Literary greats help launch Out of Many People’s Rooted programme
A star-studded line up of internationally acclaimed poetry greats helped launch our tantalising Rooted programme of Black arts and culture on Wednesday October 8.
The sell-out event Sound System: Music & Poetry of the Black Atlantic, saw iconic Black dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, giant of Brazilian poetry Conceição Evaristo and internationally acclaimed T S Eliot Award-winner Roger Robinson reading their work, as well as selecting the music that inspires them; it was chaired by two-times Forward Prize-winner Malika Booker.
Our Rooted programme launched in October, Black History Month and runs until Spring 2026.
The packed event was the result of local, national and international collaboration between Out of Many People, National Poetry Centre and Brazil Festival of Urban Peripheries (FluP), and with the support of the British Council.
It also saw the National Poetry Centre announcing the exciting Creative Exchange Programme between the National Poetry Centre and FluP, with emerging poets Kadish Morris, Jamila Pereira and Omari Swanston-Jeffers from Northern England selected by Khadijah Ibrahiim, founder of Leeds Young Authors, to travel to Rio de Janeiro to perform at the FLUP Festival.
“Out of Many People has been set up by myself and my good friend Dawn Cameron to showcase authentic Black storytelling,” said its co-founder Susan Pitter, who is also a trustee of the National Poetry Centre, the vision of Poet Laureate Simon Armitage who was also at the event.
“The National Poetry Centre will be a home for poetry in the UK, Out of Many People a home for Black storytelling in the North, and I’m honoured to represent both.
“Sound System culture has emerged as a global phenomenon shaping wider culture too; it has reflected Black community narratives for generations and brought people together from all backgrounds. The artists, music and lyrics have told our stories, captured joy and celebration whilst defining moments and movements.
“Without Sound System there is no Lover’s Rock, there’s no hip hop, there’s no rap, there’s no dancehall, there’s no grime, there’s no garage or dub poetry and more.”
Nick Barley, Director of the National Poetry Centre, said:
“I just loved this evening. It was a wonderful exploration of ideas from across the Atlantic but it was also a really good example of the way I believe that discussion events and poetry events can be.
“It was also international in outlook, rooted here in Leeds, and with Leeds at its heart, with the fantastic community of poets who live here but it was national in scale and international in ambition. And I think, for the National Poetry Centre, as much as for Out of Many People, this is the level of ambition we want and this is the kind of event which really reflects that ambition.”
Linton Kwesi Johnson, who in 2002 became the second living poet, and the only Black poet, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series, said:
“It was very relaxing and good company, nice just to share the stage with the Brazilian writer Conceição Evaristo and Roger Robinson; I saw quite a few familiar faces and of course I’ve been coming to Leeds for over 50 years so I always feel at home when I’m here.
“I don’t know if my work has made any difference at all but I always get a good reception when I come to Leeds, they are very appreciative and 50 years later people still remember me from back in the day so that’s really nice.”
Conceição Evaristo, known as the Mother of poetry in Brazil said she was very excited to participate in Sound System: Music & poetry of the Black Atlantic.
In an interview for Vempra FluP, with journalist Gabi Roza, Conceição explained what coming to Leeds and Europe meant to her, saying:
“If I were to have a glimpse of being on the European continent, I could have event some thinking about my life trajectory. “I, girl, young me, could never think of coming to Europe.’
“Now the glimpse is that I think it’s my literature that brought me here. Literature deeply marked by my condition, my experience, my experience as a Black woman.”
T S Eliot Award-winner Roger Robinson said
“It was good, the audience was warm and attentive, everything that was being communicated it seemed to land. Leeds is always a vibe every time I come. People here have a real strong sense of community and a real strong sense of grass roots and organisations, I understand that this was not necessarily the community space but those from the community came out so that familiarity with people in the crowd was nice, I enjoyed it.
“Any thing in the time of AI and the internet that can make actual real social cohesion and get people to start thinking in words as opposed to being told what to do from a poem can feel revolutionary now, it actually feels like a small revolution and I think that’s why the event was important.”
“It was quite a warm crowd and there were some legends on stage so it was just amazing,” enthused Sound System Chair poet Malika Booker.
“The wisdom that came from them, the music and how it held together, it was a really well-planned evening.”
Of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Malika added: “He’s a friend but also an iconic person that I look up to, a writer who paved the way and it was kind of an acknowledgement that I’m here on stage with Linton Kwesi Johnson who is phenomenal in every way, who was a pioneer. Seeing him with Roger (on the panel) – having the intergenerational conversations with Roger and myself, and being there with Conceição was amazing.
“Conceição is phenomenal, just in terms of her presence, just in terms of being a writer who is forging ahead – other writers will follow her.”
In an interview for Vempra FLUP with Gabi Roza, Conceicao said of the event in Leeds and her wider European tour:
“If I were to have a glimpse of being on the European continent, I could have event some thinking about my life trajectory. “I, girl, young me, could never think of coming to Europe.’
“Now the glimpse is that I think it’s my literature that brought me here. Literature deeply marked by my condition, my experience, my experience as a Black woman.”
Sound System took place at Royal Armouries and opened with a poignant version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, performed by Lara Rose, whose work spans visual art, sculpture, poetry, authorship, singing, and songwriting, deeply rooted in Yoruba culture.
ROOTED has been made possible thanks to Arts Council England funding via its National Lottery Project Grants programme and with the support of Out of Many People’s partners and supporters
Photo Credits: David Lindsay photosbydavid.co.uk