Sonia Hope

‘I first visited the NPL as a student in 2002 and, because I rarely throw anything away, I still have that long-expired library card! I began to visit more regularly when I worked as Librarian at the Hayward Gallery from 2014-2018; during that time I was lucky enough to work temporarily at the NPL and fell in love with the collection. When I learned about an opportunity to return on a more permanent basis in 2023 I jumped at the chance.

‘I’m drawn to hidden histories in the collection: for example, important black British feminist anthologies from the 1980s such as A Dangerous Knowing: four Black Women Poets which includes Jackie Kay and Grace Nichols, and the Caribbean poets published by Savacou in Jamaica, many of whom migrated to Britain in the 1940s, ‘50s and 60s. But the NPL is also the place to discover contemporary poetry in all its forms.’