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WritersMosaic – in print and on stage

The first edition of the new quarterly print edition of WritersMosaic – the online magazine and developmental resource focused on UK writers of the global majority that is a division of the Royal Literary Fund – is set to be published as an insert in The Bookseller next month.

Produced by and primarily featuring the work of writers of the global majority, the WritersMosaic Quarterly will be an editorially independent collection of essays and new writing covering a variety of topics. The first edition, which comes out on Friday 9 May, focuses on Malcolm X in this, the centenary year of his birth.

Writers (pictured above – clockwise, l-r) Vayu Naidu, Vanessa Kisuule, Max Farrar, John Siddique, Franklin Nelson, Ella Sinclair, Ekow Eshun, Bonnie Greer and Colin Grant will each each reflect on the global legacy of Malcolm X.

The Malcolm X: By any means necessary issue is set for publication shortly after WritersMosaic‘s fourth anniversary on 28 April, and heralds the beginning of a season of events and appearances by WritersMosaic writers across the UK.

Writers’ Retreat

This week, writers including Khaldoon Ahmed, Shara Atashi and Jasbinder Bilan will be spending a week at Arvon’s The Hurst in Shropshire. They will be part of a group of eight writers working on new projects as part of the Hurst Writers’ Retreat, run in collaboration with the Hawthornden Foundation. More here.

Poets on Film

Also kicking off this week is WritersMosaic‘s UK Global Majority Poets on Film series, run in partnership with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

Through collaboration with filmmakers Savannah Acquah and Rob Akin, poets Jo Clement, Marjorie Lotfi, Anthony Anaxagorou and Jason Allen-Paisant have each created two films – one a performance of their own poetry, and another about poem that has deeply influenced them.

The eight-part series will be released on the WritersMosaic website weekly, beginning with Marjorie Lotfi’s The Hebridean Crab Apple on 23 April.

Hay Festival

WritersMosaic director Colin Grant will also be chairing two panel events at the Hay Literary Festival:

• Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary on Wednesday 28 May sees writers Ekow Eshun, Bonnie Greer and Vanessa Kisuule join Colin to reflect on the global legacy of Malcolm X as a resistance leader. There will also be music from Tony Njoku.
• We Were There, which takes place on Friday 30 May, is a reflection on the under-reported cultural impact of Black people who have lived outside of London, inspired by guest panelist Lanre Bakare’s new book of the same name. Also appearing are Pauline Black, Malika Booker and Daudi Matsiko.

Southbank Centre

Lanre Bakare, Malika Booker, Daudi Matsiko, Bea Freeman and WritersMosaic‘s Colin Grant will also discuss We Were There at the Southbank Centre on Friday 11 July, in an event that shines a spotlight on extraordinary Black lives in once-rich cities now home to failing industries, accompanied by music and poetry. Tickets available here.

You can find more about WritersMosaic‘s upcoming live events here, and look out for the first edition of the WritersMosaic Quarterly in The Bookseller on 9 May.

An online edition of each issue of the WritersMosaic Quarterly will also be published on WritersMosaic.

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