[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).