In the 1980s the UK had little idea of the wealth of poetry coming from the Caribbean. In 1986, the BBC’s thought-provoking Arena film Caribbean Nights: Poetry changed all that.

The film features Trinidadian intellectual Darcus Howe chairing an illuminating discussion with St Lucian poet Derek Walcott (1992 Nobel Prize for Literature), pioneering British-Jamaican reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson and emerging British-Guyanese poet Fred D’Aguiar.

There are also clips of the electrifying Jamaican dub poet Michael Smith and innovative Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite, who championed using Caribbean English in Poetry.

This event is part of the Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival which brings together local, national and international poets and speakers, representing Bristol as a centre of world class poetry.

Your Local Arena is a Lucy Hannah & Speaking Volumes co-production featuring BBC Arena’s film archive.

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