Keynote lecture by Malik Al Nasir

25 May 2022

The Liverpool-based historian, poet and author Malik Al Nasir closed out our Colonial Legacies project with a poignant keynote speech exploring his life experiences, ancestry, and links to British colonialism.

Malik's talk connected the two strands of the Bluecoat's Echoes And Origins project - colonial legacies and looked after children - drawing on a life experience that encompasses both.

We also heard from Project Assistant Oleta Omar La Cruz, Project Facilitator Tavia Panton and Bluecoat Director of Cultural Legacies Bryan Biggs.

Event was in collaboration with WOWFEST22.

Listen to the event recording

Event was in partnership with WOWFest.

About Malik

Malik Al Nasir is a Liverpool-born poet, social researcher and activist. His widely acclaimed 2021 book, Letters To Gil, related his life in the care system and a remarkable relationship with Gil Scott-Heron, who mentored him, from semi-literacy to a masters degree through poetry. He is now undertaking a PhD in history at the University of Cambridge and working on a new book about his roots back to Guyana and the slave plantations of Demerara.

Follow Malik on Twitter and Instagram: malikandtheogs.

Find out more about The Bluecoat's Colonial Legacies programme