Re-imagining the Hero’s Journey: Luke Kennard and Nick Makoha

In The Book of Jonah, Luke Kennard transforms the tale of a reluctant prophet into that of a wily business traveller working with NGOs, arts agencies and PR gurus in a madcap picaresque which marries the sacred and the absurd. In Nick Makoha’s The New Carthaginians, meanwhile, a poet, a Black Icarus and a resurrected Jean-Michel Basquiat embark on a heroes’ odyssey, gathering the symbols of a new mythos, through which the othering of Black life might be undone and the stage set for some transfigured understanding of myth and life.
Come and listen as the two poets read from and discuss their latest collections, discussing the stories we think we already know, and the unexpected places they might lead us.