Southbank Centre to open audio installation by award winning reggae poet

The Southbank Centre is opening an outdoor audio installation by award winning reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, pictured.

In the installation which will run from June 21 to August 29, the poet reads his 1981 poem commemorating the deaths of 13 young people in a house fire in New Cross, south-east London.

Though no one has ever been convicted for these deaths, many people believe the fire was a racially motivated arson attack.

Written in Jamaican Patois and English, Mr Kwesi Johnson’s text captures the rage and anguish of the loss of these lives and the political system that allegedly allowed this miscarriage of justice to happen.