The South Bank Centre, in association with English PEN and the Poetry Translation Centre, presents a selection of poets and musicians from both refugee and international backgrounds, tying in to the London Literature Festival’s celebration of the artists and voices that contributed to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
Poet Nii Parkes will introduce an exciting line up of readers: Choman Hardi is a poet, writer and academic researcher, born in Iraqi Kurdistan and has published three collections of poetry in Kurdish. Her first English collection, Life for Us, was published by Bloodaxe in 2004. She will be joined by poet and artist Seni Seneviratne whose poetry collection, Wild Cinnamon and Winter Skin (Peepal Tree Press 2007) was described as “a virtual master class between covers” and Reza Mohammadi, widely regarded as one of the most exciting young poets writing in Persian today. Reza’s poems will be translated by Sarah Maguire, poet and Director of the Poetry Translation Centre.
Music is provided by Woven Gold, a choir made up of refugees fleeing persecution, and supported by the Helen Bamber Foundation, who make music with a raw energy and power, joyful and expressing a basic belief in humanity.
