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Facilitated by Momtaza Mehri (Writer, Poet)

A short reading, followed by an open roundtable drawing from the Bootleg Griot library. Inspired by the ethos of Bootleg Griot, this programme reflects on African diasporic imaginations that bloom at the peripheries, defying categories, crossing gulfs of various kinds. African writers and poets writing from their various scatterings and travels, in Africa, Asia, the Carribean, and Beyond. This gathering is guided by the openness of influence, hoping to capture that spirit of literary figures who wrote, thought, and thrived on the move.

Selected readings
1. Bad Diaspora Poems by Momtaza Mehri
2. The Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley and Malcom X
3. Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta

Momtaza Mehri is an award-winning poet and essayist. She is a former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London and winner of the 2019 Manchester Writing Prize. Her writing has featured in the Guardian, POETRY, Granta, Wasafiri, Bidoun, The White Review and on BBC Radio 4. She works across criticism, translation, anti-disciplinary research practices, education and radio. Bad Diaspora Poems is the winner of an Eric Gregory Award and the 2023 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.