Africa Writes Day: Home is Not a Place

Acclaimed poet Roger Robinson and award-winning author and photographer Johny Pitts have joined forces to explore this issue in their stunning new book, Home Is Not A Place.

Featuring photographs, poetry and essays, it is a visual poem reflecting on the complexity, strength and resilience of Black Britain.

In their journey around the UK’s coast, the writers uncover hidden stories of black people living in the unlikeliest of places, from rundown seaside resorts to rural beach locations.

Come and hear these tales, which echo across centuries of the black experience, transforming and illuminating the history of Britain.

Co-produced by Speaking Volumes, Sprung Sultan and Coastal Carolina University

About the speakers:

Johny Pitts is a writer, photographer and broadcaster known for his work in exploring African—European identities. He is the curator of the European Network Against Racism’s (ENAR) award-winning Afropean.com and the author of Afropean: Notes from Black Europe. Currently, he co-hosts the Open Book literature programme for BBC Radio 4 and, as a National Geographic Explorer, is the creator of a forthcoming Afropean podcast funded by National Geographical Society. In recognition of his work, Johny has received the Jhalak Prize, the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing, the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding and the European Essay Prize.

Roger Robinson is a writer who has performed worldwide. He is the winner of the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize and the 2020 RSL Ondaatje Prize. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the Black British writing canon. His latest collection, A Portable Paradise, was a New Statesman book of the year. He is an alumnus of The Complete Works and was shortlisted for The OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize and the 2020 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, as well as being commended by the Forward Poetry Prize. Roger was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.