Poetry London and Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre present John Agard, Anthony Joseph and Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa.

Caribbean poetry has always been a coffer of urgent, evocative ideas – reshaping form, interrogating language, and crafting aesthetics for imagining new worlds and challenging the Western canon. Whether the vibrant surrealism of Aimé Césaire, the epic mythmaking of Derek Walcott, the gripping dub rhythms of Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, or the archival examinations of M NourbeSe Phillip, Caribbean poets have pioneered some of poetry’s most significant leaps and bounds in the past century. In association with Poetry London, the Writers’ Centre hosted an evening celebrating Caribbean poetry past and present, with performances by three poets – John Agard, Anthony Joseph, and Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa – whose startling innovations represent just three illustrious generations of Caribbean poetry.

Drawing its title from a poem in Éduouard Glissant’s sequence ‘Monomagic’, the event was a magical and thought-provoking night, with the opportunity to hear the poets in conversation after their readings with chair Isabelle Baafi.

Poetry London in partnership with Tell It Slant poetry bookshop in Glasgow presents a Burns night celebration.

The event features poets David Kinloch, Anita Pati and Alycia Pirmohammed. Digital Roses will close out the event with their mix of experimental art, poetry and music.

David Kinloch was born, brought up and educated in Glasgow. He is the author of six full collections of poetry, mostly published by Carcanet. His most recent book, Greengown: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet) appeared in November, 2022. David helped to set up both the Scottish Writers’ Centre and The Edwin Morgan Trust and is an emeritus professor of poetry at the University of Strathclyde.

Alycia Pirmohamed is the author of Another Way to Split Water, the pamphlets Hinge and Faces that Fled the Wind, and the collaborative essay, Second Memory, which was co-authored with Pratyusha. She is co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, a co-organiser of the Ledbury Poetry Critics, and she currently teaches at the University of Cambridge. Alycia received an MFA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.

Anita Pati was born and raised in an English northern coastal town and currently lives in London. Hiding to Nothing, her debut poetry collection, was published in April 2022 by Pavilion Poetry. Her first poetry pamphlet, Dodo Provocateur, won The Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition (2019) and was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Awards. She has worked at various points in journalism and libraries. Digital Roses are Trudi Veremu and Joanna Ramsay Patel, hyper soul audiovisual sonic witches (not to mention Goldsmiths graduates) making Experimental Art Pop Music.

We’re happy to announce our Summer issue launch at Foyles Charing Cross Road. The event will feature live readings from Jay Bernard, Ian Duhig, Mona Kareem, lisa luxx and Christos Koukis, as well as the winner of the Poetry London Pamphlet Prize (to be announced shortly). Join us on Thursday 6 July for an exciting poetry evening!

This is a recording of our Summer Launch at the Southbank Centre, on June 25. The line-up consisted of poets Grace Nichols, Rory Waterman, Yousif M Qasmiyeh, Jennifer Wong, and Will Burns.

This is a recording of our Spring Launch at Hatchards, on March 26. The line-up consisted of poets Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Robert Selby, Romalyn Ante, Natalie Linh Bolderston, and Dante Micheaux.

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