Ben Okri - The Magic Lamp

Ben Okri, one of the foremost authors of our time and a Booker Prize-winner, grew up in Peckham and attended John Donne Primary School.

We are honoured that he is joining us in person for a performative reading celebrating and illuminating his work across more than 40 years of magnificent, uncategorizable writing.

Performing alongside Okri himself are a cast of local children and young people led by poet and Bold Tendencies Facilitator Alfiah Jade Brown bringing vividly to life Okri’s unique “dream logic”, what he calls the “philosophical conundrum...what is reality?”, as well as the political, spiritual and environmental dimensions of his work.

Okri’s novel Astonishing the Gods (1995) was chosen by the BBC as one of the 100 books that changed our world.

He is acclaimed nationally and internationally and in 2023 was knighted for services to literature.Presented by Bold Tendencies.All ages