Writing Back to History: Poetic Responses to Historical Artifacts, Malika Booker 13/10/24

The fabulously inspiring Malika Booker will lead an immersive masterclass that delves into the art of responding to historical artifacts through poetry.

This session will explore a wide range of poetic approaches that engage with archival materials, historical texts, images and other artifacts.

Malika will lead a discussion on works by UK, American and Australian poets, such as Tyehimba Jess, Frank X Walker, Layli Long Soldier, Katie Hale, Frank Walker, Natalie Harkin and Evelyn Araluen to examine poems that interact with historical pictures and artifacts, not just texts.

In addition, Malika will share exclusive insights from her current project which excavates the King James Bible and Caribbean history to create a compelling book-length series of poems (seriously wonderful work that is yet to be published, so this is very special!).

She will also guide you through strategies to engage deeply with historical material, discover new poetic techniques and develop poetic drafts from your chosen source material. You’ll gain inspiration and guidance from Malika’s expertise and her precious Malika magic which never fails to energise!

There is some preparation to do to get the most out of the workshop.