A COLLEGE student has published a collection of poetry.

Tom Latos, who studies English language, literature and performing arts at Worthing College, has self-published a collection of poems called Dread on Amazon.

The 16-year-old said he feels the book is a big achievement for his age.

He said: “I hope it inspires others, especially LGBT youths, to speak their truths and express their mental health through art.”

Tom, who is also a musician, was inspired to write the collection of 14 poems after a relationship ended.

He said: “Last year I was feeling low after a break-up and I wrote the poems in about nine days.

“It’s definitely my most personal collection and I so I thought, I should do something with this.”

Dread explores Tom’s experiences as a young gay person living in Worthing and he intends to partly promote the book by doing talks in schools on sexuality and mental health.

He said: “I think it’s important to talk about how to have good, safe relationships, as well as helping people who are trying to figure out their identity.

“People can find it hard to be brave enough to be themselves.

“There also needs to be a shift in the way we talk about sexuality.

“The way we see masculinity also gets in the way of how boys see themselves.

“I got a lot of harshness from boys at school who were suspicious of any difference.”

Tom has also been making pop music for two years under the name Latos Xx, and has released two albums on streaming sites.

He is currently making music videos for songs from his most recent album to release on YouTube.

Tom said: “Before this book I have released two albums digitally – my first was called Beachside Town and I released my second album last year called Shark Fin Soup.

“But I have never had a physical copy of anything I’ve made before, so this feels really special.

“Mainly I just want people to feel they are heard. My biggest goal is for people to relate to the book.”

Dread is available to buy in paperback on Amazon.