Selected Poems 1991-2026:

Jackie Kay in conversation with Adjoa Andoh

Join Jackie Kay to celebrate SELECTED POEMS 1991–2026, a collection bringing together poetry from across her career.

The conversation with Adjoa Andoh will look at the themes, voices and experiences that shape Kay’s work, from her celebrated early collection The Adoption Papers to her latest works.

Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh and brought up in Glasgow. Her first book The Adoption Papers won the Saltire and a Forward Prize. Her latest collection of poetry SELECTED POEMS 1991-2026 has just been published and is a Poetry Book Society Commendation. She was the third modern Makar, the National Poet of Scotland and is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Salford.

 Adjoa Andoh MBE is an actor, writer, director, with a career spanning four decades. As an actor she is currently best known for playing Lady Danbury in Bridgerton and in its prequel Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton story, for which she is a four-time nominee at the NAACP Awards. In a career of almost 40 years, Adjoa has had lead roles at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre, Young Vic, The Kiln, and in 2019, she conceived, co-directed and played the lead in Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in the UK’s first all women-of-colour production. 2023 saw Adjoa direct, co-produce and play the lead in a new theatre production of William Shakespeare’s Richard lll for Liverpool Playhouse and The Rose Theatre Kingston – also now a film. Adjoa made her Hollywood debut in 2009, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela biographical film Invictus. She is an award-winning audiobook narrator with over 250 titles to her credit and has worked as an actor/writer/mentor in BBC radio drama since the 1980’s. Adjoa is co-director of production company SwingingTheLens. She was the Cameron Mackintosh visiting Professor of Contemporary Drama (22/23) at Oxford University, where she is currently Professor Emeritus at St Catherine’s College. Adjoa is an associate artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Shakespeare Association of America and the British Shakespeare Association.

Make the most of your visit…