It’s Christmastime and I imagine most of us at Bristol have a long list of books we want to read, have wish-listed for Christmas and perhaps been gifted, or are finally going to delve into after years of putting off.
From Bristol’s involvement in the slave trade, to the 1960s Bristol Bus Boycott that helped influence the UK’s first Race Relations Act, Bristol’s important position in Black British history is unquestionable.
Next year, poetry will be made optional for GCSE students in England. We would hope they choose to take it up because, as the pandemic has shown us, poetry can be a valuable form of connection and stir a growth in our humanity.
During lockdown, Danique Bailey founded 100 Black Voices, a project looking for poems about anything, of any length, to highlight the voices and creativity of Black poets in the form of an anthology. Submissions are open to anyone of African or Caribbean descent and must be over 18.