Welcome. This is the site for Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) literary community group Writing Our Legacy. We are based in Brighton, but run activities across Sussex. Our site aims to keep you informed about our year-round literature and spoken word programme, which is open to people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. We also run events that showcase emerging and established Black* writers and provide professional development and networking opportunities.
Check out our upcoming events, workshops and opportunities:
*Writing Our Legacy employs Mosaic’s definition of Black to be ‘Black people’ and ‘mixed-parentage people’ including all those people whose ancestral origins are African, Asian, Caribbean, Chinese, Middle Eastern, North African, Romany, the indigenous peoples of the South Pacific islands, the American continents, Australia and New Zealand
We are saddened to share the news that our dear friend and Writing Our Legacy collaborator Irene Mensah passed away on Friday 12 April at 8.50am in Brighton.
Irene was a multi-talented artist, community worker and educator. She was a visual artist with a studio at Studio 106 and the Artree group, who recently exhibited as part of Black History Month in 2011. In 2012, she also exhibited Mutter Matter Murmurings From The Drawing Room Table, a site-responsive art installation at Pitzhanger Manor-House & Gallery devised with co-collaborator Jane Fox.
Irene was also an exceptional African dancer, dancing for many years with Kissifaramaya and other dance groups. I personally first met Irene in her last West African dance class when I first moved to Brighton and was astounded by the sheer power of her energy and joy. It was an unexpected delight to learn more about Irene’s multi-facted talents, such as discovering she was a visual artist or that she worked on fascinating community projects, such as an oral history project in Hastings with the Jewish community.
More recently, I had the pleasure of working with Irene through the Black History Month group in Brighton, since 2010, where we met monthly to organise art and cultural events for the community. I remember Irene’s little comforting smiles to members of the group, as well as her strong ideas and opinions, which were always welcome.
She was a great supporter of the monthly spoken word and music Countdown nights, which we used to build audiences for Black History Month – all year long. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs. Irene also read her poetry at several of the Writing Our Legacy events, including an impromptu pop-up reading at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar car park.
Irene Mensah & Jenny Aburra
Irene and I also worked together on a Tables of Remembrance and Ideas for the 2010 street party. Children and adults were invited to decorate paper bunting triangles with their heroes past and present, which were strung up around the square in front of Unitarian Church. I helped Irene with the marathon bunting project – miles of African coloured bunting, which we use at all our Black History Month events! (but she doesn’t want to be just remembered for this, we know for sure)
Irene was involved with our Latin Voices Live programme (2012) as an artist and maker. She ran Day of the Dead craft workshops at Mosaic Bring a Dish and she was a lead artist working alongside Tom Hamilton to create the fantastic array of colourful decoration for our November event. I can remember our celebratory meal in December, complete with shots of tequila (I think she abstained!) and food and laughter.
More recently, I have gotten to know Irene through our Write Meet Read writers group. We started work on a group anthology and I was enjoying hearing Irene’s poetry and prose come to life the more we progressed.
There is so much more to remember and know about Irene – this is only a small snapshot of the times I had the pleasure in working with her – not including counting her as a special friend too.
For Latin Voices Live 2013, we are planning to honour Irene in our Day of the Dead altar, which is a centrepiece to the day’s activities in November. For Write Meet Read, we are dedicating the anthology to Irene and her wisdom, kindness and creativity – the launch will take place on 2 November at Brighton Dome.
We are delighted to announce that Grenadian-born Jacob Ross will be our special author at our finale event on Friday 26 July 2013 at the Old Market. The event marks the end of our 2013/14 programme and we plan to go out in a bang, with readings, discussions, music and Caribbean food on the night, as well as special rum cocktails for sale at the bar.
The Inspire evening will be divided into two parts. The first part will see Jacob talking and reading from his own work. For the second part of the evening, Jacob will be joined on stage by 3 local Sussex authors, who will have the chance to also read extracts from their work and discuss with Jacob the modern state of publishing for Black writers, creativity, writing inspiration, as well as the business of being a writer.
The night promises to be an electric, invigorating and fun showcase of some of the UK’s best writers, whose work draws on a rich seamy vein of heritage, diaspora culture and English living.
As a special double bill, Jacob will be leading a one-day writing masterclass on Saturday 27 July at Jubilee Library. Ticket holders for the Friday Inspire event will get a £2 discount if they book the masterclass.
Inspire event, with Jacob Ross headliner, Friday 26 July, 7.30pm – 9pm, The Old Market, 11a Upper Market Street, Hove BN31AS. Cost: ticket only £5, with plate of Caribbean food £12. Tickets will be on sale from http://www.theoldmarket.com/jacob-ross/ or by phoning the box office (01273) 201801.
