Poetry of Resistance and Transcendence – Carolyn Forché & Kwame Dawes

Sat 17 October, 2026 at 5:00 pm

An opportunity to experience two of the world’s most illuminating poets on a rare visit from the US. The poetry readings will be followed by an in conversation on the themes of testimony, creative liberation and connection, chaired by curator-poet Melanie Abrahams.

Carolyn Forché is an acclaimed poet of witness, a translator and a human rights activist. Her poems are testimonies, enquiries and calls to action and reflection and she has received numerous awards including  the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation Award for using poetry as a ‘means to attain understanding, reconciliation, and peace within communities and between communities’. Her latest book Otherwise: New and Selected Poems 1976-2026 brings together poems across her fifty year career as well as urgent new work.

Kwame Dawes is the author of over thirty works of poetry, plays and works of fiction, including his latest book Sturge Town and a Forward Prize winning collection Progeny of Air. His poetry has been described by Martin Espada as ‘the music of survival and transcendence.’ Dawes has received national honours in Jamaica including the Order of Distinction Commander Class.  He is the current Poet Laureate of Jamaica and the Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. 

Presented with Renaissance One