Out Of Bounds - London Launch at The British Library

Monday 3rd September
6:30pm - 8pm

Price: £7.50 / £5 concessions
For tickets and information visit: Renaissance One 

Join some of the finest British poets working today - JOHN AGARD, CAROL LEEMING, GRACE NICHOLS and DALJIT NAGRA - for an alternative A to Z of the nation.

All our guests feature in the new anthology Out Of Bounds (Bloodaxe Books) a newly-charted map of Britain, as viewed by its black and Asian poets. It takes the reader on a riveting, sensory journey through Scotland, England and Wales, showing the whole country from a fresh perspective.

This extensive and ground-breaking anthology stops off in the Highlands and Islands, skirts the North East coast from Whitley Bay to the sands of Bridlington, wanders lonely through the Lake District and Yorkshire, climbs the mountains of Wales before descending to the Black Country and Southern England. Along the way it takes in lochs and landmarks from Glasgow's George Square and the Angel of the North to the London Eye and the Long Man of Wilmington.

John Agard is the multi-award winning author of numerous publications and is widely regarded as a national treasure. A champion of reading and literature and a former librarian, journalist and teacher of languages. His work has been taught on the GCSE syllabus since 2002.

Carol Leeming is a Leicester born, poet, playwright, singer and songwriter. She has performed her poetry at festivals, regional theatres and on BBC Radio. Carol curates poetry for performance, digital installations and writes for local and national arts cultural magazines.

Grace Nichols is a multi-award winning author and poet born and raised in Guyana. Nichols' publications inlcude poetry and novels for adults and story books for children. Her poetry is featured in the English/English Literature GCSE anthologies. 

Daljit Nagra comes from a Punjabi background. He was born and raised in London then Sheffield. He has won several prestigious prizes for his poetry, including Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Collection. 

'Out of Bound's is a definitive anthology that brings together new and established black and Asian writers and places them firmly on the map of what is great and not so great about Britain. Edited by Jackie Kay, James Procter and Gemma Robinson, other contributors include Shanta Acharya, Patience Agbabi, Moniza Alvi, James Berry, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Vahni Capildeo, Merle Collins, Fred D'Aguiar, David Dabydeen, Imtiaz Dharker, Bernardine Evaristo, Khadijah Ibrahiim, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Tariq Latif, Sheree Mack, Jack Mapanje, E.A. Markham,  Louisa Adjoa Parker, Michelle Scally-Clarke, Seni Seneviratne, John Siddique, Lemn Sissay, Dorothea Smartt, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott and Benjamin Zephaniah.

Presented by renaissance one in association with The British Library. This event is supported by Bloodaxe Books. 

Source: press release