Malika Booker facts for kids

Malika Booker (born in 1970) is a British writer and poet. She is also a multi-talented artist. Many people see her as a leader in the "spoken word" movement in the UK. This means she helped make poetry performances popular. Malika writes in many ways, including poems, plays, and stories. Her work has been shared in many books and magazines. She has worked with big organizations like the BBC and the National Theatre.

About Malika Booker

Early Life and Education

Malika Booker was born in London, UK, in 1970. Her parents were from Guyana and Grenada. She grew up in Guyana. When she was 13, she moved back to the UK with her parents.

Malika started writing and performing poetry while studying at Goldsmiths, University of London. She studied anthropology there.

Her Work as a Poet

Malika Booker created a poetry group called Malika's Kitchen. Other poets, like Nick Makoha, were part of this group. Her first collection of poems was called Pepper Seed. It was published in 2013. This book was nominated for a special prize for new poetry collections.

Malika was also the first Poet In Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. This is a very famous theatre group.

Her poem "Nine Nights" was published in 2016. It was nominated for the Forward Prize in 2017. This award is for the best single poem.

Writing for Stage and Radio

Malika has written stories for radio shows. She has also written plays for the stage. Her work has appeared in many different books and magazines. These include Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women’s Poetry (1998) and New Daughters of Africa (2019).

Awards and Recognition

Malika Booker has won several important awards for her poetry.

In 2019, she received a Cholmondeley Award. This award is given for a great contribution to poetry.

In 2020, Malika won the Forward Prize for "Best Single Poem – Written." The winning poem was called "The Little Miracles." It was published in a magazine called Magma.

She won this same prize again in 2023 for her poem "Libation." This made her the first woman to win that specific prize twice. The Poetry Review first published "Libation."

In 2022, Malika Booker was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This is a special honor for writers in the UK.

Selected Books and Collections

Here are some of the books and collections where Malika Booker's work can be found:

• 1998: Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry.
• 2000: IC3: The Penguin Anthology of New Black Writing.
• 2004: KIN: Commemorative Tour Anthology.
• 2004: The Way We See It, The Way It Is.
• 2007: Breadfruit. ISBN: 9781905233175
• 2010: Ten New Poets.
• 2012: Hidden Gems Volume Two: Contemporary Black British Plays.
• 2013: Pepper Seed. ISBN: 9781845232115
• 2017: Penguin Modern Poets 3: Your Family, Your Body by Malika Booker, Sharon Olds, Warsan Shire. ISBN: 0141984023
• 2019: New Daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent.