Two visionary poets read and discuss their work on political engagement, survival and testimony, hosted by Malika Booker.
Carolyn Forché and Kwame Dawes are at Manchester Central Library on Friday 16 October, reading and talking about their work on political engagement, survival and testimony. The session is hosted by poet Malika Booker, and it's presented alongside Manchester Poetry Library, Bloodaxe Books and Renaissance One.
Forché has spent over five decades as a 'poet of witness' and a human rights activist. Her anthology Against Forgetting was praised by Nelson Mandela as 'itself a blow against tyranny, against prejudice, against injustice.' Her new collection, Otherwhere: New & Selected Poems 1976-2026, brings together poems from five award-winning collections and adds urgent new work to the mix. It's a wide look back over half a century of writing.
Dawes is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica and the Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He's also a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University and has written numerous books of poetry, essays and fiction. Martín Espada has described his poetry as 'the music of survival and transcendence.'
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Between them, they share five decades of testimony, survival and political engagement in verse. The evening pairs them up to read and discuss those common threads. It starts at 6:30 PM at Manchester Central Library, St Peter's Square, M2 5PD, and tickets are £12, or £10 for concessions.