Jacob Ross is Associate Editor for Fiction at Peepal Tree Press, a leading independent publisher of Caribbean, African and Asian related fiction in the United Kingdom. He is also Associate Editor of SABLE Literary Magazine and a reader and tutor for The Literary Consultancy. For several years he has been a Judge for the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize as well as a judge of the VS Pritchett and Tom Gallon prizes. An established tutor of Narrative Craft, he runs numerous Creative Writing workshops both in the UK and abroad.
He is the author of two acclaimed short story collections, Song for Simone and A Way to Catch the Dust. He is also co-editor of several publications of fiction: Voice, Memory, Ashes; Riding and Rising, and Turf. Ross co-authored with Kwesi Owusu, Behind the Masquerade: The Story of Notting Hill Carnival, a seminal work exploring the history, sociology and creative infrastructure of London’s Notting Hill Carnival.
His first novel, Pynter Bender, was published in 2008. It won, and was also short-listed, for several awards including the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize (2009), Society of Authors ‘Best first Novel’, Caribbean Review of Books ‘Book of the Year’ and Metro’s Book of The Week. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He received Grenada’s highest literary award for his contribution to literature in 2011.
Want to see your writing in print? Then you must book on to this half day workshop.
Inscribe co-director and SABLE LitMag publisher, Kadija George will present you with the basics needed to organise and strategise your time, so you can more effectively find and select the most appropriate magazines, journals, and anthologies to submit to.
You will feel energised, motivated and confident of there being an outlet out there that wants your words.
Kadija George has edited/co-edited several groundbreaking anthologies of work. She is series editor for Peepal Tree’s Inscribe imprint, publisher of the highly acclaimed Red: Contemporary Black British Poetry, and the founder and managing editor of SABLE LitMag.
Every writer has their own special soundtrack that inspires them, whether it’s the music that they listened to in their teens or the music that gets them in that calm and chilled out place as an adult. Well, we’ve got a night that will get you inspired to write, read and rock n roll all at the same time.
We are working with Crawley Black History Foundation to produce a special event called Inner Visions: writers & the music that inspires them, which is part of the Crawley Wordfest, a two-week long festival that takes place in Crawley from 16 to 28 March 2013.
The night runs on 20 March 7.30 to 9pm and is free entry, with world cuisine food and drink (wine, beer, non-alcoholic beverage) for sale.
Update: Authentic Caribbean food from Benjies Caribbean Kitchen will be on sale on the night. Jerk chicken and vegetable curry plates will be on sale for £6 each, accompanied by rice, salad and more.
I’m really thrilled that we are returning to the fab Crawley Library to do another unique event that makes writing and literature, in all its different shapes and sizes, fun and accessible to a wide range of audiences, showcasing local Black and ethnic minority talent.
For this event, we’ve got historian and author Colin Grant reading from &I, The Natural Mystics, a group biography of the original Wailers and talking about the music that informed his book: ska, reggae and the mento that fuelled the music of Jamaica.
We’ve also also got the totally compelling Rounke Coker, a Nigerian writer and storyteller, who will be writing a new short story based on the influence of Western music in Nigeria in decades past, with Bob Marley’s music playing a prominent role. Expect to laugh your socks off!
Gregory Dax will be performing, playing popular Black music taking you through the decades. Set to be an inspiring and intimate night.
Presented by Crawley Black History Foundation & Writing Our Legacy as part of Crawley Wordfest
Inner Visions, Wednesday 20 March, 7.30-9pm. With Colin Grant, Rounke Coker and Gregory Dax. Catering from Benjies Caribbean Kitchen, with plates at £6. Drinks for sale. To book your free place, go to http://crawleyinnervisions.eventbrite.co.uk
INCUBATE participants Umit Ozturk, Lynne Blackwood, with Stuart Silver, and participant Priti Barua. Photo Bip Mistry http://bipmistry.com
I’m very happy to present to you photos from Paul Jackson and Bip Mistry and film from Joel Shepherd featuring the live lit performances from creative writers Priti Barua, Umit Ozturk and Lynne Blackwood. They performed for the first time on 24 January 2013 at Nightingale Theatre as part of our new live lit programme called Incubate.
Since 14 December, they’ve had the opportunity to work with BAFTA-nominated, Perrier award winning writer and acclaimed producer Stuart Silver to turn their original writing – everything from one-page scripts, a short story and an even flash pieces – into live lit performance fit for the stage. They rehearsed for 4 days in the studio, and I know put in a lot of time and hard work to produce some excellent results. See Lynne Blackwood’s account on our site about what the experience was like.
Stuart Silver, Producer, says: ‘Working with such obviously talented writers is a thrilling process, and Priti, Lynne and Umit have leapt into the challenge of turning their wonderful writing into performance as a first step to developing live literature works with dynamic shifts, risk, surprise, wit and warmth.
