Schedule

20.00 DJ’s

21.00 Yomi Sode (UK)

21.20 Vanessa Kisuule (UK)

21.40 Solomon OB (UK)

22.00 Zena Edwards (UK)

Hosted by Roger Robinson

DJ’s

Tickets: 10€ door only. Fri & Sat tickets also available at the door!

Join five poets who are currently lighting up British stages for a night of dynamic poetry. From the personal to the political, thought-provoking to tear-jerking, their poetry is as wide-ranging and diverse as the African diaspora. Roger Robinson, host for this special evening, will read and introduce Zena Edwards, both of whom have mentored many younger writers. He will also welcome up-and-coming poets Vanessa Kisuule, Solomon OB and Yomi Sode. It promises to be a night of unforgettable lyric verse.

Zena Edwards

Zena Edwards was raised in Tottenham, North London and has been writing since she was a child. Since graduating from Middlesex University in Drama and Communication Studies, Zena has been involved in poetry, theatre and live literature performance for 24 years. She has been nominated for the 2017 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships Award, was nominated for the Arts Foundation Award for Performance Poetry 2013 and won the Hidden Creatives Award 2012. Her writing for performance explores collective and personal revolution, re-membering that which has been dismembered in the continuum of the African diaspora pre- and postcolonial canon. Zena has is creative and educational director of Verse In Dialog (©CV:iD), which is a social enterprise company focused on cross art collaboration for social change.

www.goodnewzee.wordpress.com/

Twitter @ZenaEdwards

Vanessa Kisuule

Vanessa Kisuule is a writer, performer and spoken word artist based in Bristol. She has won several slam titles including most recently, Hammer and Tongue National Slam 2014 and the Nuoryican Poetry Slam in New York. She has worked with the Southbank Centre, RADA, The Bristol City Council and had her work featured by the BBC, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Dazed and Confused, Sky TV and TEDx in Vienna. She represented the UK in two European Slam Championships in Sweden and Belgium, completed a ten-day tour of Germany in 2015 and spoke at the Global Forum of Migration and Development 2016 in Bangladesh. Her debut poetry collection, Joyriding The Storm, was published in 2014.She has performed at festivals including  Shambala, WOMAD and Glastonbury.

www.burningeyebooks.wordpress.com/tag/vanessa-kisuule/

Twitter @Vanessa_Kisuule

Solomon OB

Solomon OB is an artist, musician and poet who was born in London and now lives in Bristol. He was crowned Hammer and Tongue Slam Champion in 2016 and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Featured on BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 5Live and The Guardian online, he is a lover of dynamic displays of lyricism, delivering passionate and engaging performances and constantly looking to push his own boundaries. Armed with a new live band supporting the likes of Chali 2na, 2017 serves as his arrival as a solo artist, with his forthcoming debut EP The Writing is Real coming later in the year.

Twitter @SolomonConcepts

Roger Robinson

Roger Robinson was born in Trinidad and has lived in the UK for over 20 years. Decibel named him as one of 50 writers influencing the Black British writing canon. His commissions include The National Trust, The National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Roger’s books include the fiction Adventures in 3D and poetry collections Suitcase, Suckle – Winner of the Peoples Book Prize – and The Butterfly Hotel, from which the poem ‘Trinidad Gothic’ was Highly Commended by the Forward Prize and shortlisted for the OCM Bocas Poetry Prize. He is a co-founder of Spoke Lab and the writing collective Malika’s Kitchen. He released a solo album, Illclectica and a new EP Dog Heart City, and is lead vocalist for King Midas Sound, whose debut album, Waiting for You (Hyperdub Records), was critically acclaimed.

www.rogerrobinsononline.com/

Twitter @rrobinson72

Yomi Sode

Once long-listed as one of MTV’s Brand New Artists, writer/ poet Yomi Sode balances the fine line between both Nigerian and British cultures, which can be, at times, humorous, loving, self-reflective and uncomfortable. Over the past nine years, he’s had work commissioned by The Mayor’s Office, BBC World Service/Africa, Channel 4, charities and for the UN Humanitarian Summit. He won a place on Nimble Fish’s RE: Play programme to develop his show COAT, the scratch of which has since been programmed by the Southbank Centre and Camden Roundhouse to sold out audiences. Last year Yomi was chosen to be a part of The Complete Works and travelled to the USA as part of British Council’s Shakespeare Lives initiative, where he read at New York Public Library.

www.iamgreeds.com/

Twitter @YomiSode

The programme is organized by Speaking  Volumes Live Literature Productions (UK) in collaboration with Fest Afrika festival and Afroeuropeans: Black Cultures and Identities in Europe – sixth biennial network conference at University of Tampere. Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions is supported by Arts Council England and Coastal Carolina University.