Rooted spotlight: Linton Kwesi Johnson
Out of Many People is honoured to welcome dub poet, recording artist and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson to Leeds for Sound System: Music & Poetry of the Black Atlantic, part of our ROOTED programme showcasing Black storytelling.
He will be joined by giant of Brazilian poetry Conceição Evaristo and internationally acclaimed T S Eliot Award-winner Roger Robinson at the Royal Armouries on Wednesday 8 October.
Two-time Forward Prize-winning writer, poet and artist Malika Booker chairs this unmissable evening of poetic excellence which takes place in Black History Month.
The iconic (and we don’t use that word lightly) LKJ was born in Jamaica in 1952 and came to London in 1963, his work has hugely impacted Black British literature and culture.
He is only the second living poet and the first Black poet to have his collected works published as a Penguin Modern Classic, Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems in 2002, republished as Selected Poems in 2022.
The lifelong activist joined the Black Panthers while at school. His poetry and music have been a clarion call for the fight for justice and equality. In 1996 the Voice Newspaper rightly said “Linton’s rhymes speak for our times.”
In addition, LKJ is a Grammy nominated reggae artist, for the album ‘LKJ Live in Concert With The Dub Band’ collaborating with another icon of Black British culture Dennis Bovell.
Since his 1978 album, Dread Beat An’ Blood, he has been the voice of the moments and movements that have shaped Black Britain.
The impact LKJ has had on Black Britons was recognised by journalist Gary Younge in 2022 when he interviewed the poet at the Out of Many Festival for Jamaica Society Leeds.
“In 1981 I saw Linton doing this poem Inglan is a Bitch – I grew up in Stevenage around not many Black people around the time of the uprisings in Brixton and Toxteth and elsewhere,” said Gary.
“I didn’t know you could do that..I didn’t know you could get up and say your truth, whatever your truth was… that you could call a place out, that you could say ‘Well, this is my reason’ and you might get a hearing for that.
“I’m considerably older now but I still remember – it gave me confidence, it gave me heart it gave me a sense of who I might be in this place.”
During that conversation, LKJ said he was thankful for having been invited to Leeds adding that he was proud of his heritage:
“I am not a Jamaican nationalist but I am a Jamaican patriot and I am proud of my Jamaican roots.”
In an interview with the Guardian LKJ has spoken about the invaluable childhood impact “nonsense rhymes, skipping rhymes and Anansi stories”, as well as the Bible verses he learned by rote at school, has had on his work. “You could say that I was well grounded in the Jamaican oral tradition by the time I left,” he said.
LKJ’s work reached new audiences when his elegy New Craas Massakah was used by artist and film-maker Steve McQueen in an episode of BBC drama series Small Axe, depicting the 1981 New Cross Fire tragedy which claimed the lives of 14 Black children and young people.
He is a Trustee of the George Padmore Institute and198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, and no stranger to Leeds and Bradford coming many times to read his work and to support community activism.
Sound System: Music & poetry of the Black Atlantic CAPS takes place on Wednesday 8 October from 6:30pm at Royal Armouries in Leeds. Find more information and ticket details here.
A ROOTED event staged in partnership with National Poetry Centre and FLUP, with the support of the British Council and our venue partner Royal Armouries.
ROOTED has been made possible thanks to Arts Council England funding via its National Lottery Project Grants programme and with the support of our partners and supporters