Black Poets Masterclass: African Poets, Part 2
Book

Black Poets Masterclass: African Poets, Part 2

With Dzifa Benson
Tutor
  • Black and white photo of Dzifa Benson
    Dzifa Benson
Date Thursday June 8th 2023, 11:00-13:00 BST
Location Online

Arvon is proud to be partnering with Obsidian, RSL, The National Poetry Library and The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society to host The Black Poets Masterclass Series

Each month from May to December 2023, four award-winning poets will explore four distinct areas of the Black poetry canon, looking at Black writers past and present from Africa, the US, the Caribbean and the UK.


Join Jerwood-winning poet Dzifa Benson for the opening session of the Black Poets Masterclass Series. Dzifa will be focusing on expanding your knowledge of African poets and poetics.

Dzifa Benson is an award-winning Ghanaian-British multi-disciplinary artist whose work intersects science, art, technology, the body and ritual, which she explores through poetry, prose, theatre, performance, installation, immersive technologies, essays and criticism. She received a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and was shortlisted for the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021.


The series is not-for-profit and everyone is welcome. We encourage anyone in a position to do so to pay-it-forward by paying the full price. Any profits from the series will fund a bursary for Black writers to come on an Arvon residential of their choice in 2024. Each session is £17.50, with half-price concessions and fully funded places available.

Join us over the course of 8 months for a deep dive into the Black poetry canon, equipping you to explore what a decolonised poetry canon might look like and future-proofing the names of Black poets at risk of being forgotten.

Other Masterclasses in the Black Poets Masterclass Series:

Cost: £17.50

Concession: £8.75

As part of our effort to increase participation in the arts, we offer limited concessionary places at a 50% reduction. You can select this option at checkout if available.

We are committed to making our Arvon at Home programme accessible to as many people as possible.

Across all of Arvon at Home

Masterclasses and Online Writing Day

How I Write

Online Writing Weeks / Weekends

Subject to funding/permissions (please contact us for more details)

If you have any access issues that we have not covered here, please contact us on access@arvon.org

See here for more access information.

"These zoom opportunities are really helping to open my world and keep me inspired to write."
— Masterclass participant
"Arvon at Home creates a model to participate in inspirational tutoring for writers, at a distance. The feeling of attending to my writing life in an excellent fashion, and still having a half-day for my work and caring responsibilities at home, felt like a good balance."
— Masterclass participant
"It was an absolutely brilliant session and very very useful. And it made me realise how much I’ve missed this kind of workshop because of having children and family that I can’t leave. Now we’re all in the same boat the online stuff is truly transformative."
— Masterclass participant

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