Derby Poetry Festival: Roger Robinson, Mary Jean Chan, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan and Jasmine Gardosi

Description

Derby Poetry Festival welcomes Roger Robinson, Mary Jean Chan, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan and Jasmine Gardosi to The Wardwick, at Derby Museum and Art Gallery, for what is sure to be an incredible evening of poetry and performance.

Roger Robinson Is The Critically Acclaimed Author Of A Portable Paradise, A Stirring Collection Which Won Both The T.S. Eliot Prize And The Royal Society Of Literature Ondaatje Prize In 2019 & 2020 Respectively.

His most recent collection for Home Is Not A Place, published by William Collins, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards in 2022. His book The Butterfly Hotel was shortlisted for the 2014 OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize & was highly commended by the Forward Poetry Prize in 2013 & his 2nd poetry collection, Suckle, won the Peoples Book Prize in 2010. He has been chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon.

He has received commissions from the National Trust, London Open House, BBC, Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, V&A, INIVA, MK Gallery & Theatre Royal Stratford East. His workshops have been shortlisted for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums & Galleries & were also part of the Barbican’s Webby award winning Can I Have A Word. Roger has toured extensively with the British Council & is a co-founder of both Spoke Lab & the global writing collective Malika’s Kitchen.

Mary Jean Chan is the author of Flèche (Faber & Faber, 2019), which won the Costa Book Award for Poetry. Bright Fear (Faber, 2023). Chan’s second book, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the Writers’ Prize, and is currently shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. In 2022, Chan co-edited the acclaimed anthology 100 Queer Poems with Andrew McMillan. Chan is currently the 2023-24 Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at the University of Cambridge.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a poet and writer whose work disrupts assumptions about history, race, violence and knowledge. She is the author of Tangled in Terror and the poetry collection Postcolonial Banter; a co-author of A FLY Girl’s Guide to University; and a contributor to the anthologies Cut from the Same Cloth? and I Refuse to Condemn. Her writing has also featured in The Guardian and Al Jazeera, and her poetry has been viewed millions of times online. She is a co-founder of the Nejma Collective, a group of Muslims working in solidarity with people in prison. She is based in Leeds and is currently writing for theatre.

Jasmine Gardosi is the Birmingham Poet Laureate and Honorary Doctor of Letters. She is a multiple slam champion, beatboxer, winner of the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry and winner of the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Performer 2023. Her work exploring identity, LGBTQ issues and mental health has appeared on Button Poetry, at the Tate Modern, Glastonbury Festival, Symphony Hall and BBC. She was featured on Sky Arts’ BAFTA-winning show Life & Rhymes and her poem about the pandemic, filmed on a rollercoaster, was broadcast across America on PBS. She was recently invited by the British Embassy in Tallinn to headline Estonia’s historic, first ever queer poetry slam for Baltic Pride.

She is a previous Writer in Residence at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Poet in Residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and BBC Arts Young Creative. Her poetry/beatbox/Celtic dubstep show ‘Dancing To Music You Hate’ explores gender identity and was commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre. After premiering to standing ovations, it won Best Spoken Word Show in the Saboteur Awards and its titular track was performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on BBC Four. Following a sold-out show at Symphony Hall, the show toured the UK this summer.

About Derby Poetry Festival:

Often referred to as DPF, Derby Poetry Festival is a four-day poetry and literature festival held in the centre of Derby in the autumn. We are dedicated to developing new writing talent in Derby and bring excellent work to the city.

Previous headliners include: Linton Quasi Johnson, recent T S Elliott winner Joelle Taylor and Shivanee Ramlochan.

We host a range of performances, workshops, slams and panel discussions for all ages in partnership with many venues in the city including: Quad, Derby Museums, Derby Theatre and Derby Libraries. Supported by Arts Council England and Derby City Council.

Ticketing Information 

At Derby Poetry Festival, we aim to make our events and workshops as accessible as possible, so everyone can take part. Which is why we have 3 ticket options available. ‘Event Ticket – Supported’ is a discounted rate ticket for those on a lower income to still be able to access the event. Our standard ticket is the normal rate of the event, and goes towards paying our artists, accessability coordinators and associated fees with holding the festival. Our Pay It Forward ticket option is for those who wish to contribute towards the supported tickets, as well as attending the event. This helps us provide more supported tickets and host bigger and better events that everyone can access. Each ticket option allows you the same access to the event.

Suitable for adults, booking essential.

Accessibility at Derby Museums