Walk Good: An Evening with Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes is at the National Centre for Writing on Tuesday 20 October, for an evening of readings and a Q&A. Dawes is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica and the Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, and he'll be reading from his collected works, including Sturge Town: Poems and the Forward Prize-winning Progeny of Air. The readings are followed by a Q&A chaired by curator-producer Melanie Abrahams.

There's a lot to Dawes' background. He's put out more than thirty works of poetry, plays and fiction, and the Jamaican Order of Distinction (Commander Class) recognises his contribution. The poet Martin Espada has described his work as "the music of survival and transcendence". For three decades he's served as Poetry Editor of Peepal Tree Press and has mentored a generation of British and international poets, among them Roger Robinson, Malika Booker, Nick Makoha, Karen McCarthy Woolf and Chris Abani.

The evening takes its title from Walk Good, a warm Jamaican blessing offered at parting, and looks at its deeper resonance: the act of blessing, the journeys of poetry and literature, and the connections carried across time and borders. The session is programmed in partnership with Renaissance One and supported by Peepal Tree Press.

It runs from 19:30 to 20:30 at the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall, King Street, Norwich. Tickets are £10, with a £5 concession.