“I’m a poet because I want to go away, to be a fugitive, to slide away from the world that’s proposed.”
A poet, scholar and writer
On Blackness as an atmospheric condition
The physical body of colour in a world built of whiteness that is oblivious to itself
On knowing the names of things
How prescriptive language and lack of time is weaponised to waste our lives
Biography
Jason Allen-Paisant is a scholar, poet, and writer whose work explores embodied experience in the context of Afro-diasporic history. His collection, Thinking with Trees, was named an Irish Times Poetry Book of the Year in 2021. His work has appeared in Granta, The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Callaloo, New Poetries VIII, The BBC, and in More Fiya: A New Collection of Black British Poetry.
Allen-Paisant’s latest collection is Self-Portrait as Othello. He has been the recipient of a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. He holds a Doctorate in Medieval and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, American Studies, and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester.
