In September, EEHN collaborated with Creative Carbon Scotland and the Scottish Poetry Library on Island Futures, an evening of poetry and debate about climate change at the University of Edinburgh. We were privileged to enjoy readings from two outstanding poets and video artists, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (author of Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, attending via skype) and Roseanne Watt (author of Moder Dy).
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is a Marshallese poet and activist. She received international acclaim through her poetry performance at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York in 2014. She is co-founder youth environmentalist non-profit Jo-Jikum dedicated to empowering Marshallese youth to seek solutions to climate change and other environmental impacts threatening their home island.
Roseanne is a poet, filmmaker and musician from the Shetland Islands, currently living in Edinburgh. In 2018 she was the winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award.
Kathy and Roseanne helped us explore how the challenges of a changing climate affect island communities in the Marshall Islands and Scotland in both similar and distinct ways. You can watch their readings and the following discussion below – do also check out their amazing video work on their websites (https://www.kathyjetnilkijiner.com/ & https://vimeo.com/roseannewatt), as well as their incredible poems!
