THE LITRO LITERARY WEEKENDER 25 TH TO 28 TH MAY 2017
Patrice Lawrence Nana Ocran Theresa Lola Victoria Adukwei Bulley Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE Gabriel Gbadamosi Zoe Adjonyoh Margaret Busby OBE Ekow Eshun Yinka Shonibare MBE Inua Ellams Poetra Asantewa Ayobami Adebayo Caleb Femi Sian Bangura Frances Mensah Williams Griot Chinyere Cover art | Ruby Amanze
litro.co.uk
INTRO Every year, Litro Magazine publishes international editions focusing on different parts of the globe. In 2016, we had an issue dedicated to Cuba, and one highlighting South Asian writing in English; we featured young voices like Aatish Taseer alongside more established writers and artists like Shehan Karunatilaka and Coco Fusco. As 2017 marks sixty years since Ghana achieved independence, our latest World Series instalment, Literary Highlife, celebrates the country’s birthday with our first weekend festival. Our title comes from ‘highlife’, a kind of popular music born in Ghana early in the twentieth century that blended traditional Akan musical rhythms with European military band instruments imported under colonialism. It spread, and still influences current Ghanaian and Nigerian afrobeats, as well as other forms of music, today. We also invite Ghana’s neighbour Nigeria to join in the celebration, and dedicate this weekend to the rich cultural and literary landscapes of both countries. We have three days of music, poetry, spoken-word sessions and more, including a free writers’ workshop with Patrice Lawrence, author of Orangeboy, the winner of the 2017 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Children. I hope you will enjoy this mix of free and ticketed events taking place in St James’s Square and the Piccadilly and Tottenham Court Road branches of Waterstones. Other highlights of this highlife include an exploration of West African cuisine with Zoe Adjonyoh, of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen (we just might finally get a final answer on which country makes the best Jollof Rice!); a tour of the literatures of the cities of Accra and Lagos with Nana Ayebia Clarke in conversation with Gabriel Gbadamosi; and Turner Prize winner Yinka Shonibare will join broadcaster Ekow Eshu to discuss ‘art and identity’. That’s not to forget our poetry hours, and Litro women’s hour with Siana Bangura & guests as well as the Rhythm and Poetry Party, with Inua Ellams and guests including Theresa Lola, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Charles Obiri-Yeboah, Dzifa Benson, and Young People’s Laureate for London Caleb Femi; though it all kicks off with storytelling in the square, @ St James’s Square, 25th May at 12.30pm. It should all make for a fun, exciting and inspiring weekend.
Eric Akoto
BIO ’S BIO ’S Born in London and raised in Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare MBE employs a diverse range of media – from sculpture, painting and installation to photography and film – to probe matters of race, class, cultural identity and history. He is perhaps best known for his signature use of a colourful “African” batik fabric that actually originated in Indonesia and was introduced to Africa in the 19th century by British and Dutch colonisers.
Ato Quayson is University Professor and Director of the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. He was educated at the University of Ghana and at Cambridge. His most recent book is Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism.
Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer and cook from SouthEast London. Her pop-up restaurant and supper club has been making waves in the foodie scene - both in London and Berlin - bringing traditional and contemporary Ghanaian food to an audience outside of the Ghanaian community. Zoe appears at streetfood markets, pop-ups and festivals across Europe, as well as providing cookery classes and being an established event caterer.
Ekow Eshun is a Ghanaian-British writer, journalist, and broadcaster. Until November 2010 he was the artistic director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, leaving before the end of his six-month notice period. He is a contributor to BBC2’s Friday night arts programme Newsnight Review, the editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine Tank and a former editor of Arena magazine.
Irenosen Okojie is a writer and Arts Project Manager. Her work has been published by the Observer, the Guardian, the BBC, the Huffington Post amongst others. Her debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won a Betty Trask Award. Her short story collection, Speak Gigantular, was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Her story, Animal Parts, will be adapted for the stage by Bafta-winning documentary maker and director Julia Pascal.
BIO ’S
Ayobami Adebayo holds BA and MA degrees in Literature from Obafemi Awolowo University. She also has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia where she was awarded an international bursary for creative writing. Her debut novel, Stay with Me, has been shortlisted for the Baileys prize.
