Welcome
December 10, 2010
Copy of malika booker - portrait
Welcome to my blog. My name is Malika Booker and I am Poet in Residence at the RSC. I have been commissioned to write poems responding to the re-opening of the building. The poems will be inspired by the new RSC building as well as the people who work and visit. I will also be organising poetry events and groups whilst I am here. At the moment I will be at the RSC on the weekends talking to people and gathering memories and stories for my poems. I will also be touring the building and finding my favourite places.
I will begin this blog with the first evening that I stepped off the tiny train onto a cold dark platform. The temperature was remarkably chilly compared to London; the place was so very quiet and deserted. There were three other people leaving the train. I walked up the wooden stairs and across the tiny bridge dragging my little suitcase. I was scanning ahead for Nicky Salmon. Nicky is my main contact at the RSC; she is my right hand woman, the person that I collaborate and discuss every facet of this residency with and she is a complete joy to work for. Nicky's car drove up just as my right foot stepped out of the station door. Talk about great timing.
I was excited. I had arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon. The first weekend of my residency at the RSC was about to begin. I am always equally excited and terrified at this beginning stage of any residency, but this time my fear and excitement are multiplied at least a thousand times. Why? Well here I was in Shakespeare's town, the home of one of the greatest writers in British history, a man whose work still resonates today both internationally and across generations. One of the most quoted bards of our time, his famous lines are weaved into our everyday British vernacular. I began learning his work in school in Guyana and he continued to be a part of my education until I took my 'A' level English Literature exams at Kingsway College so many years ago. This is the man who has written some of my favourite characters like Puck and Falstaff. So what better job for a poet but to be employed here?
And so it begins…
by Malika Booker
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