57 Events Intro

Highlights for 2010

Jean 'Binta' Breeze returns from Jamaica in February & resumes work on her 'New and Selected Works' (due from Bloodaxe Books in Autumn 2011). Jean will be undertaking a programme of performances & workshops through out the year, highlights of which include:

Feb. 25th: Hampshire, with the acclaimed flautist Keith Waithe

Feb. 22nd - 19th Apr.: a series of workshops for Leicester Adult Education programme

Mar. 8th: Y Theatre, Leicester - a special performance for International Women's Week - to be filmed & edited into a DVD for publication with her forthcoming book

Apr. 30th: Freeword, London - masterclass workshop as part of the 'Spoken World All Stars' programme promoted by Poet in the City

May 5th: school performances for Lincoln Book Festival

May 15th: a performance for Peckham Library Services

Jun. 27th: Jean makes her debut at the Glastonbury Festival

Jul. 5th: Southbank Centre, London - as part of a programme celebrating Caribbean poetry in the UK

Jul. 21st: Stockton-upon-Tees - as part of an Apples & Snakes programme


Linton Kwesi Johnson will be taking on selected dates in the UK & abroad, including special appearances in London & Scotland, i.e.

Jan. 29th: Unison AGM, London

Mar. 20th: StAnza Festival, St. Andrews


Patience Agbabi will be continuing in her role as the newly appointed Laureate of Canterbury, including developing a new body of work inspired by Chaucer. In the New Year Patience will also be linking up with the English Media Centre to film a contribution to a new multi-media resource for GCSE English Literature. Other public performances include:

Feb 18th: Freeword, London as part of the launch of 'RED' - a new anthology from Peepal Tree edited by Kwame Dawes

Feb. 23rd: City & Islington College, London

Feb 24th: Goldsmith's College, London - with Bernadine Everisto

Mar. 2nd: Kent University

May 22nd: Whitstable

May. 29th: Stratford Theatre, London - with John Hegley

In 2010 Patience has also been appointed as poet-in-residence at Chatham Dockyard as part of a programme entitled 'Chains' - involving the commission of a new series of sonnets or a corona


Other highlights for the New Year include 57 re-connecting with the TUC, London for a special event for International Women's Week, featuring Zena Edwards among others

57 is also pleased to announce that selections from the Poetry Video Jukebox are now available on YouTube, representing a unique exploration of the relationship between poetry & place & poetry & film, including films & interviews featuring:

Ian McMillan, with the film of the poem 'The er Barnsley Seascapes'
Peter Finch, with the film of the poem 'The Way It Grows'
Jean 'Binta' Breeze, with the film of the poem 'The Wife of Bath speaks in Brixton Market'
Tom Leonard, with the film of the poem 'Unrelated Incidents'
Jane Draycott, with the film of the poem 'Single Lens'
Paul Farley, with the film of the poem 'Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second'
Imtiaz Dharker, with the film of the poem 'These Are The Times We Live In'
Billy Childish, with the film of the poem 'Chatham Town Welcomes Desperate Men'
Clare Pollard, with the film of the poem 'Thinking of England'
Iain Sinclair, with the film of the poem 'Continuous Sky'

with more t.b.a.