We all belong to language, and language belongs to us. This evening honours that mutual belonging, however fragile it may sometimes be: it is through words that we find meaning, and through words that we keep making and remaking the world. The evening is guided by the theme of this year’s Revival, Other Suns. The phrase comes from the writer Octavia Butler: “There is nothing new under the sun but there are new suns.” Other suns are not distant, utopian futures, but new ways of seeing, naming and belonging that make different futures feel possible from where we already stand. Three words accompany the theme: Time, Disorientation and Tenderness.
Four voices bring these ideas to life:
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Poet and African feminist writer Jessica Horn treats tenderness as a foundation for new possibilities; her latest book is African Feminist Praxis.
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Visual artist and researcher Heba Y. Amin uses humour and satire to question how history, technology and the Global South are seen.
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Cognitive scientist and philosopher Roberto Casati studies how we lose our bearings, and how we find our way again.
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Poet and playwright Titilope Sonuga closes the evening with a special performance, accompanied by award-winning violinist and artist Kyla-Rose Smith.
The evening is moderated by Lwando Xaso, lawyer, writer and Narrative Lead at Moleskine Foundation.