NOBEL prize-winning poet Derek Walcott will be at Essex University this week.

The Caribbean writer, playwright and essayist accepted a position in the university’s literature department as Professor of Poetry at the end of last year.

His tenure includes two visits to the Colchester campus during two fortnightly stays – this week and the spring of next year.

As well as working with students, there are a number of events taking place as part of his visit.

They begin tonight in the university’s Lakeside Theatre, at 7pm, with the premiere of Jamaica for Sale, a powerful documentary film about the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism and development in Jamaica.

After the screening, the audience will be invited to join the director, Esther Figueroa, writer and journalist Polly Pattullo and Dr Sanja Bahun, of the university’s department of literature, for a discussion.

On Friday, there will be a chance to see leading Brazilian percussionist and the university’s artist-in-residence, Adriano Adewale, perform Sound Journey in tribute to Derek Walcott, at 7.30pm, again in the Lakeside Theatre.

Prof Walcott’s visit will conclude on Saturday with a public event at the Lakeside Theatre, starting at 3pm.

He will discuss his life and work with professor of literature at the university, Marina Warner, and Dr Maria Cristina Fumagalli, senior lecturer in the university’s department of literature and an expert on the work of Prof Walcott.

Prof Walcott, who does not often travel to the UK, last gave a public reading in this country at the university in September 2008, when he was awarded an honorary degree.

He was born in St Lucia, in the West Indies, in 1930, and was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Poetry in 1988, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.

Tickets to all events are available through the Mercury Theatre’s box office on 01206 573948.

Admission to tonight’s and Saturday’s events are free and open to the public, but entry is by ticket only.

Tickets for Sound Journey are priced £9, £6 for concessions and £4 for Essex University students.