Award-winning poet Kayo Chingonyi joins novelist Naomi Booth at Durham Book Festival for an insightful conversation about writing, publishing and how a book makes its journey from an author’s first ideas to its readers.
The event is the first in a new Talking Books series designed to demystify the publishing process and give aspiring writers a better understanding of the literary world.
Born in Zambia and raised in the UK from the age of six, Kayo Chingonyi FRSL has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary British poetry.
His debut full-length collection, Kumukanda, draws on the traditional initiation rites of Zambia while exploring masculinity, race, music, migration and growing up as a Black man in Britain. The collection won both the Dylan Thomas Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award.
His later collection, A Blood Condition, further established Chingonyi’s reputation and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Costa Poetry Award.
Alongside his poetry, Chingonyi works as a writer, broadcaster and academic and is an Associate Professor at Durham University.
He will be joined by Professor Naomi Booth, author of the novels Raw Content and Exit Management and the short-story collection Animals at Night.
Together, the two writers will discuss their experiences of developing ideas, working with publishers, navigating the publication process and building a career as an author.
For emerging Black writers and anyone interested in contemporary Black British literature, Chingonyi’s contribution offers a valuable perspective on how heritage, identity and personal experience can be transformed through poetry.
The event includes an audience Q&A and can also be watched by livestream.
Talking Books with Naomi Booth and Kayo Chingonyi takes place at Gala Durham on Friday 9th October 2026 from 5:00pm to 6:00pm as part of Durham Book Festival 2026.
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