BIO’S
Margaret Busby OBE (also titled Nana Akua Ackon) is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster based in the UK. She was Britain’s youngest and first black woman book publisher when in the 1960s she co-founded with Clive Allison the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby.
Gabriel Gbadamosi is a poet, playwright, and novelist of Irish-Nigerian descent. He grew up in Vauxhall, London and studied English at Cambridge University.
Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE is a Ghanaian-born publisher, she was Submissions Editor of the highly acclaimed Heinemann African and Caribbean Writers Series for 12 years where she published and promoted prominent writers and Nobel Prize winning authors. She founded Ayebia Clarke Publishing Limited with her husband David in 2003. Becky Nana Ayebia Clarke was awarded an Honorary MBE in 2011 for services to the British publishing industry.
Nana Ocran A London-based writer and lecturer, Nana’s work has featured topics including architectural design, African pop culture, green spaces and technology, all of which has been a vehicle for some delightful commissions and collaborations with national and international organisations including the Time Out Group, Iniva, Pernod-Ricard Paris, Gestalten Books (Berlin) and the British Council.
BIO’S
Siana Bangura is a writer, poet, performer and social commentator hailing from South East London. She is the author of ‘Elephant’, her debut collection of poetry exploring themes such as Black British womanhood, girlhood, racism, gentrification and sexism; and is the producer of upcoming documentary, ‘1500 & Counting’, a film investigating police brutality and deaths in custody in the UK. Siana’s other works include ‘Denim’, a short film exploring gentrification in South East London, as well as numerous essays and features in publications such as Media Diversified, Consented, Black Ballad, VICE, The Fader, BBC, Channel 4, The Green European Journal, Ladybeard, and Buzzfeed. Siana is also the founder of independent publishing house, Haus of Liberated Reading and the editor of Black British Feminist platform, No Fly on the WALL.
BIO’S
Frances Mensah Williams is the author of the novels From Pasta to Pigfoot and From Pasta to Pigfoot: Second Helpings. Of Ghanaian origin, she has written three careers books and articles for numerous publications. She is Managing Editor of ReConnect Africa.com, the award-winning online publication for professionals of African origin.
Poetra Asantewa is writer and a poet based in Accra. Her work, both as a performer and a writer engages issues of becoming, feminism, inequality, womanhood and mental health in her community. She has participated in internationally acclaimed workshops organised by Femrite (2013) and Farfina Trust (2016) and was the first Poet to be selected as a OneBeat 2016 fellow.
Storyteller Griot Chinyere is a British born African storyteller whose family originates from the Igbo people of West Africa.
Caleb Femi is the Young People's Laureate for London.
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is an award winning poet, playwright & founder of the Midnight Run. Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in his work in which he mixes the old with the new, traditional with the contemporary. His books are published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches & Oberon.
Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a British-born Ghanaian poet and writer. A former Barbican Young Poet, her work has been commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts, in addition to being featured on BBC Radio 4. Her debut pamphlet, Girl B, is edited by Kwame Dawes and forms part of the New-Generation African Poets series 2017. She is currently directing Mother Tongues, a forthcoming film, poetry and translation series supported by the Arts Council and Autograph ABP.
BIO ’S
Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian Poet. She was shortlisted for the 2016 Bridport Poetry Prize, 2016 London Magazine Poetry Prize and was highly commended for the Charles Causley Poetry Prize. She is a Barbican Young Poet alumnus from the 2015/2016 programme.
BIO’S
Patrice Lawrence has been shortlisted for The Waterstones Children’sa Book Prize and the Costa Children’s Book Award for her stunning debut novel Orangeboy. Join her and the Spread the Word team for this exclusive hour-long surgery.
SCHEDULE 25 TH MAY 2017 12:30 TO 1:30PM ESCAPE FOR A LUNCH BREAK WITH A DIFFERENCE STORYTELLING IN THE SQUARE @ ST. JAMES’S SQUARE JOIN ACTOR CLARKE PETERS AND GUESTS. Storyteller Griot Chinyere & Shanti-Chi will help kick off the weekender
with a reading in the square at St. James’s Sqaure. VENUE: ST JAMES SQUARE, SW1Y 4LJ
WATERSTONES TAKEOVER WATERSTONES 203 PICCADILLY W1J 9HD | 4TH FLOOR
1:00PM TO 2:00PM WRITER ’S WORKSHOP PATRICE L AWRENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH SPREAD THE WORD VENUE:WATERSTONES 203 PICCADILLY W1J 9HD | MEZZANINE CAFE
2:30PM TO 3:30PM P OETRY HOUR HOSTED BY NANA OCR AN WITH THERESA LOL A AND VICTORIA ANNE-BULLEY Writer & Critic Nana Ocran chairs a conversation with three emerging London poets Theresa Lola, Victoria- Anne Bulley on their journeys into poetr y.
