REGISTRATION
To attend, register here.
ABOUT THE READINGS AND CONVERSATION
As part of the indaba, poets contributing to As British As Fish And Chips / La Manche Journal of English Channel Poetry (CivicLeicester, forthcoming) will comment on what is happening in and around the English Channel, and read and discuss their work.
There will also be a Q&A and conversation with all present.
The indaba asks:
- What are the systemic, social, political, economic, contemporary, and historical factors leading to how human beings fleeing war, conflict and persecution are perishing in the cold waters of the Strait of Dover?
- Why is the English Channel the only route available to the people?
- How do we remember those who are dying? And,
- How do we confront the attitudes, ideologies, policies and beliefs that make these deaths permissible and the people unmournable?
The poets taking part are Jim Aitken, Judith Amanthis, Jonny Cosmo, Farah Didi, Kevin Qweaver Jackson, Lindy Newns, M Sahr Nouwah, and Kwazinkosi Sibanda.
The conversation is hosted by Forced Migration and The Arts, and the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series
ABOUT THE POETS
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.
Judith Amanthis’ short fiction and journalism have been published in Ghana, South Africa and the UK. Her novel Dirt Clean was shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize 2021, and her poetry has appeared in a number of UK publications. Judith is also in the South Bank New Poets Collective 2024/25.
Jonny Cosmo is a writer, poet and community organiser from sunny Preston, Lancashire. Author, artist, activist, anarchist, ADHD, alchemist, Animist, Advisor, Athlete, Amateur, Aliterate.
Safoora Cheriki is a writer, poet, Iranian, based in France, and is a member of Atelier of Artiste in exile in Paris.
Farah Didi (née Faizal) is a Maldivian poet and retired diplomat whose writing explores rupture, resilience, and justice. Her poetry reflects on political upheaval, the toll of war, and its impact on children and families. She was the first Maldivian woman to earn a PhD.
Kevin Qweaver Jackson, based in East Midlands, UK, has been writing and performing for over 10 years at gigs and festivals. Queer community and social rights activist, he revels in poetry’s subversion, its ways of opening minds and hearts, of witnessing. His second collection, Loves Burn, was published in 2020 by Big White Shed to broad acclaim. Kevin blogs at https://www.facebook.com/kevinjacksonpoetry
Lindy Newns regularly hosts Mostly Manchester Stanza group and her poetry and flash fiction has appeared in Orbis, Acumen, Riggwelter, L’Ephemere, Popshot, and various anthologies including Poems for Grenfell. She is a volunteer with Refugees at Home and has hosted several refugees for periods of between 2 and 13 months.
Kwazinkosi Sibanda is a PhD candidate in Development Studies at the University of South Africa. A 2023 member of the IMISCOE PhD Academy, he has presented at international academic conferences and participated in PhD summer schools in Belgium and Sweden. His research examines coloniality, gender, and migrant entrepreneurship in Southern Africa.
The readings and conversation will be recorded and made publicly accessible, in whole or in part, through the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series video playlist, social media and the website we are building around the poetry anthology series.
ABOUT AS BRITISH AS FISH AND CHIPS / LA MANCHE JOURNAL OF ENGLISH CHANNEL POETRY
As British As Fish And Chips / La Manche is volunteer-led and is hosted by Forced Migration and The Arts and the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series.
The series was inspired by the Africa Migration Report: 2nd Edition (African Union and International Organisation for Migration, 2024), and has open calls for poems (40 lines or less) and short prose (100 words or less) exploring:
- African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility,
- how African and Asian refugees are being left to drown in the English Channel, and
- Edward Nkoloso, Afronauts and the 1960s Zambian Space Programme.
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