Monday 10th May at 7 pm by Zoom

Reverse the Gaze:Taking Back our African Narratives

Featuring Christopher Mlalazi, Olumide Popoola,
Robert Kabemba Mangidi, Taffi Nyawanza

plus discussion

Robert Kabemba Mangidi is a Manchester-based prolific poet and political activist born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He has performed his poetry widely including at Place of War at Manchester University International Conference, Exodus Centre, Freedom from Torture and BBC 4. He is a graduate of Lubumbashi, Wits, Bolton and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.

Christopher Mlalazi is a novelist, playwright and poet from Zimbabwe who is currently exiled in Mexico City.
He is the author of the novels Many Rivers (2009), Running With Mother (2012) – translated into Italian and German – They are Coming (2014), and the story collection Dancing With Life: Tales From the Township (2008), for which he was awarded the Best First Book Prize in the National Arts Merit Awards in Zimbabwe.Mlalazi has written and presented on stage in Zimbabwe eight plays, including the co-authored The Crocodile of Zambezi, winner of the 2008 Oxfam/Novib PEN Freedom of Expression Award, and Election Day,

Taffi Nyawanza is originally from Zimbabwe and now lives in Coventry. He is a writer and human rights lawyer.
He is a National Flash Flood Best of the Net 2020 nominee. His short fiction has appeared in various places, including PerHappened mag, Untitled: Voices Journal, Kalahari Journal, Palewell Press and MIROnline. His manuscript of short stories was shortlisted by The St. Lawrence Book Award 2020. He was on the Exiled Writers Ink 2020 Mentoring and Translation programme and published a chapbook with them titled ‘The Men Who Have No Knees’.

Olumide Popoola is a London-based Nigerian German writer and speaker who presents internationally. Her novella this is not about sadness was published by Unrast Verlag in 2010. Her play Also by Mail was published in 2013 by Witnessed (edition assemblage) and the short story collection breach, which she co-authored with Annie Holmes, in 2016 by Peirene Press. Her full-length novel When we Speak of Nothing was published in the UK and Nigeria in 2017 and in 2018 in the US (Cassava Republic Press).

Register now on Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reverse-the-gaze-taking-back-our-african-narratives-tickets-150971775645

Resistance – Voices of Exiled Writers

A poetry & prose anthology celebrating 20 years of writing by members of the Exiled Writers Ink organisation, Palewell Press, December 2020

Exiled Writers Ink joyfully celebrates 20 years of the organisation’s existence with “Resistance – Voices of Exiled Writers”, an anthology dedicated to those resisting oppression in all its many forms and to those who died fighting for their just cause. This special book comprises one chapter for every year from 2000 to 2020. Each chapter represents an aspect of the organisation’s literary activism work and support for those resisting human rights abuse. From Kosova, Ethiopia and Afghanistan through Zimbabwe, the Uyghurs, Iran, Kurdistan and the Western Sahara, plus many other areas, and culminating with a chapter on #BlackLivesMatter, here are the voices of writers in exile, championing their causes and resisting the attempt of powerful groups to suppress the truth.

Exiled Writers Ink https://www.exiledwriters.co.uk/ was founded by Jennifer Langer in 2000 at a time when refugees were frequently stigmatised as disempowered, uneducated victims intent on exploiting the host society’s welfare and other systems. Its mission was to defy that narrative and disrupt existing stereotypes. With a passion for justice, it enabled refugee writers’ voices to be heard so that insights could be gained, not only into the pain suffered by refugees, but also into the complexity of the experiences of writers from diverse regions.

Resistance – Voices of Exiled Writers from Palewell Press, London, UK ISBN: 978-1-911587-46-0 Publication: December 2020 RRP £9.99 Copes can be ordered from https://palewellpress.co.uk/#Resistance and Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones websites

Palewell Press is an independent publisher handling poetry, fiction and non-fiction with a focus on human rights, social history, and the environment. For more information about Resistance – Voices of Exiled Writers, or to request an interview with Jennifer Langer, founder of Exiled Writers Ink, contact Camilla Reeve on enquiries@palewellpress.co.uk or 0771-332-7217