[The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series] In Conversation with Jamaican-American author and LGBT rights activist, Thomas Glave. Online, Wedns., 6 Nov. 2024 (6pm-7.30pm UK Time)

Join us for an evening of conversation with fiction and nonfiction writer, Thomas Glave. 

Attendance and participation are free and open to all. 

As part of the event, Thomas Glave will talk about the work he is doing interspaced with readings from the works.

Glave will also share thoughts and reflections on what works of literature add to the conversation taking place at a familial, community, national, continental and international level on African migration and on Africans on the continent, in the diaspora and on the move. 

The conversation and readings will be followed by a Q&A session with all present. 

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER 

Thomas Glave is the author of four books, including The Torturer's Wife (City Lights Publishers, 2013) and Among the Bloodpeople: Politics and Flesh (Akashic Books, 2013), and editor of the anthology Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles (Duke University Press Books, 2008). The recipient of two Lambda Literary awards and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize nomination, Glave is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, an honorary visiting professor at the University of Liverpool and professor of English and creative writing at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He has been Martin Luther King Jr Visiting Professor at MIT, Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Warwick, and a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. He is a trustee of Writing West Midlands and Peepal Tree Press, and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Transition and Wasafiri. His most recent work appears in the anthology Encounters with James Baldwin: Celebrating 100 Years (Supernova Books, 2024). 

The conversation takes place as part of the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology readings and conversations series.

ABOUT THE AFRICA MIGRATION REPORT POETRY ANTHOLOGY SERIES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the anthology series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. Developed with support from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Global Scholars Fund, the network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration.

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardship that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[Forced Migration and The Arts] Claire French, In conversation with Kasia Lech, author of Multilingual Dramaturgies Towards New European Theatre (Palgrave MacMillan, 2024). Online, Fri., 8 Nov. 2024 (3pm-5pm GMT; 4pm-6pm CET)

Europe – as a geopolitical concept, its residents, communities, and countries – is a multilingual space where people communicate in multiple languages such as Polish Sign Language, Ukrainian, Arabic, Tamazight, Spanish, Sami, Greek, and Shelta. These languages may arise from ethnicity, a country, or a region but also from disability contexts. They interact within multiple physical, geographical, socio-political, and virtual spaces, and open new possibilities for theatre.

Join Kasia Lech (University of Amsterdam) and Claire French (University of Aarhus) as they discuss Lech’s new book Multilingual Dramaturgies: Towards New European Theatre (Springer 2024). Written in a dialogue with diverse artists and their languages, it argues for multilingual theatre's central role in Europe’s futures. The book reveals a complex set of negotiations involved in the creative and political tasks of staging multilingualism, as well as funding and working models. Through different theatrical, historical, cultural, and geographic contexts, the book features over 60 languages that arise from state, ethnicity, region, and disability. Multilingual Dramaturgies offers new ways of understanding identity in European contexts.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

NOTES

The event is hosted by Forced Migration and The Arts, and the Performance and Migration Working Group established and coordinated by Yana Meerzon (University of Ottawa, Canada), Steve E. Wilmer (Trinity College, Dublin), and Sheetala Bhat (York University, Canada). The group has been meeting online during the 2023-2024 academic year and has been accepted for a three-year partnership with CATR (Canadian Association for Theatre Research). It has also been accepted at the IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research). The work of the group is supported through the Palgrave Studies in Performance and Migration book series co-edited by Meerzon and Wilmer.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. Developed with support from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Global Scholars Fund, the network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums usually on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration.

[Invitation] The Africa Migration Report Poetry Readings and Conversations: Sessions 1 -3: Online, 2pm-3.30pm; 4pm-5.30pm & 6pm-7.30pm UK Time; Online, Thurs., 17 October 2024

Join us for an afternoon and evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.

As part of the readings and conversation a number of poets featured in the upcoming, African Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 1 & 2 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will share thoughts, experiences and poetry on the theme of African migration, and share the vision they have on African migration and how we get to that future.

The readings and conversations will be followed by a Q&A with all present.

