So what happens when you have a childhood spanning three continents, starting school in Nigeria, continuing in the UK and finishing in Japan? Well, you pursue an equally international career and continue navigating life through seeing things with your own eyes, living the mantra:
- Àwòrán kan sàn jù ọrọ ẹgbẹ̀rún lọ
- A picture is worth a thousand words
- 百聞は一見にしかず
And what is it I saw visiting numerous countries throughout our amazing world? Well, there are many places with several interesting and wonderful aspects distinguishing them from anywhere else. By expanding our horizons, we can appreciate the world for its diversity. In discovering the various distinctions, I certainly found great pleasure! However, when we look deeper into other cultures, we can recognise even more aspects that are similar to our own. By enjoying these diasporic stories, I also hope you will see that we do not have to just concentrate on our differences. We all have more in common than initially meets the eye, more similarities than differences, and this makes us part of one human community.
***UNESCO Cities of Literature Global Poetry Champion 2022***
You can view my winning poem, cultural-appropriation rebuke ‘Strong Tea’ here:
You can also view the full event here:
I’d like to thank Khadijah Ibrahim for her inspirational session at Peepal Press Inscribe workshop leading up to the Weighted Words anthology.
Many thanks to Cara Thompson and all the Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature team for being so supportive and well organised!
Special shout out to Matt Turpin for his helpful input and patience when recording the ‘Strong Tea’ video.
Here are a few related pieces:
(1) My feature article 'Crossing Poetic Lines' mixes 'Strong Tea' with G&Ts, looks at multilingual expression in the UNESCO poetry slam context and how much wordsmithing might in fact become lost in translation.
(2) My solo podcast debut 'Poetic Artistry'. It touches on Nàìjá (nickname for Nigeria)'s oral tradition informing the spoken word genre worldwide, then gives tips on how to deliver poetry, combining the written, performing and visual arts.
Welcome to this podcast on Poetic Artistry looking
at the creative spoken word form which has had an interesting journey through time.
Finding your voice as a poet involves exploring content (what
you write: enthralling topics with a consistent lingual register, or mixed tones
inserting humour into hard hitting subjects if it works). It also involves exploring
style (how you write: alluring alliteration, masterful metaphors,
stimulating similes, jarring juxtapositions, overt oxymorons and more). But after
those creative components are found, what’s involved in delivering your voice
to an audience, holding their attention, helping onlookers hear your rhythmic recounting?
It’s a question surely pondered by Griot speakers in my Yorùbá-Nigerian community
and all over West Africa. Griots/Akọrin are the keeper of stories, living libraries steeped
in the region’s oral tradition, and key to the origins of the spoken word genre.
From the cradle of civilisation, it has since spread all over the world, its global
reach now further channelled through UNESCO Creative Cities Network with international
poetry slam competitions…which I happened to stumble on last year…listen here
**Latest stories**
Signs of Diaspora / Carry On Luggage / Interjection / Purple Girl / The Present Future / Identity: Global Roots / Strong Tea / Tummy Pudge: Internalised Feminism / Forward Agenda /
‘Ẹ káàrọ̀ everyone. Welcome to this presentation on the Benin Robots.’
Ọlánrewájú took a big breath as she centred herself on the podium surveying the 2,000-strong crowd gathered at the Ẹdo Museum. The Robotics Engineer had been working towards this convention project throughout her final PhD year at Ilé-Ifẹ̀ University. Finally, the day had come to share her ideas and she was feeling a bit shaky. But she’d had a smart ànkàrá outfit made with a vibrant gèlè wrapped around her freshly braided hair, looking outwardly presentable to induce a confident delivery. She took a sip of water, looked into the sea of expectant faces, and continued:
‘The continent has come a long way since the Africa Union’s Agenda 10,104 strategic initiatives striving for ‘The Africa We Want’. And indeed, great milestones have been achieved over the 50 years of its implementation for the prosperity of our peoples. I’m glad the Ilẹ̀ Káàárọ̀-Oòjíire government has recognised even more can be done within Technology, Innovation and Sustainability.’ ...read more
**Upcoming events**
Summary:
It was a huge honour to be invited to judge this year’s global entries from the other participating UNESCO Cities of Literature: Dublin (Ireland), Exeter (UK), Iowa (US), Kuhmo (Finland), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Manchester (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Québec (Canada), Reykjavik (Iceland), Tartu (Estonia), and Vilnius (Lithuania). What a collection of truly excellent poetic talent on display this year, many with multilingual deliveries that were proudly Crossing Poetic Lines. I was happy to therefore rigorously review the original language text and not just the English translations(!)
