Zadie Smith in Conversation with Kwame Kwei-Armah

On 17 June 2024, I went to see Zadie Smith at Union Chapel, a beautiful venue in Highbury, Islington, north London. The event's host was Kwame Kwei-Armah, courtesy of the Intelligence Squared.

As I travelled on the 30 bus to the area, nostalgia sank right in. I grew up in Highbury; it's where I went to primary and secondary school. In my adult years, I worked and lived there. Although I'm not based in Islington now, this journey felt like I was coming home. How cool that my first physical sighting of Zadie Smith was in my home town territory!

I have seen Zadie many times in a range of interviews on YouTube videos over the years, but this was seeing her in-person; a whole other anticipated and excited experience was in store. I arrived twenty minutes early to find a lengthy queue outside. I eventually managed to find a good enough seat three rows from the front in the middle section. The venue's capacity is 800 people and it was full to capacity!

Zadie was appearing at this event to talk about her new novel, The Fraud, named in December as one of the ten best books of 2023 by the staff of The New York Times Book Review. This is Zadie's sixth novel, first novel in seven years, and her debut historical novel. She was also at this event to mark the publication of the paperback edition of the novel.

The Fraud's main characters are based on real historical figures — alleged fraudsters, freed enslaved people — who lived in Zadie's own London neighbourhood of Kilburn, north-west London. Yet, the novel is as international as it is local and addresses issues of politics and identity that make The Fraud feel as much about today as about the past.

The novel explores the controversy surrounding the Tichborne case, in which a lower-class man claimed to be the lost heir to an aristocratic family fortune. The plot is partly about an enslaved man on a Jamaican sugar plantation whilst simultaneously a complicated and comedic narrative that sketches scenes of life in 19th century England and the Caribbean. Much of the novel follows a bizarre court case, that gripped the British public during that time period. 

The event started with Zadie reading a short passage from The Fraud followed by a conversation with Kwame, who embarked upon a range of questions about the idea behind the book, the characters, plot, and her writing journey from start to publication. The book took two years to write but many years of research beforehand. We were then in store for a general discussion about Zadie's writing career, writing process, and how she lives her life without social media distractions, during which she was, as usual, her most generous. 

My experience of being in the limelight of Zadie Smith for one and a half hours was in one word mesmerizing! I got so much from hearing her talk; it was such a splendid experience. I knew Zadie had a way with the written word but this extends to her spoken words too, which is why she is such an inspiring and insightful writer. Every word she spoke was richly textured, nuanced and multi-layered with such depth of understanding of not just her craft but the world at large which came through in the way she responded to every question she was asked, not just by Kwame but during the Q & A at the end.

Brixton Revisited; Brixton Remembered

Shangwe · Brixton Revisited; Brixton Remembered

Jem Perucchini's 'Rebirth of a Nation' Brixton Station's Header Mural
Photo Credit: Angus Mill

A collaboration with Art on the Underground

In one of the units of my Writing MA at the Royal College of Art we were asked to individually write a text in response to an Art on the Underground commission for Brixton Stations's header wall and the historical context of the Brixton murals. We were also asked to individually create a five-minute audio piece, which is now hosted here on the Art on the Underground website .

My final audio piece is now available to listen to via SoundCloud (above) and the full transcript is available to read (below). 'Brixton Revisited'; 'Brixton Remembered' is a second-person spoken word vignette-style narrative in two parts — 

'Brixton Revisited' expresses my perspective of returning to a place you haven't visited for ten years; seeing the place with fresh eyes. 'Brixton Remembered' reflects a perspective from Kim Watson, a friend, who has lived in Brixton for thirty years. You could say the whole piece is a reflection of time and place, past and present.

Brixton Station's Header Mural
Photo Credit: Angus Mill

We also individually provided a short text for a leaflet to be distributed at Brixton tube station. The leaflet is to serve as an advert for the audio and will be distributed to Brixton tube travellers. We worked with graphic designer Fraser Muggeridge and had input on the leaflet design as the project progressed. Two pieces of my artwork were also selected for inclusion in the leaflet's design. 

Audio Transcript:

Brixton Revisited

Brixton looks both familiar and new,
like a foreign country you are returning to after many years.
An exile you don't even remember.

