Raman Mundair writes on loneliness and connections in the midst of COVID-19
Author and artist Raman Mundair has written about loneliness, and community connections during the coronavirus pandemic.
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The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2020 will be judged by Roger Robinson
Over the years The London Magazine has been home to some of the most prestigious poets in its long publishing history, from John Keats to Sylvia Plath and Derek Walcott. The London Magazine's annual Poetry Prize seeks out new voices in poetry, providing a platform for publication in the UK’s oldest literary journal.
#WATCH: Kendel Hippolyte's poem 'Eco Chant'
Kendel Hippolyte reads his poem 'Eco Chant' with a gorgeous video celebrating Cactus Valley, Saint Lucia.
Desiree Reynolds picks Black in the Union Jack? for RSL's Only Connect
The latest episode of the Royal Society of Literature's Only Connect is from Desiree Reynolds, who has chosen the recording of the 2019 event Black in the Union Jack? with Paul Gilroy, Derek Owusu and Jeffrey Boakye reflecting on Black British experience past and present. Their discussion is chaired by award-winning publisher and founder of Dialogue Books, Sharmaine Lovegrove.
Marvin Thompson and Roger Robinson make National Poetry Day recommendations
We delighted to see that A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson and Road Trip by Marvin Thompson have both been selected for inclusion in National Poetry Day’s recommended poetry books for 2020.
You can read poems from the book for free online, or check out the full list of 40 National Poetry Day recommendations.
Roger Robinson meets Rachel Long: 'I feel like a mosquito taking on Godzilla'
There is something amazing about being a black writer when you begin to make yourself visible. It is a power. Writing A Portable Paradise, I remember thinking: “I need to make black people visible in literature because my son needs to know that his stories are worth something. His life is worth something.” So, thank you for running Octavia and making brown and black people visible. I know it is tough but it only takes a few cultural agitators to change the landscape of the world. Young people tell me A Portable Paradise is giving them permission to write.
Try your hand at writing a canticle and win books!
Author photo credit: Marion Nelson and Allen Sherman
Peepal Tree Press invites poets to write a canticle and win some books!
Saint Lucian poet John Robert Lee has created his version of the canticle.
How we remember: reflections on the 175th anniversary of Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago
From the NGC Bocas Lit Fest:
How we remember: reflections on the 175th anniversary of Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago
The arrival of 227 indentured Indian immigrants aboard the Fatal Razack on 30 May, 1845, was a defining event in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. As we commemorate the 175th anniversary of Indian Arrival, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest brings together a panel of writers to reflect on how indentureship and the Indo-Caribbean experience have been documented and imagined in our contemporary literature.
Bernardine Evaristo writes about A Portable Paradise in Vogue
In January of this year, the poet Roger Robinson, whom I’ve known since we were on the same poetry circuit in the nineties, won the UK’s most prestigious poetry prize, the T S Eliot Award for Poetry for his latest poetry collection, A Portable Paradise. He is the first black British person to win it, the second black man to win it, and the fourth person of colour to win the Prize since its inception in 1993.