The Women Poets Who Changed 1968: Maya Angelou

Through her poetry and activism, Maya Angelou healed a nation, transforming the narrative around race and identity politics at a personal and global scale. 50 years since the seismic Civil Rights events of 1968, join us to celebrate the extraordinary impact of this phenomenal woman for a night of discussion, poetry performances and live music.

Lennie Goodings is the chair at Virago publishing, a company she worked at for over 20 years. During this time Lennie Goodings was Maya Angelou’s UK editor, as well as many other leading female writers discovered by Virago, a publisher with a mission to champion women’s voices and bring them to the widest possible readership around the world. Lennie will be opening our show with an introduction to the life of Maya Angelou as well as sharing her own favourite personal memories of the poet.

Afua Hirsch is a writer, broadcaster, barrister and human rights development worker of Ghanaian, English and Jewish heritage. She is the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News and was previously a correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian. Following on from Afua’s article about Maya Angelou’s influence on millions of young women, Afua will be exploring the enduring legacy of Maya Angelou on women for generations to come.

Miryam Solomon is a London based singer/songwriter, by way of Sweden and Eritrea. She released her debut EP Evergreen in 2014 and returns with Women Make Music award funded Magnolia featuring contributions from artists such as Jean Berthon and Shabaka Hutchings and support from Jamie Cullum, Jazz FM and NTS. Leading a group of London’s finest young jazzers, Miryam will be brining to life the sounds of Maya Angelou’s America.

Sheila Atim played Marianne Laine in Girl from the North Country (Old Vic & Noël Coward Theatre), for which, at the time of writing, she has received Olivier and Evening Standard Award nominations and a Critics' Choice Award. Recent theatre credits include Babette’s Feast (Coronet Printroom); The
Tempest, Henry IV and Julius Ceasar as part of the Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar Warehouse); Hopelessly
Devoted (Paines Plough) and Les Blancs (National Theatre). Other theatre credits include Volpone, Love’s
Sacrifice, The Jew of Malta (RSC); Black Lives Black Words – The Interrogation of Sandra Bland (Bush
Theatre); Rachel (Finborough Theatre) and Klook’s Last Stand (Park Theatre). Sheila’s television credits include
I Live With Models and the upcoming second series of Harlots.

Save 20% when you book for both Poet in the City events at Wilton's Music Hall in the same transaction. Offer only available until 8th March 2018.