Our annual Poetry Live event returns to SJE Arts with internationally-acclaimed poet and novelist, Ben Okri. Okri will be joined on stage by the winners of our regional poetry competition, which involved young people to think about places: places they've lived, visited or dream of travelling to, and to respond creatively through poetry. Find out more about the competition here.
Award-winning poet and author Ben Okri will share some of the ideas and inspiration behind his work, read his poetry and talk about the power of the imagination in our work and lives. Ben Okri has published eight novels, including The Famished Road (winner of the 1991 Booker prize), Starbook, and most recently The Age of Magic, as well as collections of poetry, short stories and essays. His vibrant use of the English language, and combination of poetry and storytelling creates vivid images and captures the imagination. His books have been translated into more than 26 languages.
Ben Okri’s early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He has also written plays and film scripts and was a Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge. Okri is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been awarded the OBE as well as numerous international prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction and the Chianti Rufino-Antico Fattore. He is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN and was presented with a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. He was born in Nigeria and lives in London.
Tickets: £15/£12/£2
For further information and to book your ticket please visit the website here: http://www.artsfestivaloxford.org/whats-on/poetry-and-literature-1/poetry-live-with-ben-okri
Oxford Festival of the Arts
Audience: Open to all
