Ben Okri has a new collection of poems titled, A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn.
The collection is Okri’s first in nine years ever since the publication of Wild in 2012. Okri’s new collection was released on January 7 by the Head of Zeus which also reissued Okri’s Wild this year.
Here’s a summary of the new collection from its publisher:
“This book brings together many of Ben Okri’s most acclaimed and politically charged poems. Some of them, like ‘Grenfell Tower, June 2017’, are already familiar. Published in the Financial Times less than ten days after the fire, it was played more than 6 million times on Channel 4’s Facebook page, and was retweeted by thousands on Twitter. ‘Notre-Dame is Telling Us Something’ was first read on BBC Radio 4, in the aftermath of the cathedral’s near destruction. It spoke eloquently of the despair that was felt around the world. In ‘shaved head poem’, Ben Okri wrote of the confusion and anxiety felt as the world grappled with a health crisis unprecedented in our times. ‘Breathing the Light’ was his response to the events of summer 2020, when a black man died beneath the knee of a white policeman, a tragedy sparking a movement for change. These poems, and others including poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barack Obama, Amnesty and more, make this a uniquely powerful collection that blends anger and tenderness with Ben Okri’s inimitable vision.”
In an interview with Samira Ahmed of BBC Radio’s “Front Row” podcast, Okri explains the role of a poet in our contemporary world: “sometimes,” Okri explains, “the poet just wants to take the tool of beauty and apply it to the awful conditions of the world. It’s not a paradox; it’s a magnification.”
Here are two excerpts from Okri’s new collection: “Grenfell Tower, June, 2017,” and “In Praise of Notre Dame”
Listen to Ben Okri read two poems from his new collection here as well as his interview with Samira Ahmed.
You can buy Okri’s new collection here
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