WORDS / JACOB SAM-LA ROSE
For people who will be meeting you for the first time in South Africa, who are you and where are you from?
I'm Jacob Sam-La Rose, a poet, educator, artistic director and editor of Guyanese heritage, hailing from the UK.
How has the experience been establishing a career as a writer in the UK?
In a word? Rewarding. I started as many do, absorbing as much poetry as I could find, trying to figure out where my voice fit in the broad range of the poetry I read and heard, and establishing my own poetics. I performed at as many open mic events as I could and established relationships with some of the most important live literature and literature development agencies in the UK, including Apples & Snakes and Spread the Word, and institutions like the Barbican and the Southbank. Organisations like renaissance one and the British Council were also instrumental for helping me to develop an audience in the early days of my career. And it's grown from there. There's a vibrant poetry world throughout the UK, and particularly in the larger cities, like London, there's a surfeit of poetry events and scenes. But I'm always mindful of what it means to be successful in the midst of all of that activity. Now, it's nice to be able to look back and see how my work and aspirations have evolved over time. One thing that's really important for me is that "my career" isn't just about my own work, it's also about the other emerging poets and creatives I've been able to support along the way. I've had some fantastic opportunities, but there really weren't the kinds of mechanisms and pathways for professional and creative development when I was on my way up as there are now. Having said that, it's still a challenge to find success in the creative industries, particularly in poetry. Hence the existence of a programme like The Complete Works, which was designed to challenge the lack of cultural diversity in the world of publishing. I do as much as I can to support and challenge (in a positive way) the young and emerging poets and literature professionals to be as best as they possibly can be.
Which writers or poets inspire you?
When I was coming into my own, I was intrigued by poets who were able to put word to the often complicated realities of their respective cultures, identities and backgrounds, and I drew from a broad range of influences— hence me often citing both Seamus Heaney and Alice Walker as two of my earliest inspirations. I also came to admire the work of African-American performance poets like Saul Williams, Jessica Care Moore, as well as Caribbean voices like Roger Bonair-Agard. I've always admired and will continue to admire Kwame Dawes, who's been a leading light for many of the Black British writers of my generation, and I'm honoured to count poets such as Roger Robinson and Malika Booker as friends. At present, I constantly find myself returning to the work of Bob Hicok, Phillip Levine and Robert Hass, and I'll freely admit that Bob's been a big influence on my writing.
How does your work as a writer inform your work as an educator?
You so often teach what you know. So my own poetics undoubtedly inform what it is that I do as an educator. That said, I'm always quick to push anyone who works with me to develop their own voice, to figure out what they're own poetics are. And it's a rewarding role. The most challenging teaching experiences are often the most rewarding, and in the challenge you often find something new, something different, even if it's a different way of communicating a familiar concept so that it connects with the people you're working with this time. The common root for my work is attempting transformation. I feel my work is most successful when I'm presenting transformative experiences, be that through a poem I've written, or a workshop I've devised.
One of the main objectives of the Open Book Festival is to create a culture of literature amongst the youth. You yourself work a lot with young people and your work includes the merging of literature/writing with education. Can you tell us a bit about the projects you are involved in, in light of this?
To name a few— I'm the artistic director of Shake the Dust, the largest youth slam poetry project of its kind in England. I've worked with a range of youth slam initiatives, including the Word Cup with Apples and Snakes (another national slam), Power in the Voice with the British Council (an international collaborative project between England and Africa), the Camden Youth Slam, the Roundhouse Poetry Slam and the London Teenage Poetry SLAM. I helped to establish SLAMMARIT, which was the first youth slam in Finland. I run the Barbican Young Poets programme, a course for poets aged between 15 and 24 that runs at one of the UK's largest arts centres, and my current labour of love is a project called Burn After Reading, a community that brings together many of the young poets I've worked with over the years, as well as new emerging poets who are just getting started.
Do you feel like your work can be seen as a form of social commentary? Is that something that matters to you?
Yes, and yes, but that's not necessarily what I set out to do with every single poem. My poems don't often begin from noble or lofty ideals. They're inspired or agitated because there's something I want to capture or express. If I do my work successfully, I'll build a bridge between whatever it was that struck me on that level of personal interest and something that can speak to a wider audience.
Connect ZA ‘s main objective is connecting creative professionals and audiences in South Africa and the UK Are you familiar with the literature and spoken word scene in South Africa? If so what are your thoughts?
I know a little about artists such as TJ Dema, but my experience of the South African literature/spoken word scene is really rather limited, which is one of the reasons this time I'm spending in South Africa is such an exciting proposition...
Jacob's festival appearances -
6th September: Speak The Mind (Arts Alive), Bassline _ Johannesburg, 19:00 - 23:00
7th September: Poetica, Fugard Annexe 2 _ Cape Town, 18:00-19:00
7th September: Open Book poetry Slam, Fugard Annexe 2 _ Cape Town, 20:00-21:00
9th September: Urban Verse, Fugard Studio _ Cape Town, 20:00-21:00
The Open Book Festival will be taking place between the 7-11 September. For more information visit openbookfestival.co.za