Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World (2020 Event)

Earmarked as ‘the voice of our communal consciousness’ by
Edinburgh International Book Festival’s 2018 Guest Selector Afua
Hirsch, it’s hard to believe that Roger Robinson hasn’t been a
staple of British public life since time immemorial.


A fixture of the UK spoken word scene for many years, Robinson
rocketed to national prominence in 2019 when his third poetry
collection, A Portable Paradise, bagged the prestigious T S Eliot
Prize.


Firmly rooted in the dub poetry tradition of his Trinidadian
heritage, Robinson’s plain-speaking, fizzy, often joyous verse
journeys through our contemporary preoccupations with a seasoned
insight few could replicate. From the ongoing injustices of
Grenfell to the pains and pleasures of family life, he unpacks
the cosmos of ideas that make up A Portable Paradise with fellow
poet Kei Miller in this event recorded for the
2020 Book Festival.