Furthering the art of literature and culture
“Renaissance One delivers stellar arts event production. The staff are warm, efficient and professional. I felt completely at ease on the day of my Curandera book launch in 2024 because everything ran like a well oiled machine whilst still managing to create a dynamic, atmospheric event.”
“I was very fortunate to be supported by Renaissance One during my one-woman show, Unknown Soldier which toured from September 2023 to July 2024. I was impressed by their professionalism and integrity. They liaised with venues, dealt with marketing, invoicing and travel and accommodation logistics. On a personal level, I found them to be approachable, sensitive to my personal needs and acutely aware of the issues affecting me as a global majority lesbian woman. All of this was an essential contribution to the high quality and success of my tour. It was a great pleasure to work with them.”
Grace Nichol’s new poetry collection, out in November 2026
Nichols’ journeys
In her new Bloodaxe Books collection, Grace Nichols embarks on a journey across the English countryside to the small town of Olney in Buckinghamshire. Olney was where the one-time English slave-trader (later abolitionist) John Newton lived and wrote his famous hymn, Amazing Grace which inspired her Guyanese Methodist parents to name her Grace Olney after both hymn and place. Exploring the relationship between memory and history, conscience and greed, a sense of place and love of landscape, Nichols makes a space for redemption, continuing the interweave between her Guyanese/Caribbean and British heritages.
Bio: acclaimed Guyanese poet Grace Nichols is the author of many books for adults and children and a poet widely studied on the GCSE syllabus. Her adult collections include The Fat Black Woman’s Poems and I is a Long-Memoried Woman which won the 1983 Commonwealth Poetry Prize. As acknowledgement of her contributions to literature, she was awarded The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry by the Queen in 2021. She is a fellow and Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature.
John Agard wins the CLiPPA for an unprecedented third time
John Agard @ Ellie Kurttz
John Agard was named the winner of the CLiPPA (Centre for Literary in Primary Education Poetry Award), for his poetry collection The Poetry World of John Agard, illustrated by Shirley Hottier, at a ceremony on 9 July 2026 at the National Theatre on London’s Southbank. Hundreds of primary school children, experienced the ceremony live, with thousands more watching online from schools across the country. The Poetry World of John Agard features 80 of John’s best poems, with new illustrations by Shirley Hottier. Taken from early collections and out of print books including I Din Do Nuttin (1983), Laughter is an Egg (1990) and We Animals Would Like a Word With You (1996), many of them drew on John’s Guyanese childhood and his wider memories of the Caribbean, these poems resonate with young readers today and they have also inspired many of the UK’s newer generations of poets and wordsmiths. The event included live illustration by former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell and live performances by all CLiPPA shortlisted poets which included Agard, Sam Gayton with Press Play to Start, Simon Mole with A First Book of Bugs, Sean Taylor with Five Little Friends, and Traci N. Todd with This Is Not a Small Voice.
Jason Allen-Paisant on Self-Portrait As Othello and The Possibility of Tenderness
In 2023 and 2024, author and academic Jason Allen-Paisant achieved a rare literary milestone with his outstanding collection, Self-Portrait As Othello (Carcanet Press), clinching both the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize for Best Collection. This was followed in 2025 with his non fiction debut The Possibility of Tenderness, published by Penguin.
‘The Past Master’ by Patience Agbabi, a delightful read for middle graders by the poet and novelist
The 4th and final novel in Agbabi’s adventure novel tetralogy for middle-graders, The Past Master, brought an exhilarating end to the Leap Cycle series in 2024 when it was launched by Canongate.
Featuring a Black British autistic girl as the central character, the book along with others the series has wowed readers with its themes of diversity, neurodivergence, climate change and sustainability.
Patience toured the UK with us in 2024 to bring the book alive, including festival readings, workshops and school events at Imagine festival at Southbank Centre, The Story Museum, Chatham Waterstones, Emirates Stadium and more. She discussed the core themes of the book in a special online conversation with Ellah Wakatama OBE, Editor-at-Large at publisher Canongate.
““An adventure so thrilling it makes time fly!””
2022 to 2025 Highlights at Renaissance One
Grace Nichols read at a number of events, building on her reputation as a powerful reader of her work and a poet who weaves stories that capture generations of readers. A recipient of the prestigious Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2021, her poems are studied on the GCSE Curriculum which means that 1000’s of students grow up with her writing. Her latest book is Passport To Here and There, retracing memories from the coast of Guyana to life in Sussex. We are collaborating with Grace to launch her new poetry collection, The Tracks of My Name (Bloodaxe Books) in November 2026 followed by some events in the autumn and in 2027.
