream arts.

“Tamils have historically been in spaces such as petrol stations and chicken shops,” says Arji, “But I never look down on it because [we’ve] had an unbelievable impact on the UK. Now [young Tamils] are taking the same mentality [to the arts].”

For Arji, the key marker of success is not performing on stage or even writing a poem for the princess but the ability to teach people the transformative power of coming towards the arts.

He believes art could be an antidote for the rising mental crisis amongst young people and young Tamils. 

“I don’t tell people to be writers,” says Arji, “I tell people to have art as part of their life - just like you take your five-a-day, you should take a daily dose of creativity.”

Arji is currently working on a series of audio books for early childhood titled the ‘Young Person’s Guide to Poetry’ which comes out next year, but is keen to emphasise the importance of supporting the arts to the Tamil community. 

“‘There are a lot of great theatre makers,painters and poets of [Tamil] descent but these days it’s hard to survive as an artist,” says Arji, “So the best way to show your thanks and support is to buy their CDs, books and spend money on their things because it makes a massive, massive impact.”