Tune in to hear us chat about the legacy of slavery, erasure poems, Roy’s role as Birmingham’s poet laureate, Canal poet ambassador and Brighton Book Festival’s poet-in-residence, & more.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
“Living by Troubled Waters is the third poetry collection by Roy McFarlane – an extraordinary, uncompromising book exploring slavery, colonialism, and the continued tragedies visited upon Black bodies whilst these legacies remain unresolved. In his close examination of the horror of racialised violence, McFarlane examines how the strong currents of the past and present flow side by side.
His poems ask us to think about the Black Mediterranean of today as much as we do about the Windrush scandal and the aftershocks of trans-Atlantic slavery, where Black people are still imprisoned, enslaved and drowned as they flee persecution and poverty.”
This episode is sponsored by Fawn Press, a British independent publisher. You can get a 10% discount on all books with the code poetry10 (fawnpress.co.uk). We hope you’ll find a poetry book you like and tag us on social media if you purchase one!
CREDITS: Poetry To Your Eears is an independent podcast co-hosted and co-produced by Tom O’Dwyer and Éloïse Armary. The episode was recorded on Blue Dot Studios in July 2023. The soundtrack is ‘Dans la peau’ by Circus Marcus and the art cover is by Charlotte Gray - @grayglues.
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35 - Roy McFarlane