This an extraordinary anthology of poems celebrating 20 years of Malika's poetry kitchen - a thriving collective of writers and poets, whose words, stories and poems changed the British landscape

One of the Evening Standard's Best Non-fiction 2021.


'We knew that black and brown bodies, working class voices, women's voices, did not have a space where they could be heard - and so this writing collective was a necessary and political act'

In the early years of the new millennium, poets Malika Booker and Roger Robinson saw the need for a space for writers outside of the establishment to grow, improve, discuss and learn. One Friday night, Malika offered her Brixton kitchen table as a meeting place. And so Malika's Poetry Kitchen was born.

'Kitchen', as it became known, has ushered in a new generation of voices, launching some of the most exciting writers, books and initiatives in British poetry in the past twenty years. Today, Kitchen is a thriving writers' collective, with a wealth of talented poets and branches in Chicago and India.

Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different is a celebration of Kitchen's legacy, an appreciation of its foundational spirit and a rallying cry for all writers to dream the future. The collection features breathtaking new poems by Warsan Shire, Inua Ellams, Kayo Chingonyi, Dean Atta, Roger Robinson, Malika Booker among many others.

For two decades now, British poetry has been flavoured by the products of Malika's Kitchen. Without that Kitchen we would have been blander; we would not have understood as deeply, how much craft and urgency and ambition belong in the same pot. Gather now at this most important table. Sit. Feast.