Mervyn Morris in conversation with Jackie Kay at John Rylands Library
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
On a rare visit to the UK, one of the most distinguished literary voices of the Caribbean Mervyn Morris is in conversation with National Poet for Scotland Jackie Kay (pictured).
In the final few months of his tenure as Jamaican Poet Laureate, the first post independence, he celebrates the launch of his new collection Peelin Orange: The Collected Poems of Mervyn Morris on Carcanet Press. The book represents half a century of carefully crafted invention and re-invention in a range of Englishes – from the Standard to Jamaican Creole – and poetic forms, whilst moving between the local and the universal, the humorous and the deadly serious. As fellow writer Andrew Salkey noted, in his poetry Mervyn Morris is ‘an engraver in short, sharp slashes that go deep’.
This event is in partnership with the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing with the support of The John Rylands Library. The tour has been funded and supported by Speaking Volumes.