The buildings are mostly the same.
Morleys is still firm,
though its prices have fluctuated to levels
that exclude rather than include.
Business as usual trumps community development.

The details have changed: the younger generation with smartphones,
directing their rights of passage into their virtual life,
electric bikes and bikes for hire taking up space,
protruding dangerously misplaced.
Cyclists on single speed bikes,
confronted with potholes that bite back.

Gentrification has a presence
with pop-up shops floating, trying,
to fit in somehow.

Reggae rhythms, bass lines and crisp soundscapes
the one staple that continues to express itself everywhere you go
You can easily relate.

Refreshing black cultural shops flourishing
in their upmarket presentations
and their attractive holistic goods,
their sweet meditative sounds
soothing your shopping experience.

Restaurants from every which way,
chain stores spreading their wings
offering light refreshments,
coffee, bubble tea — sometimes free —
encouraging lengthy queues.

The hustle and bustle surrounding the tube hasn't changed;
that you know you can rely on

you hear police and ambulance sirens
flow as per usual with their fast-paced energy.

The new, exquisite tube-header mural
is mesmerizing
you stay transfixed on its impact
you absorb its largeness; its entirety envelopes a stunning yet glowing earthly look.

The Windrush mural greets you
— two front-line pieces with warm tones
— as you step into Brixton Village, with its edgy vibe

You need to feel this yourself; it's much more of an experience than a sighting.

Brixton Remembered

So, what does Brixton mean to you?
Especially since you have been living here for 30 years.
Why Brixton?
You told me that it was reminiscent of Liverpool, where you were born, although you mentioned that the diversity of the people here wasn't as mixed back then.

Originally, you could say Brixton was perceived
as a bit 'ghettoish' following the 1981 uprisings.
It's now quite the middle-class enclave
It's gone a bit trendy.

Brixton has also become a constant nightlife
of drinking and eating.
You see, it's just bar after bar after restaurant after restaurant.
You know this is for the younger generation
and it's an overpowering new energy
an ever-evolving new nation.

Brixton Village is a prime example
that has seen the most significant changes to its landscape
over the last five years.

The beating heart of Brixton can't be replaced despite the fact that
the established multi-cultural and multi-generational community
is being lost.

You are concerned that the upmarket shops and offices
are displacing the local market traders
and you are also concerned that
the traditional community of Windrush descendants have
been steadily — over the last eight to ten years — driven out of the area,
replaced by the so-called young professionals.

Also, you used to know who was out there
standing on your street corner,
familiar faces I mean.
Now, that's gone,
You don't know anyone out there anymore.
That's what's scary.

The realisation is that the Brixton you knew historically
is gone, the Brixton you knew culturally is gone,
and the Brixton you know now is a fading memory
which is ever shapeshifting,
ever being reprocessed, reinvented,
in the name of progress, growth, development, and change,
in the name of out with the old, and in with the new.

Anthony Joseph in Conversation at the London Buddhist Centre

This time last week I was still reflecting on Anthony Joseph who read from his T S Eliot award winning collection of poetry Sonnets for Albert (2022). This really was a wonderful evening where Anthony was in conversation with Maitreyabandhu at the London Buddhist Centre, in East London on 21 October. This was part of a series of Poetry East events that the centre organise, held in the beautiful Buddhist Temple, which is adorned with an ambience of candles in abundance and vases of flowers that were remarkable to view.

My friend and I arrived early enough so as to get a front-row seat. Anthony was blessed with a full house and we were blessed with hearing many of the poems from Sonnets for Albert, written after the death of Anthony's father. The poems mainly stemmed from the absence of Anthony's father due to a range of factors including the fact that he had twelve children. Here's the first poem in the book's inside cover that sums up this theme perfectly:

FLACK AND HATHAWAY

My father would be gone.

Months into mystery.

But he persisted

in our longing.

We saw him

maybe once, maybe

twice a year. We sang

Flack and Hathaway,

that he would come running.

And while we waited

the myth of him grew,

till the anticipation

of his return

would fill each room. 