Attendance and participation are free and open to all.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

THE SESSIONS

The conversations are taking place in three sessions, each with a different set of poems, namely:

• Session 1: 2pm-3.30pm (UK Time) (Details), featuring poets Ayo Ayoola-Amale, Philippa Hatendi-Louiceus, Tifany MarSah, M Sahr Nouwah, Collins Chibunna Nwachukwu, Joseph C Ogbonna, Omobola Osamor, Adaora Raji, and Patrick Kapuya Tshiuma,
• Session 2: 4pm-5.30pm (Details), featuring poets Jo Blackwood, Anayo Dioha, Samuel Julius Habakkuk Kargbo, Ilan Kelman, Anton Krueger, Octavia McBride-Ahebee, Remind Mugwambani, Francis Muzofa, J.O. Neill, and Ejime Ijeoma Victory,
• Session 3: 6pm-7.30pm (Details), featuring poets Oluwaseyi Adebola, Abiola Agbaje, Jim Aitken, Brian Siang'ani Boyí, Barrington Gordon, Gorrety Yogo, Monica Manolachi, Mariam Mohammed, and Epiphanie Mukasano.

We will be using the same link for all three sessions. Once registered, you can join a session or sessions of your choice.

NOTES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. Developed with support from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Global Scholars Fund, the network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration.

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[Invitation] The Africa Migration Report Poetry Readings and Conversations: Session 3: Online, 6pm-7.30pm UK Time; Online, Thurs., 17 October 2024

Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.

The event takes place online, from 6pm till 7.30pm (UK time), on Thursday, 17 October 2024.

As part of the evening, poets featured in the Africa Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 2 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will share poetry and reflections on the theme of African migration, the vision they have on the matter, and how we get to a future where freedom of movement is a right that extends to and includes Africans on the continent, in the diaspora, and on the move.

The readings and conversations will be followed by a Q&A with all present.

Attendance and participation are free and open to all.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

FEATURED POETS

Oluwaseyi Adebola (MBBS, MSc. MRCS) is a Nigerian trained doctor currently working as a neurosurgery specialty registrar in Liverpool. He has a master's degree in translational neuropathology from Sheffield & a distinction in advanced diploma in creative writing from Tennessee. He is the author of a collection of short stories titled 'A Cluster of Petals' which was shortlisted for the 2019 Quramo Writer's award and the 2019 Afire Linda Ikeji Prize for literature. He is also the founder and curator of CreativeNaija.com, a social network/marketplace for creative Nigerians via which he curated the work- "I Am Nigeria: An anthology of what it means to be Nigerian in past, present and future tenses" He is a contributing author for ‘African Ghost Short Stories’ and his works have appeared in international and local platforms including Papercuts and Itanile.

Abiola Agbaje is a passionate writer, dedicated professional and an individual who likes to advocate for empathy and social consciousness. She’s currently on the path of honing her story telling skills and enjoys lots of quiet time as well as playing car race game.

Jim Aitken is a poet and dramatist living and working in Edinburgh. He is a tutor in Scottish Cultural Studies with Adult Education and he organises literary walks around the city. His last poetry collection was 'Declarations of Love', published in 2022. Jim is a widely published poet and Associate Editor with Culture Matters.

Brian Siang'ani Boyí is a poet from Kenya aged 24. He writes poems and short stories on different topics of life. The poems below have been published on scribd.com and on his Facebook page (Black-Well Poetry 23).

Barrington Gordon’s poems and short stories address conundrums behind humanity’s masks. His short story, "Grandfather's Feet" was published in Whispers in the Walls: New Black and Asian Voices from Birmingham (Tindal Street Press 2001), anthology endorsed by Benjamin Zephaniah and Bonnie Greer. The story was also read and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In addition, his work has been featured in anthologies and publications that include Voice Memory Ashes: Lest we Forget (Mango Publishing 1999), Steel Jackdaw: Edition 4 (2021), Poetry and Settles Status for All (CivicLeicester 2022), Welcome to Britain (CivicLeicester, 2023) as well as the Walsall Society of Artists' 73rd annual exhibition at the New Walsall Art Gallery (2024), and Art Meets Poetry which curated his Ekphrastic poems twinned with artists’ compositions as part of Wolverhampton’s Annual Literature Festival.

Gorrety Yogo is an early career researcher on Migration and Development. Gorrety enjoys writing, self-care and compassion during her personal time. She has self-published lots of note-books on self-care and one book on youth development on Amazon. Gorrety has been published by different projects on MIAG, Dynamig, IOM and the youth Cafe.

Monica Manolachi is a writer, literary translator and lecturer at the University of Bucharest, Romania. She is the author of Performative Identities in Contemporary Caribbean British Poetry (2017) and has published many academic articles on contemporary literature in English. Her latest work, Journeys in Europe (2022) is co-authored with Neil Leadbeater..

