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WritersMosaic: panel events in Manchester and Sheffield

Last week John Siddique, North of England Project Coordinator for WritersMosaic and the RLF, was joined by Dr Amal Abu-Bakare, Kehinde Andrews and Sue Brown to explore the legacy of Malcolm X at the Birmingham Literature Festival.

Malcolm X: A Deeper Purpose saw this remarkable group of authors and academics discuss Malcolm X’s impact, internationalism and emphasis on the urgency of solidarity in a world that increasingly insists on dividing us. The Birmingham Literature Festival event was sold out, but over the coming weeks WritersMosaic will be hosting further insightful conversations with talented writers, historians, academics and activists.

Firstly, John Siddique will chair a discussion with Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf – co-editors of the new Faber poetry anthology Nature Matters – and T.S. Eliot Prize-winner Roger Robinson at the Manchester Literature Festival (all pictured above).

Together, they will explore the recent resurgence of nature writing and explore what new insights and reflections global majority writers have brought to the portrayal of landscapes from which they have either previously excluded themselves from, or felt unwelcome.

You can join the Nature Matters discussion at Manchester Central Library from 7pm on Friday 24 October.

John Siddique will also be at Sheffield’s Off the Shelf Festival of Words on Saturday 25 October to host Diverse Islands: British and Irish Multiculturalism, a discussion with Black and Brown British and Irish writers Kieran Connell, Emer O’Neill and Charlotte Rea-Patel.

Recent years have seen the rise of disturbing protests against multicultural communities in both the UK and Ireland. The Diverse Islands panel will explore and discuss why these shocking occurrences happened and what it feels like to live through them, as well as reflecting on what we can learn from history and literature to make a change.

You can find ticket information and details about Diverse Islands and the rest of this year’s Sheffield programme on the Off the Shelf Festival website.

To keep up-to-date with the very latest from WritersMosaic, including new writing, podcast episodes, creative projects, events and live appearances, visit the WritersMosaic website.

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