Saturday 25 November 2023

Journey to a mythical Caribbean island with Ghanaian-British writer, editor and publisher Nii Ayikwei Parkes, as he talks to historian David Olusoga about his book Azúcar.

The novel follows Oswald Kole Osabutey Jnr, known as Yunior, who travels to the island of Fumaz where the revolutionary philosophy of peopleism keeps its flame alive against the forces of an old-style command centre political bureaucracy and a stifling trade blockade from the big imperialist neighbour to the North. There, he meets Caribbean-American college student Emelina Santos, heiress of the Soñada dynasty, and in the ensuing years Yunior and Emelina travel divergent journeys through history, music, myth and heartbreak; confronting the question of what it means to belong to a place or to another person.

Ayikwei Parkes is one of the UK’s leading Black voices, winning critical acclaim as a poet, novelist, broadcaster, and children’s author. His 2020 poetry collection The Geez was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, shortlisted for the Walcott Prize and was a Poetry Book Society 2020 Recommendation.

Olusoga is a historian, writer and broadcaster whose books include Black Britain.

Working out what is true and what is real is more and more challenging in the supercharged socio-political times we live in. Join Reginald D. Hunter for an hour of exploring this phenomena.

American comedian Hunter has appeared on television shows including Never Mind The Buzzcocks, QI and Have I Got News For You? He also hosted BBC2’s Reginald D. Hunter’s Songs Of The South and Reginald D. Hunter’s Songs of The Border, documenting his epic road trip through 150 years of American popular song.

Reginald D.Hunter will be supported by Mad Ron (comedy creation of Steve Lee), the Third Hardest Man in Uxbridge who has taken the circuit by storm.

Prepare to be charmed, chilled and thrilled as Daniel Morden tells strange stories of the supernatural by candlelight in the evocative setting of Hay Castle’s Great Hall.

Morden has been telling traditional stories for more than 30 years, and weird tales are a particular speciality.

His books include Dark Tales from the Woods and Strange Tales. In 2017 Morden was awarded the Hay Festival Medal for his services to storytelling.