The Schwarzman Centre and Exiled Writers Ink presents
How Shall We Sing in a Strange Land
An amazing day of Exile in dialogue with the Psalms
Saturday 28th November 2026
Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG
Speaking to both individual and collective despair caused by displacement, dispossession and alienation, the Psalms of exile are not only poems marking our place in the aftermath of erasure or loss. More profoundly, they are both lament and communal address, born from the innate human need to be heard, to be made whole again and to be at home. From this starting point, exile is understood not simply as a geographical condition but as a layered human experience encompassing linguistic, embodied and relational dimensions.
Morning Session: 10.30 – 12.00 am
How Shall We Sing in a Strange Land
Exiled Writers Ink brings its acclaimed Exiled Lit Café to Oxford. A poetry performance and discussion featuring poets Leo Boix, Amir Darwish, Jennifer Langer and TK Sebastian.
Lunchtime: ‘Threshold’: What We Carry/ What We Shed
A solo performance by interdisciplinary artist Burak Kaci explores that precarious state of being suspended in time where the subject is held at a threshold in the aftermath of departures without arrival.
Afternoon: Aftermath: 2-4 pm Creative Writing Workshop
An interactive writing workshop led by poets Jennifer Langer and Leo Boix inviting participants to create shared poems exploring themes of exile. This session enables individuals to create a collaborative poem to share a range of emotions and narratives.
All the guest poets will reveal the contents of their boxes of exile containing items significant to their experience of exile.
Small caskets and boxes are understood as witnessing a deeply rooted human need to protect an inner world. They are places where we deposit thoughts, unwritten memories and sacred relics of our lives.
If you can, please bring a few simple items from your past that engage the senses.
The Exile Library of Poetry – all day
Browse our curated Exile Library of Poetry at your leisure. Reflect on the landscape of exile and your Psalmic experiences of the day and write about it, if you wish.