Mariam Mohammed is a Ghanaian graduate student at the University of Tennessee. As a teaching associate, and a second-year master’s student in the Rhetorics, Writing, and Linguistics department, she is deeply engaged in exploring the intersections of race, language, mental health, and belonging. Her academic interests are reflected in her scholarly work, which includes both research and creative writing. Her commitment to understanding and articulating these complex issues drives both her teaching and creative endeavors.

Epiphanie Mukasano was born in Rwanda in 1961. Now she lives in Cape Town and writes poems and short stories. Her poems were published in a collection, Living on the Fence (2007), by refugee women from Africa. In 2010, she published her own collection, Kilimanjaro on my lap.

NOTES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. Developed with support from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Global Scholars Fund, the network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration.

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[Invitation] The Africa Migration Report Poetry Readings and Conversations: Session 2: Online, 4pm-5.30pm UK Time; Online, Thurs., 17 October 2024

Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.

The event takes place online, from 4pm till 5.30pm (UK time), on Thursday, 17 October 2024.

As part of the evening, poets featured in the Africa Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 1 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will share poetry and reflections on the theme of African migration, the vision they have on the matter, and how we get to a future where freedom of movement is a right that extends to and includes Africans on the continent, in the diaspora, and on the move.

The readings and conversations will be followed by a Q&A with all present.

Attendance and participation are free and open to all.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

FEATURED POETS

Jo Blackwood is an engaging and establishing street poet, writer, actress, community actress (Derby Theatre); (more recently) a digital online movie reviewer and hosts The Soothing Session (Derby Sound Community Radio Online). She has participated in development programmes, commissions, with Renaissance One London and volunteering programmes within the East Midlands community.

Anayo Dioha is a lawyer and writer from the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. His poems lie on the online and print pages of The New Verse News, Queen's Quarterly, Password: Very Short Poetry and The Literary Cocktail Magazine. He's on course to complete a PhD in law.

Samuel Julius Habakkuk Kargbo was born in Wilberforce village, Freetown, Sierra Leone, and is a poet, preacher and songwriter. He has a BSc in Chemistry from Fourah Bay College, US and an MSc in Environmental Sciences (Hons) from Cyprus International University. He is currently researching Environmental Toxicology at Nagasaki University in Japan, and is the CEO and founder of Poem Makers SL, a poetry brand that motivates and mentors young brilliant minds in Sierra Leone and abroad.

Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, integrating climate change into both. Instagram/Threads/X @ILANKELMAN 

Anton Krueger has published plays, memoir, short stories, criticism and arts journalism. Lately, he’s been experimenting with spoken word collaborations with improvising musicians, including Tony Bental, Warrick Sony, Francois le Roux and Paul Hanmer. He lives in Makhanda where he heads the Department of Literary Studies in English at Rhodes University. To sample his work, visit: https://amateurist.weebly.com/writings.html.

Octavia McBride-Ahebee's poetry is informed by the convergence of cultures and the many ways people move throughout the world. She presents relationships within the context of global inequality.

Remind Mugwambani is a young man born in 2001, in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe. He is the third of four children. His published works include "Today is Your Day, Go and Win," "Resilient Driver," and "I Will Be Home to Tell the Story," all of which were featured in the anthology "Wind on My Face: Motorcycle Diaries."

Francis Muzofa (aka@Pope) is Zimbabwean poet. His poems have been published by various Platforms both locally and internationally. He is a philosophical poet, who use humor, allegory and satire to poke into the eyes of those who cause harm. His writings are inspired by nature and the social ills that hurt the innocent and vulnerable. If he was God for a day, he would kill poverty and spread kindness.

J.O. Neill is a freelance writer, producer and funeral celebrant based in Bristol, UK. Born and raised till aged nine in Jamaica, her work is concerned with liminality, history, memory and belonging. She has also written, produced and directed two independent, crowdfunded films exploring her family's story. Find out more on her website - jessicaolivianeill.com - or follow her Instagram @jessolivianeill

Ejime Ijeoma Victory, born in Nigeria, is an multiple award winning essayist, poet, and humanitarian. In 2019, she was the first recipient of the Delta Short Fiction Award prize. Her work includes the novel, where the rivers go, which is due to be published in 2025; short stories, among them, "a song of ashes", and the poetry collection, a burning road. Ejime is also founder of the Anwumilli Foundation, and a book editor. She is currently studying at the College of Nursing Science in the city of Agbor, Nigeria.


NOTES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. Developed with support from the University of Manchester’s Humanities Global Scholars Fund, the network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration.

