Roy McFarlane and Stephanie Sy-Quia
Roy McFarlane and Stephanie Sy-Quia

Poets Talking event to bring live contemporary poetry to Ealing

Intro

The second Poets Talking event, organised by the University of West London’s English Literature and Creative Writing programmes, takes place at Open Ealing Arts Centre on Thursday 18 May at 7pm.

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Tickets for the event cost £10, including a welcome drink. However, UWL’s English Literature and Creative Writing degree programmes (with additional funding from UWL Students’ Union) are promoting the event to all UWL students and making it possible for them to attend free of charge by signing up on the Open Ealing website.

On the bill are acclaimed contemporary poets Roy McFarlane and Stephanie Sy-Quia, who will be reading their work, talking about their influences and discussing the themes they write about, such as migration, cultural heritage, race, family, personal history and identity.

Roy McFarlane reading from his poetry collection

Roy McFarlane was born in Birmingham into a Jamaican family and spent many years living in the West Midlands.

As both Birmingham’s Poet Laureate and the Canal Laureate, Roy’s latest collection ‘Living by Troubled Waters’ considers the legacies of slavery and colonialism, place and displacement, social justice, equality, Black motherhood and family.

Stephanie Sy-Quia

Stephanie Sy-Quia was born in 1995 and grew up in California and France, in a Filipino-European family. Currently working as a teacher, freelance journalist and print maker, her first poetry collection ‘Amnion’ won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and an Eric Gregory Award for Best Collection by a Poet under 30.

Stephanie’s work considers migration and colonialism, and growing up in a family divided by geography, history and language.

We are delighted to be hosting a second Poets Talking event and we really want to make this a regular thing for students and the local community to enjoy,”

says UWL Lecturer in Creative Writing John Saddler who organises the event.

The event is designed to be interactive and inspiring; he adds:

Come along and listen to some strong, challenging, relevant contemporary poetry. These two inspirational creative talents will be talking about how they got going and what drives them to write.”