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Michael Groce is a poet and filmmaker, community worker and former criminal. His mother, Cherry Groce, was shot by police during a dawn raid on her home, starting the 1985 Brixton riot in London, England. He is now a published poet, having won the Cheltenham Poetry Prize, and actively engages with young people to inform them of his own experiences.

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Early biography

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Michael Groce was brought up in Tinworth House, on a rough housing estate in Vauxhall, London. Much of his life from age six was spent in residential care. He was involved with street gangs, and had been exposed to guns during his childhood. He spent time in and out of prison; throughout his life, he accrued 50 convictions and 15 different spells in prison.