Cugoano250: Ben Okri

Church Window Mask

Thur 5 Oct, 7pm

Author Ben Okri will read from recent works and discuss writing, freedom, and the legacy and resonance of Cugoano today with writer and curator Ekow Eshun

In response to the 250th anniversary to Ottobah Cugoano’s baptism at St James’s, Ben Okri will read from his recent books and will sign books, available from Hatchards Piccadilly who will have a table on the night.

Ben Okri is the Nigerian-born poet, cultural activist, and author of thirteen novels, including the Booker Prize-winning The Famished Road, the first in a trilogy, and Astonishing the Gods, which was selected as one of the BBC’s ‘100 novels that shaped our world’, as well as collections of poetry, short stories, and essays. His work has been translated into more than 27 languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has won numerous international prizes. His poem following the Grenfell Tower tragedy was widely viewed on television and on social media. He was a Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was awarded an OBE in 2001.