
Kadija has co-edited several anthologies and recently co-authored This is the Canon. She’s the former publisher of SABLE LitMag and is the Publications Manager for Inscribe at Peepal Tree Press. Kadija Sesay, Hon FRSL, FRSA is a literary activist. An extract from her debut novel Breaking the Maafa Chain features in the New Daughters of Africa (2019) anthology and was published in September 2021 by Jacaranda. Her first screenplay Blessed Assurance has just been filmed. Her short stories and poems are in various anthologies, including Wild Imperfections. Be prepared for an exciting evening brought to you with your safety and comfort in mind.Īnni Domingo, Writer, Director, Lecturer and Actress in Radio, TV, Films and Theatre. The safety of our audiences are paramount, if you choose to attend in-person please note we will still be implementing socially distanced measures. This is a hybrid event which you can experience either in-person or through live stream on the British Library Player. Contributors include iconic poets such as Nikki Giovanni, Diana Ferrus, Miriam Alves, Jackie Kay, NourbeSe Phillip, Cheryl Clarke, Lebogang Mashile, Staceyann Chin, Olumide Popoola, Makhosazana Xaba, Koleka Putuma, Safia Elhillo, Gabeba Baderoon, Warsan Shire, Ladan Osman, Anni Domingo, Elizandra Souza, and Jumoke Verissimo.


If this collection teaches anything, it is that love is always messy, that our sacrament requires wet wipes and that we are just flesh and bone honing practice. Because no one claps for martyrs, these dirty/pretty women learn to walk cities like they own them, choosing the battles of their hearts. They dance with the dead with exquisite feet, cheekbones high, reflecting their mothers’ smiles. Here congregate the women, womxn and womyn who do not believe in tough love that disguises hurt just to prove a point. The wildly imperfect women of slick braids, shiny skin and succulent lips, building new homes from clouds for future legions. This is for the nuns, the singers, the clowns, the diviners and the conjurers who reject the constant attempt to clean up history. In this collection, we encounter ancestors who made love, just for the sake of love, and women who die with each orgasm while attempting to mark the extent of their own humanities. ‘Puts Black women where we know we belong, not at the margins of other people’s art…but at the helm of our own creative practice’ – Bernardine Evaristo

With Natalia Molebatsi, Anni Domingo, Kadija Sesay, Olumide Popoola, Tj Dema and Tolu Agbelusi.Įxclusive pre-launch event of the multi-generational anthology featuring the work of Black women and womxn poets from Botswana to Brazil.