4:00PM TO 5:00PM LITER ATURE OF THE CIT Y VIA ACCR A’S OXFORD STREET NANA AYEBIA CL ARKE MBE IN CONVERSATION WITH P OET, PL AY WRIGHT, AND NOVELIST GABRIEL GBADAMOSI – TAKING A LITER ARY JOURNEY VIA THE STREETS OF ACCR A AND L AGOS
5:30PM TO 6:30PM WEST AFRICA THROUGH IT’S CUSINE ZOE’S GHANA KITCHEN ZOE ADJONYOH IN CONVERSATION WITH MARGARET BUSBY OBE, NANA AYEBIA CL ARKE MBE AND GABRIEL GBADAMOSI Join chef and founder of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen Zoe Adjonyoh in conversation with Margaret Busby OBE, Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE and Gabriel Gbadamosi – exploring the various cuisines of West Africa – and shedding light on just which countr y can stake its claim on the much loved West African dish ‘jollof ’ rice.
Please note: A ticket for this event is essential to guarantee seats
7.00PM TO 8.00PM ART & IDENTIT Y A CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST YINK A SHONIBARE MBE AND BROADCASTER EKOW ESHU This evening Yinka and Eshow discuss their work to explore the intersections of art and identity.
27 TH MAY 2017 6:00PM TO 8:00PM INUA ELL AMS RHY THM AND P OETRY PART Y CALEB FEMI, THERESA LOL A , VICTORIA ANNE-BULLEY, CHARLES OBIRI-YEBOAH, DZIFA BENSON AND INUA ELL AMS Curated especially for the Litro Literar y Weekender, this will be a nostalgic, no-clutter, no-fuss, straight-up evening of hip-hopinspired poems and favourite hip-hop songs. The lineup’s six selected poets are some of the brightest, talented Ghanaian and Nigerian spoken word artists, crossing genres united by the specif icity of language and its potential for ef fortless rhyme. Expect your head to nod and heart to move. Featuring Caleb Femi, Theresa Lola, Victoria Anne -Bulley, Charles Obiri-Ye boah, Dzifa Benson, Inua Ellams.
VENUE: WATERSTONES 19-20 TOT TENHAM COURT ROAD W1T 1BJ
28 TH MAY 2017 12.00PM TO 1.00PM P OETRY HOUR WITH YOUNG PEOPLE’S L AUREATE, P OET CALEB FEMI Join poet Sian Bangura in a special hour of poetr y readings of her work & conversations with guests.
3.00PM TO 4.00PM Litro WOMEN’S HOUR JOIN Sian Bangura, IRENOSEN OKOJIE, Frances Mensah Williams & GUESTS IN CONVERSATION
VENUE: WATERSTONES 19-20 TOT TENHAM COURT ROAD W1T 1BJ
W W W.V L I S C O. C O M
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3/20/17 11:54 AM
The Litro Literary Weekender: Ghana & Nigeria – A Literary Highlife Escape this summer, through words, with a journey to West Africa with Litro Magazine’s latest World Series instalment exploring the cultural and literary landscapes of Ghana & Nigeria: a Literary Highlife
CREDITS PRODUCER & CURATOR ERIC AKOTO STAFF
THANKS TO
EDITOR - ERIC AKOTO
THE LONDON LIBRARY, ISABELLE DUPUY
CREATIVE DESIGNER - ELINA NIKKINEN
PAUL YAW BOATENG, BARON BOATENG
MARKETING - NKECHI NOELS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT - BARNEY WALSH FLASH FICTION EDITOR - CATHERINE MCNAMARA
WATERSTONES, ELLAH ALLFREY VLISCO, DUNCAN BARTLETT