Era of Reclamation: Refugee Tales at The British Museum

A special event at The British Museum to celebrate Refugee Week 2022

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23 June 2022
6:30pm

The British Museum

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About the event

What can cultural institutions do to welcome refugees and be a space of healing?

This year's Refugee Week explores the theme of 'healing’. In this latest Era of Reclamation conversation, series creators British Museum Director Hartwig Fischer and former Deputy Chair of Trustees Bonnie Greer are joined by special guests, British poet and performer Patience Agbabi and the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin. They'll discuss resilience and the human ability to start again. They'll also explore how museums can be places of healing for refugees and asylum seekers.

This event will include a special performance of Agbabi's poem The Refugee's Tale, which was written as part of the Refugee Tales project in 2015. Agbabi will talk about the collaborative process of writing the piece and the continued legacy of the project. The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin will speak about her experience being on the frontline of receiving refugees at Dover and what we can learn about holding onto hope when faced with the unimaginable. The conversation will also look at how creativity, art and community can help in the healing process. 

Patience Agbabi

Patience Agbabi has performed her poetry all over the world. She is celebrated for her monologues, giving voice to those who might be otherwise unheard. She has published four collections of poetry. In 2013, ‘The Doll’s House’, based on Harewood House, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She has lectured in several UK universities and has been a Fellow in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University since 2008. The following year, she was made Canterbury Laureate and received a Grant for the Arts to write her fourth collection, a Canterbury Tales for the 21st century. Telling Tales (Canongate 2014) was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2014 and 2015 Wales Book of the Year.