Black Poets Masterclass: Caribbean Poets, Part 2

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 Jason Allen Paisant for the eighth and final session of the Black Poets Masterclass Series.

Jason says: ‘I’ll be talking about how to create surprise in your poetry. Caribbean poets are great people to look at when thinking about this, whether it’s about the journey from a single haunting image to a fully formed poem, or the surprise that’s in the language itself. We’re gonna be looking at foundational people, but also some extraordinary poets working today. Anthony McNeill, Louise Bennett, Dennis Scott, Grace Nicholls, ‘Binta’ Breeze, Tanya Shirley, Shivanee Ramlochan, Tiphanie Yanique, Roger Robinson… Any way you look at it, we’re gonna be outsmarting ourselves!’

Jason Allen-Paisant is a Jamaican poet and essayist whose work explores the intersections between landscape and the visuality of the Black body. His collection, Thinking with Trees (Carcanet Press, 202) has been praised as ‘a bold and impressive debut’ (the Guardian).

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.