*YNAD Talks 9 - Afro Coils & Yorùbá Crowns: Celebrating Natural Hair
Hey, I can’t believe it’s now almost a year since seeing posts for the 2022 UNESCO Global Poetry Slam ‘SlamoVision’ local heats in Nottingham…and feeling I was too busy to go along. Though one convincing nudge from a friend later, and next thing you know, I became the global champion and have been riding the high of international recognition as an accomplished poet with work published in various countries worldwide! This interview on Notts TV summed it up nicely (13:30 mins in).
So now it’s happening all over again! It really does feel like winning the lottery with that very apt tagline ‘it could be you!’ So I was happy to encourage other budding poets to unleash their inner wordsmith at this year’s local heats.
It was a huge honour to be invited to judge this year’s global entries from the other participating UNESCO Cities of Literature: Dublin (Ireland), Exeter (UK), Iowa (US), Kuhmo (Finland), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Manchester (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Québec (Canada), Reykjavik (Iceland), Tartu (Estonia), and Vilnius (Lithuania). What a collection of truly excellent poetic talent on display this year, many with multilingual deliveries that were proudly Crossing Poetic Lines. I was happy to therefore rigorously review the original language text and not just the English translations(!)
Now we’re in the home straight. Alongside this year’s contestants, I’ll also be reading some new poems at the SlamoVision Grand Finale, taking place on Tuesday 5th December 2023, 6pm at Metronome, Marco Island, Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, NG1 1AP. Get your tickets here, and get ready to be poetry slammed on a global scale!
In addition to diasporic stories from across the world, I am also writing an auto-ethnographical memoir-polemic of my global experiences starting in childhood called Stained Glass Eyes: A Memoir of Race, Family and Multiculturalism. It is a colourful blend of narratives and sociology, of young Black kids navigating a Scottish world, of warm embracing diversity and cold unsettling racism, and thus a universal story told in a unique context. I read extracts from the book at the National Black Writers Conference 2021 #BWC21 during the Unlock the Story event. During event Part 1, I read a combination of extracts from chapters 1, 2 and 3 which you can view here. You, the audience, can then decide if you’d like to get the “key” to unlock Part 2 which is a combination of extracts from chapters 3 and 4 of the book which you can access here by making a donation. Your choice to get the “key”; your choice how much to donate.
You can read all about the #BWC21 experience in the Write On! Friday Feature 'The Key to Unlocking the Story':
2021 was the year the UK National Black Writers Conference #BWC21 finally made a comeback after being postponed like so many events by the pandemic. The normally biannual conference last took place in 2018 where I was upfront and centre, learning about the writing journeys of fellow authors of colour. Be they giving talks, delivering workshops, fostering panel discussions, or shoulder-to-shoulder in the audience, I quickly became enamoured by my creative counterparts. I, therefore, wanted to learn more about the conference organisers, Manchester-based writing development organisation Commonword Cultureword. True to their tagline, they are providing opportunities for new and aspiring writers to develop their talent, helping to counter so many systemic barriers BAME creatives encounter in the written arts. After participating in some of their initiatives, it somehow seemed quite a coup that I shifted from an audience member to event participant last year in ‘Unlock the Story’…read more.
Other Tongue, Mother Tongue / Multivox / Notes To Self / Our Stories Redefined / Oluwale Now / Weighted Words / Loose Connections / Squat Diddley /
After winning various poetry awards throughout childhood, I still enjoy composing poem as well as life writing pieces focusing as ever on social justice and topics celebrating our common humanity, which have been included in various anthologies.
- The Other Side of Hope anthology 'Other Tongue, Mother Tongue'
- Québec UNESCO City of Literature audio anthology 'Multivox'
- Peepal Tree Press anthology ‘Weighted Words’
- Commonword anthology ‘Loose Connections’
Check out my other related sites:
*What Colour Are Your Senses: educational project promoting intercultural intelligence in Japan (...through the Nottingham Carnival!)
*What Colour Are Your Senses: educational project promoting intercultural intelligence in Japan (...through the Nottingham Carnival!)
*The Scottish Racism Project: research articles focusing on race relations in Scotland.
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