Malika Booker

Ink Tales reinvigorates fairy tales and myths from around the world, breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes throughout. Illustrated by Inkquisitive (Amandeep Singh) in his vibrant signature Indian inks, each story is accessible and visually inspiring. Travel across oceans and discover the vengeful wrath of a River God in Kayo Chingonyi's West African tale. Soar too close to the sun with Inua Ellam's timely story of a young refugee girl. Fly to a mysterious castle inhabited by a cursed prince with Helen Mort's retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Uncover the truth of #Bluebeard with Joelle Taylor's modernised fairy tale. Look to the constellations with Will Harris' futuristic Greek tragedy, and never, ever answer to your name in Malika Booker's Trinidadian recreation of the Dwen. Bedtime Stories for the End of the World is produced in partnership with the ground-breaking poetry podcast of the same name. The six featured poets draw on their own experience, adding a new dimension to an existing tale. 'Bedtime Stories for the End of the World' is a spoken word and poetry podcast about the power of myth and the politics of storytelling. The podcast asks some of the UK's top poets to re-imagine their favourite myths, fairy tales and legends - the stories they want to keep and protect for the future. It also involves an annual live event, creating a tangible and accessible experience for existing and new audiences. Reimagined tales include Icarus, the legend of the Zambezi River God, East of the Sun West of the Moon, Bluebeard, Philoctetes and the Trinidadian folklore figure 'douen'.

These poems are shaped by the various places Malika Booker has come to know as home: Brooklyn, Brixton, Grenada, Trinidad and Guyana. One minute we're in Grenada, the next at border control in Heathrow – all part of a larger story of diaspora and displacement. Influenced by the likes of Toni Morrison, Jamaica Kincaid, Sharon Olds and Toi Derricotte, Booker weaves a visceral, emotive patchwork of the dramas inherent in both extraordinary world travel and ordinary domestic life. Malika Booker is a British writer of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage. Her pamphlet Breadfruit was published by Flipped Eye in 2008, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her poems are widely published in magazines and anthologies, including Out of Bounds: Black & Asian Poets, edited by Jackie Kay, and Ten: New Poets from Spread the Word, edited by Bernardine Evaristo and Daljit Nagra. She has represented British writing internationally, both independently and with the British Council, in such countries as Slovenia, Switzerland, New Zealand, India and Azerbaijan. Malika was the first Poet in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. She lives in south London.

Malika Booker is a writer, spoken word and multidisciplinary artist, whose work spans literature, education and cross-arts. She has appeared world-wide both independently and with the British Council. Founder of the international writer development collective, Malika's Kitchen, Malika was Hampton Court Palace writer in residence in 2004 and Poet in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2011. Breadfruit, her first pamphlet, was commended by the PBS Selectors in 2007.