Portable Paradise: A Poetry Celebration with Roger Robinson, Ajanaé Dawkins, & Cynthia Amoah
“And if I speak of Paradise,
then I’m speaking of my grandmother
who told me to carry it always
on my person, concealed, so
no one else would know but me.”
— Roger Robinson, “A Portable Paradise”
On April 5, 2024, a poetry celebration at Urban Arts Space featured readings by high school and college students, along with their instructors, from Columbus Academy High School, Bexley High School, Otterbein University, Denison University, and The Ohio State University. These students and staff members participated in writing workshops with Columbus-based poet-educator Peter Kahn and acclaimed Black-British writer Roger Robinson, winner of the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize.
Visitors heard from burgeoning student writers who shared the stage with local poets Cynthia Amoah and Ajanaé Dawkins, along with Roger Robinson as the headliner. The event was held alongside the Portable Paradise pop-up exhibition.