Afroeurope@ns is part of an international academic project designed to give African European Studies the same weight and status that African American Studies has gained since the 1960s-70s.
The conference is inter-disciplinary, with topics ranging from literature to immigration policies, from art to history, from music to sport. Academics and artists from across Europe and America, many of whom are leading lights in their field, will be giving papers and keynote speeches. There will also be readings, film screenings and live translation as part of the panels. New Beacon Books, the UK’s first black bookshop and publisher, is the conference’s dedicated bookseller.
The conference is supported by a star-studded cultural programme, reminding audiences of the groundbreaking International Book Fairs of Black Radical and Third World Books held in the UK from 1982 to 1995. Given London’s central role in black political and cultural activism over many decades, the organisers felt it would be fitting for AfroEurope@ns IV to come to the capital after three previous conferences in Spain.
The cultural programme will include music, poetry, comedy and literary conversations, as well as a number of writing workshops in local libraries around London.
Highlights of AfroEurope@ns IV include:
Tuesday 1 October – welcome event with readings, music and comedy, including one of the most talented of the new generation of Black British comedians, Ava Vidal, award-winning writers Gabriel Gbadamosi and Tomáš Zmeškal – the first ever Black Czech author to win the country’s most important literary prize – AND Shirley J Thompson, the UK’s acclaimed black classical composer and musician
Wednesday 2 October – the third John La Rose Memorial Lecture (in association with the George Padmore Institute and New Beacon Books) to be given by internationally renowned writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a long-standing comrade of John La Rose
Thursday 3 October – the pioneering literary magazine Wasafiri hosts an evening of poetry, putting the International into National Poetry Day, with poets from Africa, the Caribbean, the UK and Australia performing, including a rare UK appearance from Merle Collins — plus new books being launched by John Mateer and Roger Robinson
Friday 4 October – noted writer Caryl Phillips giving a keynote revisiting his book The European Tribe for the first time since it was published nearly 30 years ago
PLUS at the British Library on Friday 4 October, two of the best known names in British literature who have carved outstanding international reputations, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Caryl Phillips, talk to award-winning journalist Maya Jaggi
Other names at AfroEurope@ns IV include
Jay Bernard (UK) – graphic story writer and poet; Lloyd Bradley (UK) – music writer; Alexander D Great (Trinidad/UK) – calypsonian; Anthony Joseph (Trinidad/UK) – poet and musician; Sheree Mack (UK) – poet and academic; Karen McCarthy-Woolf (UK) – poet; Johny Pitts (UK) – writer and television presenter; Warsan Shire (Somalia/UK) – poet; Ribka Sibhatu (Eritrea/Italy) – poet; Cristina Viti (Italy/UK) – poet and translator; Francisco Zamora Loboch (Equatorial Guinea/Spain) – sports journalist, writer and poet; Toyin Agbetu (UK) - writer and community educator
PLUS the film showing of Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years 1984-1992 and video and live poetry performances by The Canvas Pieces Project
For a full programme or to register for AfroEurope@ns IV please visit: http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/events/ies-conferences/AfroEuropeans
Tickets for the event at the British Library can be booked via their website at: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/oct13/index.html
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o will also be appearing at International Translation Day on Monday 30 September, which can be accessed via: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/event147647.html
Organised by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions and hosted by the Institute of English Studies at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study.
External Links
AfroEuropeans
The conference is inter-disciplinary, with topics ranging from literature to immigration policies, from art to history, from music to sport. Academics and artists from across Europe and America, many of whom are leading lights in their field, will be giving papers and keynote speeches. There will also be readings, film screenings and live translation as part of the panels. New Beacon Books, the UK’s first black bookshop and publisher, is the conference’s dedicated bookseller.
The conference is supported by a star-studded cultural programme, reminding audiences of the groundbreaking International Book Fairs of Black Radical and Third World Books held in the UK from 1982 to 1995. Given London’s central role in black political and cultural activism over many decades, the organisers felt it would be fitting for AfroEurope@ns IV to come to the capital after three previous conferences in Spain.
The cultural programme will include music, poetry, comedy and literary conversations, as well as a number of writing workshops in local libraries around London.
Highlights of AfroEurope@ns IV include:
Tuesday 1 October – welcome event with readings, music and comedy, including one of the most talented of the new generation of Black British comedians, Ava Vidal, award-winning writers Gabriel Gbadamosi and Tomáš Zmeškal – the first ever Black Czech author to win the country’s most important literary prize – AND Shirley J Thompson, the UK’s acclaimed black classical composer and musician
Wednesday 2 October – the third John La Rose Memorial Lecture (in association with the George Padmore Institute and New Beacon Books) to be given by internationally renowned writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a long-standing comrade of John La Rose
Thursday 3 October – the pioneering literary magazine Wasafiri hosts an evening of poetry, putting the International into National Poetry Day, with poets from Africa, the Caribbean, the UK and Australia performing, including a rare UK appearance from Merle Collins — plus new books being launched by John Mateer and Roger Robinson
Friday 4 October – noted writer Caryl Phillips giving a keynote revisiting his book The European Tribe for the first time since it was published nearly 30 years ago
PLUS at the British Library on Friday 4 October, two of the best known names in British literature who have carved outstanding international reputations, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Caryl Phillips, talk to award-winning journalist Maya Jaggi
Other names at AfroEurope@ns IV include
Jay Bernard (UK) – graphic story writer and poet; Lloyd Bradley (UK) – music writer; Alexander D Great (Trinidad/UK) – calypsonian; Anthony Joseph (Trinidad/UK) – poet and musician; Sheree Mack (UK) – poet and academic; Karen McCarthy-Woolf (UK) – poet; Johny Pitts (UK) – writer and television presenter; Warsan Shire (Somalia/UK) – poet; Ribka Sibhatu (Eritrea/Italy) – poet; Cristina Viti (Italy/UK) – poet and translator; Francisco Zamora Loboch (Equatorial Guinea/Spain) – sports journalist, writer and poet; Toyin Agbetu (UK) - writer and community educator
PLUS the film showing of Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years 1984-1992 and video and live poetry performances by The Canvas Pieces Project
AfroEurope@ns IV: Black Cultures and Identities in Europe
Furthur Information
For a full programme or to register for AfroEurope@ns IV please visit: http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/events/ies-conferences/AfroEuropeansTickets for the event at the British Library can be booked via their website at: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/oct13/index.html
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o will also be appearing at International Translation Day on Monday 30 September, which can be accessed via: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/event147647.html
Organised by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions and hosted by the Institute of English Studies at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study.
External Links
AfroEuropeans
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