Tickets for this event must be booked via Bristol Old Vic's box office: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/caribbean-poetry-liming

Date: Monday 20th April 2026

Venue: Bristol Old Vic

Time: 19:30 - 21:45

Tickets: £15 / £9 (£6 concessions)

✅ BSL Interpreted

✅ Live Streamed (book a ‘Live Stream Ticket’ at checkout)

✅ All Lyra Fest venues are wheelchair accessible. Access Information Pack available at www.lyrafest.com.

Caribbean Poetry Liming

Performance and Discussion

Presented by Lyra Festival, Renaissance One and Bristol Old Vic, in association with St. Pauls Carnival and Bloomsbury

Join international, national and local poets and wordsmiths of Caribbean heritage for a dynamic and unforgettable evening of poetry, discussion and community togetherness**** at Bristol Old Vic. 

The event includes live performances from international headline poet Shara McCallum (OCM Bocas Caribbean Poetry Prize winner), as well as legendary UK based poets Anthony Joseph (T. S. Eliot Prize winner) and Malika Booker (2x Forward Prize winner), exhilarating poetry performances from Bristol poets including Sukina Noor, Kaycee Hill and Poetical Dash, a panel exploring themes of diasporas, nature and wellbeing with Shara McCallum, Melanie Abrahams, Zakiya McKenzie and Shawn Sobers, and feelgood music from our house DJ. Hosted by Muneera Pilgrim and Edson Burton. 

The event will be BSL interpreted. 

Artist Bios:

Shara McCallum:

From Jamaica, of Jamaican and Venezuelan parentage, Shara McCallum is the author of seven books, published in the US & UK. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Musgrave Medal, NEA Poetry Fellowship, Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and OCM Bocas Caribbean Poetry Prize, among other awards. Currently Cheney Creative Fellow at the University of Leeds, McCallum is an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Penn State University.

Anthony Joseph:

Dr Anthony Joseph F.R.S.L. is an award winning Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician. His 2022 collection Sonnets for Albert won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2022 and the OCM BOCAS Prize for Caribbean Poetry.

He is the author of five other poetry collections and three novels. His 2018 novel Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Fiction. As a musician, he has released ten critically acclaimed albums. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Kings College, London.

Malika Booker:

Malika Booker a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian Parentage, and a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. She co-founded Malika’s Poetry Kitchen (A writer’s collective). Their Anthology - Two Young, Two Black, Too Different, Poems from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen celebrates MPK’s twenty-year anniversary. Her pamphlet Breadfruit received a Poetry Society recommendation, and her poetry collection Pepper Seed was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre 2014 prize. She is published with Sharon Olds and Warsan Shire in The Penguin Modern Poet Series 3: Your Family: Your Body (2017). 

A Cave Canem Fellow, Complete Works Fellow and inaugural Poet in Residence at The Royal Shakespeare Company, Malika was awarded the Cholmondeley Award (2019) for outstanding contribution to poetry and elected a Royal Society of Literature Fellow (2022). She is the first woman to win the Forward Prize for Best Single poem twice: The Little Miracles (2020) and Libation (2023).

Zakiya McKenzie:

Dr Zakiya McKenzie is a Senior Research Associate in History at  the University of Bristol. Her PhD from the University of Exeter focused on Caribbean journalists and newspapers in post war Britain. In 2023, Dr McKenzie won the Olivette Otele Prize for research in Black British studies for her work on the Empire Windrush as a cultural motif. 

Zakiya is also creative writer whose work explores botanical knowledge and the material legacies of colonialism. In 2019, she was Writer in Residence for Forestry England during its centenary year. Zakiya is the author of Testimonies on the History of Jamaica Vol. 1 (Rough Trade Books, 2021), a pamphlet that reimagines archival fragments of the Caribbean's past.

Renaissance One:

Renaissance One is an independent arts company that curates, produces and programmes Caribbean and international literature, arts and culture. They have consistently pushed for greater diversity in the arts with a particular focus on narratives of race, culture and intersectionality.  For over two decades they've collaborated with and supported many writers - some of whom they brought to Bristol to take part in Lyra and other festivals - including Bernardine Evaristo, Amiri Baraka, the late Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, Gary Younge, Grace Nichols, John Agard, Caryl Phillips, Anthony Joseph, Paul Beatty, Jason Allen-Paisant, Malika Booker, Ty’rone Haughton and more. 

St Pauls Carnival:

St Pauls Carnival is a celebration of African Caribbean culture. It is an event where every float, stage, performer and person tells a story. A story of music, dance and community.

Since its beginnings back in 1968, St Pauls Carnival has grown in size and reputation to become one of the UK’s most accessible and inclusive events. Our aim is to inform, inspire and engage people socially and artistically through African Caribbean culture.

Our Carnival 365 programme brings the history and heritage of Carnival to communities all year round – from a world class Carnival Day, to community events, to an Education Programme bringing talks and workshops to over 6,000 students a year.

Part of Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival 2026

#LyraFest

Filters:

Live Event ✓

BSL Interpreted ✓

Entry requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio — Read more — Read less