Daljit Nagra’s poetry is energetic and playful, fuelled by an unpredictable dialogue between Punjabi and Ungreji (English). Straddling East and West, culturally and linguistically, his work gives voice to the no-man’s land in between, jameen (‘the ground beneath your feet’).
‘I hear a cry from some of myself.
So this is me. This
jameen. This meat
for which I war
myself.
This.’
(From Digging)
On Tuesday 30 September at 6.30pm at Blackwell’s, we will be reading Nagra’s first full collection – Look We Have Coming to Dover! (Faber 2007). Poems we will focus on include:
Sajid Naqui
Yobbos!
Our Town and the Whole of India!
In a White Town
Parade’s End
On the Birth of Our Daughter
Karela!
Digging
Kabba Questions the Ontology of Representation, the Catch 22 for ‘Black’ Writers
Looking forward to seeing you then and discussing this fresh, provocative writing.