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[Invitation] The Africa Migration Report Poetry Readings and Conversations: Session 1: Online, 2pm-3.30pm UK Time; Online, Thurs., 17 October 2024

Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.

The event takes place online, from 2pm till 3.30pm (UK time), on Thursday, 17 October 2024.

As part of the evening, poets featured in the Africa Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 1 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will share poetry and reflections on the theme of African migration, the vision they have on the matter, and how we get to a future where freedom of movement is a right that extends to and includes Africans on the continent, in the diaspora, and on the move.

The readings and conversations will be followed by a Q&A with all present.

Attendance and participation are free and open to all.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

FEATURED POETS

Ayo Ayoola-Amale is the author of six volumes of poems. She believes that art expresses the inherent beauty in human experience and the environment with a sense of poetry and unbridled sensitivity. Ayo is a Social Justice Poet and the founder/director of Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation.

Philippa Hatendi-Louiceus was born in Zimbabwe and traversed three continents for education. Her journey culminated in a bachelor's degree in the arts. Scribbling since her teens, her pen dances to the rhythms of African culture, mythos, and folklore, weaving tales that honor the richness of her heritage.

Tifany MarSah is an all rounded creative currently solidifying herself in the UK poetry scene. As a poet she encapsulates vulnerability through imagery, storytelling and conversation. Through “spoken letters'' her pieces send a message from experience and paint a connection to past/present/ futuristic emotions and moments that are mutually experienced. Tifany to confirm.

M Sahr Nouwah is a poet, humanitarian worker, and advocate with roots in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Born June 15, 1985, and educated as a refugee, he has travelled widely across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. Sahr writes articles on LinkedIn, Academia, and Medium, sharing his varied experiences.

Collins Chibunna Nwachukwu is a Nigerian and a Pan-African. Some of his works appear in anthologies, among them, Love Birds (2024, an Indian publication), Words Are Forever (2023, India), Spirit Anthology (a Radha Krishna publication, India), Achebe, The Soul Brother (7th edition of the publication of the Young Society of Nigerian Writers, Anambra state chapter, Nigeria). Others appear in magazines such as the Fringe Poetry Magazine (2024 edition, UK), and Mount Kenyan Times e-magazines (2023). He has garnered several awards and certificates of participation and excellence in several online literary groups. A lover of music and musical instruments and a topnotch goalkeeper, Collins holds a (BA in Mass Communication) from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and an (MA in Communication and Language Arts) from the University of Ibadan.

Joseph C Ogbonna is a prolific poet from Nigeria. He has published very widely in magazines, anthologies, journals and in online blogs. His poems 'Napoleon to Josephine’ and ‘Josephine to Napoleon' were aired by the BBC Radio 3 in a documentary Napoleon: Words and Music to mark the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte on May the 5th, 2021. He lives in Enugu with his wife, Chizoba Josef-Chidindu.

Omobola Osamor‘s poetry examines the intersection of relationships—both human and institutional—and the emotions that arise from failures and successes. Her work, which includes poetry and fiction, has been featured in a range of publications, including Brittle Paper, African Writer, The Shallow Tales Review, and Flash Fiction Magazine. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, she currently lives in Chicago.

Adaora Raji’s recent article for Salzburg Global Seminar explores how migrant fiction can challenge the narratives surrounding the complex global system of migration. Her fiction stories has appeared in Fictionable, Lolwe, Arlington Literary Journal, Midnight and Indigo Literary Journal, the Coachella Review, the Bookends Review and as 1st runner up in the 2022 Kendeka Prize for African Literature.

Patrick Kapuya Tshiuma is a software developer and father of four living and working in Israel with a refugee status obtained in 2004.

NOTES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. The network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration. 

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[Invitation] The Africa Migration Report Poetry Readings and Conversations: Online, Thurs., 10 October 2024; 6pm-7.30pm UK Time

Join us for an evening of poetry and conversation on the theme of African migration.

The event takes place online, from 6pm till 7.30pm (UK time), on Thursday, 10 October 2024, as part of Journeys Festival International which takes place in the UK cities of Leicester, Manchester and Portsmouth annually, and which explores refugee and migrant experiences through the arts.

As part of the evening, poets featured in the African Migration Report: an Anthology of Poems; Volume 1 (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will share poetry and reflections on the theme of African migration, the vision they have on the matter, and how we get to a future where freedom of movement is a right that extends to and includes Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.

The readings and conversations will be followed by a Q&A with all present.

