Author and performance poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes is Booktrust's second online writer in residence.
Nii was children’s poet in residence at the Brighton Festival in 2007, has led storytelling sessions at the Southbank Centre and British Museum and his poem ‘Wrong Side’ has been memorised by hundreds of pupils across the UK. He has written for and run several workshops for younger readers.
For older readers, Nii has written three poetry chapbooks: eyes of a boy, lips of a man (1999); M is for Madrigal (2004), a selection of seven jazz poems, and the self-published shorter (2005), which is a vehicle to raise money for a writers' fund in Ghana. His poem, 'Tin Roof', was selected for the 'Poems on the Underground' initiative in 2007.
A former poet in residence at London's Poetry Café, Nii has performed his work on major stages across the world, including the Royal Festival Hall and at a reading for the London Mayor’s vigil on 14 July, 2005 (in response to the London bombings).
Nii is also the Senior Editor at flipped eye publishing and a contributing editor to The Liberal magazine. He co-edited the Tell Tales Volume I short story anthology with Courttia Newland and regularly edits x magazine. He was the 2005 associate writer in residence on BBC Radio 3, and has held visiting positions at the University of Southampton and California State University.
As a socio-cultural commentator and advocate for African writing, Nii has led forums internationally, and has sat on discussion panels for BBC Radio with award-winning writers Margaret Atwood and AS Byatt. He runs the African Writers’ Evening series, at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden.
Nii's debut novel, Tail of the Blue Bird, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2009.
