Black Poets Masterclass: Caribbean Poets, Part 2
Book

Black Poets Masterclass: Caribbean Poets, Part 2

With Jason Allen-Paisant
Tutor
  • Jason Allen-Paisant
    Jason Allen-Paisant
Date Thursday December 7th 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 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.

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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