Spoken Word Showcase with Studio12 and Sunday Practise

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This event took place on: 19 November 2020.

Hosted by the renowned literary activist, writer and playwright Khadijah Ibrahiim, this special event features poets and artists from Yorkshire. We’ll begin with a panel discussion exploring women’s voices, activism and the fight for a fairer world featuring guest poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan.

This is followed by the screening of new short films featuring emerging writers from Studio12 in Leeds that Khadijah recently led mentoring sessions with. The event finishes with a performance from The Sunday Practise – a leading grassroots jam session, poets, DJs, musicians and vibes night from Leeds that represents a wide cultural perspective of women poets in the UK.

This event celebrates Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, a UK-wide exhibition by the British Library and public libraries.

Speakers

Khadijah Ibrahiim

Literary Activist

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan

Educator and Poet

The Sunday Practise

Live Poetry Night

Walled In: Ben Okri, David Hare and Samira Ahmed

Writers Ben Okri, David Hare and Samira Ahmed consider walls in literature and in our lives; physical, political, societal and spiritual. This event was livestreamed from the British Library on 23 September 2019 to public libraries across the UK as part of Banned Books Week, the celebration of the freedom to read. This event took place in partnership with the British Library, The Royal Society of Literature, English PEN, Free Word, Hachette UK, Index on Censorship, Islington Council’s Library and Heritage Service, Libraries Connected, Media Diversified and The Publisher’s Association.

Hay Festival: This Is How We Come Back Stronger

This event took place on: June 4, 8pm.

Everything changed in spring 2020, when life around the world retreated behind closed doors and gender inequalities and systemic racism were brought to new and shocking prominence. Women of all backgrounds and experiences were disproportionately affected by the crisis. Essential debate and action was, for a time, silenced. Then we re-emerged in protest and started to rethink our fight for equality. So, what happens now? This book is a unique collection of essays, interviews, and fiction by feminist writers.

In End State: 9 Ways in Which Society is Broken and how we fix it, James Plunkett argues that this can be a moment not of despair, but of historic opportunity – a chance to rethink, renew, and reform some of the most fundamental ways we organise society.

Contributor Jess Phillips MP, Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, is joined by comedian Francesca Martinez, activist and author Gina Miller, and James Plunkett, Executive Director of Citizens Advice.

This event celebrates Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, a UK-wide exhibition by the British Library and public libraries.

BUY THE BOOK FOR THIS EVENT

<a href="https://www.hayfestival.com/p-17593-this-is-how-we-come-back-stronger-feminist-writers-on-turning-crisis-into-change.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">This Is How We Come Back Stronger</a>

<a href="https://www.hayfestival.com/p-17662-end-state-9-ways-society-is-broken-and-how-we-can-fix-it.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken and How We Fix It</a>

The Wonderful Lives of Mary Seacole and Elizabeth Anionwu

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This event took place on: 26 October 2020.

Emeritus nursing professor Elizabeth Anionwu grew up in care and went on to be named one of the most influential nurses in the history of the NHS. Her career was distinguished by her pioneering work in the understanding of sickle cell disease. Following her retirement she spent nine years fundraising and campaigning for a statue to Mary Seacole.

Mary Seacole (1805 – 1881) was a British-Jamaican entrepreneur and nurse whose adventures are related in one of the earliest autobiographies by a mixed-heritage woman. The statue, unveiled in 2016, was the UK’s first statue to represent a named black woman. Elizabeth will be discussing her and Seacole’s lives in this conversation with journalist and broadcaster Shyama Perera.

This event celebrates Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, a UK-wide exhibition by the British Library and public libraries.

Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

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This event took place on: 27 October 2020.

Sylvia Pankhurst was born into one of Britain's most famous families but she always carved her own way. As well as a militant campaigner for women's suffrage, she was a gifted artist and orator, a designer, newspaper editor and radical visionary.

Her activism landed her in Holloway prison where she was tortured, and her notes from this episode are featured in our upcoming Unfinished Business exhibition. Pankhurst's life of campaigning led her to America, Soviet Russia, Scandinavia, Europe and East Africa.
Biographer Rachel Holmes shares her adventures from inside the British Library’s Unfinished Business exhibition space, in conversation with Shami Chakrabarti.

This event celebrates Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, a UK-wide exhibition by the British Library and public libraries.

Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020

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This event took place on: 25 October 2020.

The Forward Prizes rank among the year’s great literary celebrations: this event is unmissable for anyone interested in the best new poetry published today. Hear poems from each of the 15 shortlisted poets and find out who has won the most coveted poetry prizes in the British Isles.

Shortlist for Best Collection: £10,000
Caroline Bird, Natalie Diaz, Vicki Feaver, David Morley, Pascale Petit

Shortlist for Best First Collection: £5,000
Ella Frears, Will Harris, Rachel Long, Nina Mingya Powles, Martha Sprackland

Shortlist for Best Single Poem: £1,000
Fiona Benson, Malika Booker, Regi Claire, Valzhyna Mort, Sarah Tsiang

Poems of desire – for a voice, for breathing space, for bodies missed or missing – are a recurring theme in this year’s shortlists. They celebrate a world whose inhabitants are spurred to song by the need to assert their own existence and history. They speak of flesh, muscle and all forms of touch, from the knock-out blows of boxer Tyson Fury to lovers’ kisses.

Several poets follow threads of language to places as various as the Dale Farm traveller site, a palace-prison in 16th-century Spain, an East London housing estate and the Mojave reservation of southern California, while others make vivid the stuff of everyday life: birdsong, lawnmowers, petrol stations.

The Forward Prizes judges, Alexandra Harris, Kim Moore, Roger Robinson, David Wheatley and Leaf Arbuthnot read over 208 poetry collections, and 205 single poems entered from journals, to find the most exciting poetry published across the UK and Ireland.

The Prizes, sponsored since 1992 by Bookmark, the global content marketing and communications agency, have a reputation for heralding fresh new voices as well as honouring famous names. Shortlisted and commended poems are brought together in the annual Forward Book of Poetry anthologies.

This event is available to the audiences and users of public libraries through the Living Knowledge Network.