Join us for our annual Keynote by award-winning poet, cultural activist and novelist Ben Okri. His works have won numerous national and international prizes including the Booker Prize for Fiction, Aga Khan Prize for Fiction and Guardian Fiction Prize.
Chilling readings from award winning writers Kia Abdullah (Take It Back, forthcoming), Parker Bilal (The Divinities: A Crane and Drake Novel, 2019), Leye Adenle (When Trouble Sleeps, 2018) and Mary Watson (The Wickerlight, 2019), followed by a conversation on how what gets their hearts racing.
Join DJ Ritu (Resonance FM), Kevin Le Gendre (Don't Stop the Carnival, 2018) and Maan Abu Taleb (Ma3azef; All The Battles, 2019) for a conversation on how culturally specific music media and spaces are celebrating alternative music styles and genres in the UK and elsewhere. What is the role of music journalism in the age of engaging with music online, within your community and outside it?
Ever been asked ‘What’s your book about?’ only to be self-deprecating, trip over your tongue, or waffle nonsensically? Learn how Commissioning Editor Rose Tomaszewska (Quercus/Hachette) pitches books to her team and the publishing industry, and how this can help you get attention, summarise your work and present yourself confidently.
Grab some lunch and come listen to performances from Corey Peterson and Tanaka Fuego, some of the freshest new voices on the London poetry scene!
The performances are sponsored and curated by Apples and Snakes, the leading organisation for poetry and spoken word.
Skin Deep present a special edition of Sonic Transmissions, an immersive session of conversation, live performance and collective listening with Titilola Dawudu, theatre maker and editor of Hear Me Now (2018), a ground-breaking anthology featuring monologues written for actors of colour, and actors Ana Torre and Nicole Abraham.
A live session with Building Stories, a new podcast delving into the hidden tales of the structures and architecture surrounding us. Host and author Roma Agrawal (Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures, 2019) and writer Shiromi Pinto (Plastic Emotions, 2019) discuss structural engineer Fazlur Khan and architect Minnette de Silva, and their ingenious contributions to architecture and society.
Adults and children alike are encouraged to join lawyer and activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu for an empowering talk on the importance of activism, kindness and standing up for what is right.
A panel of writers ask what it's like fighting for self-rule at the fringes of society. Featuring journalist Tam Hussain (To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan, 2019; The Travels of Ibn Fudayl, 2018), novelist Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (House of Stone, 2018), scholar Abdullah Anas (To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan, 2019) and academic Alpa Shah (Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas, 2018).
Short-story and fiction writers Marcelle Akita, Asha Mohamed and Lydia Levy read from their stories included in Unbreakable Bonds, a groundbreaking anthology of photography, fiction and non-fiction from Eastern Africa and the UK. Q&A with by Beverly Ochieng of the podcast 2 Girls and a Pod.
This session is curated by Esther Mirembe (Writivism Literary Initiative, Uganda) and Spread the Word.
Bring your kids along to join award-winning author and illustrator Nadia Shireen (Billy and the Beast, 2018) for a live reading followed by some fun, live animation.
Writer, singer and author of The Tunnels Below (2019), Nadine Wilder Palmer performs a live reading from her debut novel.
Interweaving her love of words and voices, Nadine will also be bringing along her guitar to sing for us.
Join illustrator Erin Aniker as she teaches children of all ages how to translate the written word and characters into awesome artwork.
Whether it’s creating your own comics or illustrating books, Erin shares her tips and tricks.
Hear slices of stories from the lives of women, both fictional and real. We'll have readings from novelists Bisi Adjapon (Of Women and Frogs, 2018), Jill Johnson (The Time Before The Time To Come: i mua, a muri, 2018) and Rana Haddad (The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor, 2018), and journalist Zing Tseng (Forgotten Women: The Scientists, 2018). Followed by discussion.
Get insider tips on the publishing industry! Join the audience for a live pitching session, where four writers will present their work to a panel of industry experts for feedback and advice on how to get published.
Journalists and fiction writers including Orkideh Behrouzan (The Book of Tehran, 2019), Hanna Ali (The Story of Us, 2018), Sharlene Teo (Ponti, 2018) and Monisha Rajesh (Around India in 80 Trains, 2019) explore how literature can paint portraits of the places and cities we live in.
Author Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff (Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children, 2018), YA writer Onjali Rauf (The Boy at the Back of the Class, 2018) and Poet Roy McFarlane (The Healing Next Time, 2018), all longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2019, discuss themes of literary inventiveness in the face of institutional violence. Chaired by author and prize judge Anna Perera (The Glass Collector, 2011).
Join Spread the Word’s Bobby Nayyar and Ruth Harrison to find out about the support you can get to develop your writing and yourself as a writer. Bobby and Ruth will be joined by writers Anne Chen, Iqbal Hussain and Tice Cin from the London Writers Awards who will talk about their experiences of applying for and being part of writer development opportunities.
Grab some lunch and come listen to performances from Jamal Hassan and Chifa Khelfaoui, some of the freshest new voices on the London poetry scene!
The performances are sponsored and curated by Apples and Snakes, the leading organisation for poetry and spoken word.
How do comedians relate to the audience? How much of stand-up is personality versus persona? ComedyOn presents performances from comedians Athena Kugblenu, Esther Manito and Rick Kiesewetter followed by conversation chaired by Saalene Sivaprasad (ComedyOn).
A session curated by British Latinx collective Invisible Presence. Alba Frederick, Carlos Mauricio Rojas and Marina Sánchez perform their poetry, showcasing myths and folklore tales in Latin American literature. Followed by Q&A with co-director and Latinx poet LeoBoix.
Join us for a conversation with award winning international event manager and disability rights advocate Shani Dhanda (Able Magazine), novelist Leone Ross (In Which Dragons Are Real But, 2018), poet Raymond Antrobus (The Perseverance, 2018) and theatre maker Travis Alabanza (Burgerz, 2018) asking, do we need to write positively about bodies?
Fantasy writers Micah Yongo (Lost Gods, 2018) and Tasha Suri (Empire of Sand, 2018), read from their debut novels and discuss their work as well as how it fits in the contemporary landscape of the genre.
