My Words: Response Exhibition

Yusra Warsama is a performance poet, actor, writer and theatre practitioner, her passions lie in creating work through play and exploration of life experiences in world we live in. Past, present and future work takes many forms, from her developing a one woman show which uses spoken word, storytelling, live art and physical expression, to ‘Grace’ and ‘Make – Believe’ with Quarantine, which looks at exploring theatre without focus oncharacters but the one to one relationship between performer and audience. Yusra began her theater career in her home city Manchester, whilst studying (BA HONS) Criminology & Sociology. From there, she began working with both national and international theatre companies and artists, learning that art and communicating narrative, had the power to translate human experience through a multitude of lenses.Her collaborative work includes Don Lett’s Speakers Corner, a spoken word theatre piece. She is currently acting on several projects and working on her pieces - 'Of All the Beautiful Things In The World' (2023) inspired by Lorca’s - Arewelo - the original Somali warrior Queen. As well as continuing work with young and community groups in 'making something'. Yusra is also a professional actor and work can be found here: https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/yusra-warsama

Yomi Ṣode is an award-winning Nigerian British writer. He is a recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and was shortlisted for The Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021. His acclaimed one-man show COAT toured nationally to sold- out audiences, including at the Brighton Festival, Roundhouse Camden and the Battersea Arts Centre. In 2020 his libretto Remnants, written in collaboration with award-winning composer James B. Wilson and performed with Chineke! Orchestra premiered on BBC Radio 3.In 2021, his play, and breathe… premiered at the Almeida Theatre to rave reviews. Yomi is a Complete Works alumnus and a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the founder of BoxedIn, First Five, The Daddy Diaries, and mentorship programme, 12 in 12. Yomi’s debut collection, Manorism will be published via Penguin Press in 2022

John Siddique is the author of Signposts of The Spiritual Journey and SO and is a much-loved spiritual teacher, writer, and poet, best known for his authenticity, humour, and ‘feet on the ground’ wisdom. His profound, accessible teachings have helped millions of people worldwide find greater peace and fulfilment in their lives. Yet his work is not about gathering followers or preaching a particular spirituality. Instead, his deepest wish is that his teachings are a space for transformation for you so that you may know and live life from your soul.John is also the creator of two popular meditation courses, ‘Self-Acceptance Through Authenticity’ and ‘Magical Moments’, which is aimed at children and families. He is the author of eight books and has been featured in Time Magazine, The Tablet, Platinum, The Spectator, and many others, as well as in The Guardian and on the BBC. John is a commissioning editor for WritersMosaic and the Royal Literary Fund. He is the former Poet Laureate of Canterbury and was Poet in Residence at California State University, LA, for The British Council. He is an Honorary Fellow of Literature at Leicester University.

Jacob Sam-La Rose is a poet and editor. He serves as artistic director and lead facilitator for the Barbican Young Poets programme. His collection Breaking Silence was shortlisted for a Forward prize and a Fenton Aldeburgh award, and is required reading for an A-level syllabus.

Shivanee Ramlochan is a Trinidadian writer. Her first book of poems, Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting (Peepal Tree Press, 2017) was a finalist for the People's Choice T&T Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Forward Prize for Best First Collection. 'The Red Thread Cycle', the central suite of seven poems from her debut collection, won a Small Axe Literary Competition Prize for Poetry (second-place), and was on audiovisual display at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. Shivanee has received residencies and fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Millay Arts, and Catapult Caribbean Arts Grant. She has served as a poetry reader and judge for Commonwealth Writers, Honeysuckle Press, Moko Magazine, Forward Prizes and others. A Spanish-language edition of Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting is to be published soon. Her second book, Unkillable, on Indo-Caribbean women’s disobedience, is forthcoming from Noemi Press in 2023.

Jennifer Lee Tsai is a poet and critic. She was born in Bebington and grew up in Liverpool. Jennifer is a fellow of The Complete Works programme for diversity and innovation and a Ledbury Poetry Critic. Her creative and critical work is widely published in magazines and journals including Oxford Poetry, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The White Review, the Times Literary Supplement as well as in the Bloodaxe anthology Ten: Poets of the New Generation (2017). Jennifer’s debut poetry pamphlet is Kismet (ignitionpress, 2019). She is the winner of a 2020 Northern Writers Award for Poetry. Currently, Jennifer is a doctoral candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Liverpool.

Poet, novelist and playwright, Fred D’Aguiar was born in London to Guyanese parents. He grew up in Guyana, returning to England in his teens. He is the author of five novels, including The Longest Memory, which won the Whitbread First Novel Award and his acclaimed memoir, Year of Plagues, was published in 2021. His eighth poetry book, Letters to America was a Poetry Book Society Choice. His numerous plays have been staged in the UK and broadcast on BBC radio. He has lived in the US since the 1990s and he is currently Professor of English at University of California Los Angeles.

Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a poet, writer and artist based in London. She is the winner of an Eric Gregory award and has held residencies internationally in the US and Brazil. Her debut poetry collection, Quiet, was released by Faber earlier this year, and is set for North American release in January 2023 with Knopf.