Attendance and participation are free and open to all.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

FEATURED POETS

Abíọ́dún Abdul is a Yorùbá-Nigerian English Language Lecturer and UNESCO Global Poetry Slam Champion 2022. Her poems focusing on social justice and celebrating our common humanity are published in various anthologies. She also writes short stories, life essays and memoir-polemics exploring social issues encompassing her schooling across Yorùbá-Nigeria, Scots-Britain, and Japan.

Nzingha Assata (nee Bedward/Gordon) is from Jamaica and has lived in England since January 1959. Nzingha is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother holding a BA (Hons) in Social Science. She is also a retired health professional. As a community activist, she is a Garveyite, Pan-Afrikanist here in the UK, Jamaica and on the continent of Afrika. She takes her politics with her and aims to link with other activists when she travels.

Efua Boadu. British-Ghanaian writer. In 2021, Efua was shortlisted to join the Southbank Poetry Collective. Her work has featured in Isele and Afritondo journals. She has been longlisted for the 2022 Afritondo Short Story Prize, the 2023 Mary Prince Award, and the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Twitter/X handle: @FRH210

Sierra Leone born artist and poet Amanda Holiday moved to the UK aged five. She has exhibited artworks at INIVA and Tate Britain and has shows forthcoming with Vivienne Roberts. Founder of Black Sunflowers Poetry Press, Holiday is currently completing a PhD in Poetry, Race and Art at Brighton University.

Sello Huma is a spirited and musically inclined poet and social entrepreneur from Limpopo in South Africa. His poems and songs are the books of our ancestors focusing on issues related to African unity, culture, history, futures and justice for people of color. Alongside his stage performances, his work can be found in the Sol Plaatjie European Union Poetry Anthology, Ons Klyntji, Afritondo, Agbowó, New Coin, Brittle Paper, Tampered Press and elsewhere.

Nandi Jola was born in Gqebera, South Africa. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English (Poetry) from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Nandi is a poet, storyteller, playwright and creative writing facilitator, and is well known in Northern Ireland and beyond for her work in the Arts and Museum and Heritage sector. Nandi was curator of the Golden Shovel Poetry Jukebox and is a creative writing facilitator for Quotidian. Among her plays, the topically titled Partition, and The Rise of Maqoma, engage with and also seek to move beyond Eurocentric themes. https://www.doirepress.com/writers/nandi-jola

Mark Kennedy Nsereko is a Muganda writer, and lawyer. His works are reflections on injustice. They are also glimpses into the orchestra of beautiful chaos that is his mind. These have been featured in the poetry anthology, I Promise This Song Is Not About Politics, and in the magazines Brittle Paper, African Writer, and Akpata Magazine. Other works are forthcoming in Transition, and Iskanchi Magazine.

Helidah Ogude-Chambert is a South African-Kenyan Pan-Africanist whose work, both scholarly and creative, flows through bodies of water, state cruelty, affective forces of resistance, and the everyday brutalities of living—and dying—while Black. She is captivated by how Black and migrant bodies carry stories of refusal across multiple temporalities, challenging the colonial linearity of time. She teaches at Oxford University, seeking new ways of understanding race, mobility, and resistance.

Elly Ray is a poet from Hargeisa, Somalia. She has been writing as hobby since childhood. She is a counsellor, a word magician and a healer who wishes to bring some healing upon the wounded among us.

Laurène Southe, a 24-year-old Congolese-Austrian writer, discovered her passion for poetry at 17 through the Vienna African Writers Club. Her full-time pursuit began after a 2021 performance at the African Diaspora Festival. She showcased her work in group exhibitions and at the Vienna Design Week, and completed her first poetry book, Child of Congo, during a writer residency at Echo Correspondence, aiming to publish it in coming years.

NOTES

Organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series draws inspiration from the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report, jointly published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2024. Through poetry, the series explores multifaceted narratives surrounding African migration, capturing personal, familial, community, national and international histories and experiences of African migration. Because every day is Africa Day, our call for submissions is open 365 days a year.

Forced Migration and The Arts is an international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and art spaces for conversation looking at work taking place at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet. The network hosts monthly indabas or discussion forums on the last Thursday of each month and encourages mutual support and collaboration. 

Regularise is a migrant-led collective founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective aims to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

CivicLeicester is a community publisher that uses print and digital technologies, social media platforms, the arts, and online and in-person events to highlight conversations of transnational interest and significance. Books we have edited and published include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).