Mapping the Future events and workshops
'Mapping the Future is a groundbreaking anthology of poetry and original essays offering fresh and daring literary perspectives from a new generation of outstanding British poets. It represents a landmark moment in the history of poetry.' – Bernardine Evaristo
Mapping the Future: The Complete Works Poets brings together work by all 30 Fellows of the Complete Works poetry mentoring scheme supporting British poets from diverse backgrounds, was published by Bloodaxe Books in October 2023. The anthology is edited by Nathalie Teitler, Director of The Complete Works, and Karen McCarthy Woolf, a Fellow of the programme who went on to edit the second two TEN anthologies featuring work by The Complete Works poets.
Editors Karen McCarthy Woolf and Nathalie Teitler were shortlisted for the poetry category of the inaugural Sky Arts Awards for Mapping the Future. The winners were announced at The Roundhouse on 17 September 2024, broadcast live on Sky Arts and on Freeview in the UK. The poetry category winner Momtaza Mehri is a Fellow of The Complete Works programme and one of the thirty poets in the anthology.
The Complete Works Poetry played a significant role in this transformation of the British poetry scene, producing three Forward Prize winners, two T.S. Eliot Prize and Ted Hughes Award winners, along with single prize wins for the Somerset Maugham Award, Dylan Thomas Prize, Rathbones Folio Prize and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. TCW Fellows have gone on to judge every major poetry award, publishing over 40 collections between them. Mapping the Future presents new or recent work by Complete Works Fellows including Raymond Antrobus, Mona Arshi, Jay Bernard, Malika Booker, Kayo Chingonyi, Inua Ellams, Will Harris, Sarah Howe, Roger Robinson, Warsan Shire, Yomi Ṣode and Karen McCarthy Woolf. It also includes ten engaging essays re-drawing the map of British poetry, touching on some of the most significant topics of our time.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Friday 11 October 2024, 7pm
Reading by The Complete Works poets at Manchester Literature Festival
Contact Theatre, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M15 6JA
Poets performing at this special Manchester celebration include Malika Booker (Pepper Seed), Inua Ellams (The Barber Shop Chronicles), Sarah Howe (Loop of Jade), Ian Humphreys (Tormentil), Adam Lowe (Patterflash) and poet and translator Eileen Pun among others. Presented in partnership with Speaking Volumes and Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Tickets £14 - more information and booking here.
Saturday 12 October, 1pm
Inua Ellams Workshop: Soft Curses and Weaknesses
Manchester Poetry Library, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cavendish Street, Manchester, M15 3BG
Inua Ellams, who was part of The Complete Works programme and was included in Mapping the Future, will be leading a workhop at Manchester Literature Festival. Inua Ellams is a Nigerian poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist and founder of both The Midnight Run and The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party). His books include The Actual, The Half-God of Rainfall and Afterhours. His plays include The Barber Shop Chronicles and retellings of The Little Prince and Three Sisters. Presented in partnership with Speaking Volumes and Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Tickets £14 - more information and booking here.
Friday 25 October 2024, 7pm
Reading by The Complete Works poets at the British Library
British Library Pigott Theatre, London NW12DB
A celebration of the Mapping the Future anthology with award winning poets Mona Arshi, Will Harris, Karen McCarthy-Woolf, Nick Makoha and Yomi Ṣode, joined by Bernardine Evaristo and Dr Nathalie Teitler. This event will also be livestreamed.
Tickets £10 (concessions available) - more information and booking here.
VIDEOS
Poems from Mapping the Future
This video features these poets reading their poems from Mapping the Future: Leo Boix, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Ian Humphreys, Degna Stone, Rishi Dastidar, Adam Lowe, Eileen Pun, Rowyda Amin, Malika Booker, Roger Robinson, Denise Saul, Seni Seneviratne and Inua Ellams.
Bernardine Evaristo on Mapping the Future
Bernardine Evaristo talks about the cultural importance of The Complete Works, which she founded, and the anthology Mapping the Future, drawing on the Foreword she wrote for the book.
[18 September 2024]