John Agard toured with us in 2024 - 2025 to a range of festivals and venues, including a performance supporting poetry peer Dr John Cooper Clarke in 2025, a guest appearance at rapper and musician Loyle Carner’s All Points East (APE) headliner show at Victoria Park and joint performances with fellow Caribbean artists Philip Nanton, Grace Nichols, Tobago Crusoe and Michael Brome as part of our Caribbean Sensations project. He gave tailored performances for children and family audiences at Imagine Festival, Aston Villa Football Ground, Bridgewater Hall and Wainsgate Chapel. Agard is well-known amongst readers of all ages for his witty and charming poetry. He is appreciated by many generations as his poems have been studied at GCSE level for decades. See him at venues from autumn 2026 and in 2027.
Jason Allen-Paisant the Jamaican born and Leeds-based poet and academic won two of the most prestigious poetry prizes within a period of four months of 2023 to 2024, the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the T.S. Eliot Prize, for his second book Self Portrait as Othello (Carcanet, 2023). The following year, his nonfiction debut The Possibility of Tenderness was published by Penguin. Read him in reflection HERE. In Self-Portrait as Othello, Allen-Paisant examined the Shakespearian character of Othello as he navigates modern Europe, interweaving ekphrastic and other poetic forms to pose and question notions of race, identity, masculinity and otherness. We collaborated with Jason to produce his book launches in London and Leeds, which brought together the literary with the community, and global and local, in a fusion of words, music and conviviality.
Patience Agbabi toured her thrilling fourth and final book of the Leap Cycle series, The Past Master in 2024 as part of a ten venue tour funded by Arts Council England. Take a look at The Leap Cycle blog. She also discussed her acclaimed poem Eat Me at a number of events and in schools and you can read the poem and explore its themes here.
Seni Seneviratne toured her acclaimed poetry collection Unknown Soldier (Peepal Tree, 2019) with Renaissance One in 2023 and 2024 to venues around the UK including Manchester Poetry Library, Attenborough Arts, Wirksworth Festival and Leeds Beckett University. The project included a touring exhibition of photographs, a one-person show and talks and workshops at festivals and schools, and was funded by Arts Council England,
Anthony Joseph won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2023 for his much acclaimed poetry collection Sonnets for Albert. An autobiographical collection which addresses the impacts of an absent father is describe as imbued with ‘honesty, control and grace’ (Julian Girdham). In 2026 we will be collaborating with him to explore a range of projects, so watch this space.
Follow that Word by author John Agard is a celebration of imagination and the diversity of language.
A dazzling collection of over sixty poems, Follow That Word delivers John Agard's musings on people and places from the modern and historical world. A wonderful collection that can be rediscovered over and over again. With gorgeous black-and-white illustrations from Momoko Abe, it takes you on a thought-provoking journey into the wonderful world of words. This collection deserves to be on every bookshelf.
“The father of performance poetry brings you a collection of riotously funny poems.”
In 2022, in partnership with Museum of Colour and Words of Colour, we co-produced the digital exhibition MY WORDS, which charts and celebrates 250 years of poets of colour who have influenced all the culture that we enjoy today. The exhibition includes research, portraits and podcasts, a response gallery of new poetry which draws from objects and artefacts at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and an audio archive at Manchester Poetry Library (Northern Poets). My Words has been curated by Samenua Sesher, Joy Francis and Melanie Abrahams. The exhibition is housed within the Museum of Colour Digital Museum.
Our projects combine words, music and visuals to reflect the buzz and mix of contemporary culture. From poetry and spoken word, to book tours and workshops, our esteemed writers respond creatively to themes in society, politics and culture, to develop exciting events that truly resonate.
Reflecting the contemporary literature ecology and 21st century working, we are a team of full and part-time producers, curators, and writers dotted about the country. This makes us responsive, clued up to and engaged with local needs, and enthusiastic about literature across a range of regions.
Want to book a writer for a reading, performance, workshop, residency, or another type of activity? Are you an organisation looking for consultancy or advice on programming, DEI, organisational development or an aspect of production. Or, think you might be the new talent that we seek? Write to us or give us a call. We're always on the lookout for new people to work with and exciting projects in which to get involved.