The Provost of Worcester College Jonathan Bate and his wife Paula warmly welcome you to their 18th-century home for poetry reading by candlelight. Poets Jeremy Robson and Ben Okri read some of their most recent poems and discuss their work.

Robson recently broke a 35-year writers’ block with his collection Blues in the Park. Now he is publishing his second volume of poems in three years, Subject Matters. Many of the poems are personal, recalling the pleasure of a smile, a landscape, a song, or friends. Robson is a well-known poet and publisher. He initiated and participated in the highly popular Poetry and Jazz in Concert events that featured many leading poets and musicians.

Okri is a Booker-winning novelist and poet. His most recent poetry collection is Wild, which ranges widely across different subjects. Some are autobiographical and some are philosophical. They treat subjects as diverse as war, love, nature and the difficulty of truly seeing. Okri is also author of ten novels including the Booker-winning The Famished Road and his most recent The Age of Magic. He is considered one of the leading African authors of the postmodern tradition.