An evening of poetry and spoken word

12 Apr 2024 7-8.30pm

Royal Academy Of Arts

London W1J 0BD

Overview

Start your weekend with an evening of poetry and spoken word, inspired by our exhibition 'Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change'.

Join us in the John Madejski Fine Rooms for an evening of poetry performed live.

We'll delve into some of the themes of migration, exchange, artistic traditions, identity and belonging which are explored in Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change.

Expect personal stories, creative riffs and new perspectives at this night of art and poetry.

Our first poets to be announced are Dami Folayan, Vanessa Kisuule and Roy McFarlane.

Dami Folayan is a Black woman Christian poet, theorist and sociologist. She is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge looking at the experiences of Black women at Oxbridge, past and present through the lens of coloniality using Critical Poetic Inquiry. Dami’s poetry lies at the intersection of academic theorisation and painting pictures through words to give her readers and listeners a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and experiences at the centre of her work.

Vanessa Kisuule is a writer and performer based in Bristol who has won over ten slam, been featured on the BBC, and has been invited to perform all over the world. Her poem on the historic toppling of Edward Colston's statue 'Hollow' gained over 600,000 views on Twitter in three days. She has two poetry collections published by Burning Eye Books, was Highly Commended in the Forward Poetry Prize Anthology 2019 and is currently writing a book of essays, Neverland (Canongate, 2024) and her first novel.

Roy McFarlane is the National Canal Laureate, a former Birmingham Poet Laureate and one of the Bards of Brum, who performed in the Opening Ceremony for Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. He has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes award, and his third collection Living by Troubled Waters (Nine Arches Press 2022) is out now.

Stay tuned – the rest of the line-up will be revealed soon.

Book now