‘For the two days we’ve spent together, there is of course so much to explore with such richly nuanced texts and we’re thoroughly looking forward to seeing these three pieces performed for an audience for the first time. It’s obviously an essential experience from which, with continued mentor support they can further develop the pieces and explore the performance techniques we’ve all been setting in place.’
The night of 24 January was packed out with audiences – yes, a sold out night! – and we saw moving, daring, and humorous performances from all three writers. If you missed it, not to fear, as we have videos of Umit, Lynne and Priti, plus a special 2.5 minute promo video of all three. Plus we also have photos on our Facebook page and on Flickr, so have a look and enjoy.
We expect to see more from these three writers in the near future!
A final thanks to Steven Brett at the Nightingale Theatre for supporting this programme, Akka Ali, who was the INCUBATE coordinator, and Sarah Lee, who is mentoring all three writers to help them get funding to continue their writing developments.
Umit Ozturk performing ‘Who do you think they are not?’
Umit’s humorous short play “Aunt’s Agony” is about a person working in a call centre who’s trying to sort out people’s problems from around the world and tackles the issue of cultural diversity – and cats!
Umit Ozturk says of the residency: ‘Incubate helped the flames of my passion for stage to reincarnate! In this piece of stage performance, I am hoping to have a witty look at the perception of the diversity of cultures in the society, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean region. I would like to ask the audience this question with a loud smile: “who do you think they are not?” and help them in finding the answers.’
Lynne Blackwood performing ‘The Lesson in Dhansak’
Lynne’s piece is based on a short story called “The Lesson in Dhansak”, which is the only piece of Lynne’s writing to be drawn from a personal experience. Her story powerfully combines her Anglo-Indian community’s loss with being different in a hostile country and her father’s valuable lesson to her as child about life and how to overcome difficulties.
Lynne Blackwood says: ‘Working with Stuart has been a liberating experience for me. His nurturing brought out talents I wasn’t yet aware of and allowed me to express myself in a confident way, despite the physical limitations. His observations also allowed me to look at my work in a different manner and to see where improvements to the original short story could be made. Thank you INCUBATE, Amy and Stuart!’
Priti Barua at Nightingale Theatre
Priti Barua says of her experience on the residency: ‘I have been positively inspired by the INCUBATE residency, the insights and guidance of Stuart Silver and the support of fellow writers and mentorship is invaluable. As a result I am becoming more conscious of the power of the spoken word and my deeper desire to connect with the audience in effective dialogue, both silent and spoken. It is both daunting and exhilarating to think that the words written in silence will take on new meaning in the theatrical space and I hope give me the courage and confidence to keep writing!’
Portsmouth writer Lynne Blackwood was one of three successful applicants for our first ever Incubate live lit residency, working with Stuart Silver, coordinated by Akkas Ali, and now working with mentor Sarah Lee to develop an application for funding to support her talent. Lynne writes about what the experience has been like – the challenges, the fears and the excitement at unfolding inner strength, beauty and ambition – on the stage and off.
This is probably going to be one of those posts where you think, “Oh goodness this is really too long to read,” but please continue, because I wish to demonstrate just how the INCUBATE programme changed my life as an isolated, disabled and struggling writer (of many talents, as I can now proudly say!).
How did it all happen?
I was writing like a fury, entering competitions and desperately seeking professional development. But without a ‘track record’, doors were more or less closed. I submitted a last minute application, thinking, “No, not me, never in a million suns.” But how wrong I was.
Several days later, I had to change all pre-Christmas plans and jump on a train to Brighton for a two full-day residency. I should perhaps explain an essential fact as to why this post is longer than usual. Isolated, disabled and living off benefits, yet a committed and passionate writer. That’s who I am.
The night will feature a new live lit performance from three Sussex and South East writers - Umit Ozturk, Lynne Blackwood, Priti Barua – who are all exciting, up-and-coming Black and ethnic minority talents.
Since 14 December, they’ve been working with acclaimed producer Stuart Silver to turn their original writing – everything from one-page scripts, a short story and an even flash pieces – into live lit fit for the stage.
Stuart Silver is a BAFTA-nominated, Perrier award winning writer / performer / producer / director working solo and collaboratively across theatre and gallery venues, television, radio, public spaces and in creative educational and mentoring contexts. He created the acclaimed monologue ‘You Look Like Ants,’ and is the co-founder of nobleandsilver, the multimedia comedic performance group. He has featured in television programmes such as The Mighty Boosh, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, and Man to Man with Dean Learner.
There is limited seating in Nightingale Theatre so do book your ticket in advance to avoid disappointment. Tickets are £5 (4 concession), available from the Nightingale website: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/307701
After the performance audience and industry will have a chance to feedback on the performance and will also be invited to join writers and the Writing Our Legacy team to stay for a celebratory drink upstairs.
Don’t miss this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some unique talent in this very special programme!
