Writing out of the Abyss: Black Literature’s Creative Rebellions, with Esi Edugyan and Roger Reeves

The Martinican poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant described the Middle Passage of New World enslavement as an "experience of the abyss​." How do Black writers confronting such a legacy, forge narratives that cultivate resilience​, generative creativity and complex identities?

American poet Roger Reeves and Bahamian poet Georgio Russell discuss the challenges, and triumphs, of the artistic refusals and reinventions that transform ​this traumatic history of suppression, marginalization and erasure​ into literature.

Moderated by Esi Edugyan.


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This event is part of a webinar series, Drawn to the Page, meant for young writers to develop their craft and purpose as an author.

Occurring bi weekly on Wednesdays in October, recent winners of the RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award will discuss what pulls them to the page, and consider, in dialogue with their mentors, collaborators or award-winning peers, how writers respond to the social and political challenges of their time.

The webinars are free to attend. Registration is required for each session.

The webinars are free to attend. Registration is required for each session.

You may also like the following events from PEN Canada:

• Next Wednesday, 8th October, 06:00 pm, An Evening with Jamaican writer, Olive Senior in Toronto
• This month, 28th October, 07:30 pm, Graeme Gibson Talk 2025: Notes on the New America in Toronto
• Next month, 12th November, 07:00 pm, Voices of Freedom reading at Toronto Reference Library in Toronto

Also check out other Arts events in Owasso, Literary Art events in Owasso, Workshops in Owasso.