This event was so inspiring. I was moved by the emotional content of Anthony's poems, especially that despite the absence of his father, he grew to love him, which may have had something to do with Anthony living with his grandmother, his father's mother, who also experienced the same absence in her relationship with her son. Maybe growing up with his grandmother in Trinidad ensured that the connection with Anthony's father was less likely to be severed.

Anthony also discussed how the personal can be universal. I really like the way the book is structured; the shortness of the self-contained poems and their related themes didn't detract from the significance of their depth and breadth. I know it's a cliche but less is definitely more with this book. 

Some of the sonnets exceeded fourteen lines — I love a rebel poet! This was a deliberate action on Anthony's part, a kind of rule-breaking, a manipulation of the form, acknowledging the imperialism of not just the sonnet's form but its history. 

Black and white photographs taken in Trinidad and sprinkled throughout the book, was also a nice touch as we could see Anthony's father in a range of guises as well as other family members and garner a real sense of nostalgia. The white space behind each image worked really well to provide a slight distance from the text, a refreshing pause.

I also thought it would be really interesting to explore writing in the sonnet form myself at some point, in exactly the same rule-breaking way. 

This Poetry East event was so refreshing and thought-provoking, especially as I could resonate with the absent father theme although I didn't quite grow to love my father. Maybe it is a different scenario when you are growing up with your father's grandmother. How lovely that must have been for Anthony to at least find out about his father through his grandmother. It must be nice to be that close when you're growing up with your grandmother. I grew up with my grandmother so I totally understand that element.

No Q&A!

I mentioned this to Maitreyabandhu as I was leaving and he nodded as if to say yes I get you. There was more than enough time for a Q & A, since the event was two hours long, and included a tea-break too, so this was a missed opportunity. 

I got around this by making sure to ask Anthony a question while I was getting his book signed. My question was: How much artistic control did you have when putting the collection of poetry together. Anthony responded by saying that he did have artistic control which included curating the order of the poems and the book's landscape and inclusion of imagery. 

If you get a chance to see Anthony Joseph, don't hesitate. You will enjoy the experience!

Author Bio:

Anthony Joseph is a Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician. He is the author of four poetry collections and three novels. His 2018 novel Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award, and longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. In 2019, he was awarded a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship. As a musician, he has released eight critically acclaimed albums, and in 2020 received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Composers Award. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at De Montfort University, Leicester. Anthony was awarded the T.S. Eliot Prize for Sonnets for Albert (2022) his first poetry collection since Rubber Orchestra in 2013. 

Claudia Rankine In Conversation with Nicola Rollock

On 14 March 2023, I went to see Claudia Rankine In Conversation with Nicola Rollock, at the London Review Bookshop (LRB) which holds 20,000 titles on two floors in Bloomsbury, London, plus there's a cafe that serves cake and tea!

This was one of the best literary events I had been to in years.  To say I'm a fan of Claudia Rankine is putting it mildly, so I made sure to sit at the front.

Claudia Rankine, poet, essayist and playwright, was at LRB to discuss a new forthcoming revised and re-issued version of PLOT,  (2023) her third collection of poetry, initially written in 2001, before Claudia Rankine had a child, as a thought experiment around what it means to decide to be an artist and to be a parent and the challenges that brings. PLOT is a poetry collection concerning pregnancy and motherhood told fictiously by using a couple named Erland and Liv to drive the narrative. 

The text of PLOT crosses genres, existing at times in poetry, at times in dialogue, in order to arrive at new life and baby Ersatz. At most, the text explores what it means to be human and to invest in humanity.

Excerpt

1

Submerged deeper than appetite she bit into a freakish anatomy, the hard plastic of filiation, a fetus dream, once severed, reattached, the baby femur not fork-tender though flesh, the baby face now anchored.

What Liv would make would be familial, not foreign, forsaken. She knew this and tried to force the scene, focus the world, in the dream. Snapping, the crisp rub of thumb to index, she was in rehearsal with everyone, loving the feel of cartilage, ponderous of damaged leaves, then only she, singing internally, only she revealed, humming, undressing a lullaby: bitterly, sinkholes to underground streams ...

In the dream waist deep, retrieving a fossilized pattern forming in attempt to prevent whispers, or poisoned regrets, reaching into reams and reams, to needle-scam a cord in the stream, as if a wish borne out of rah-rah's rude protrusion to follow the rest was sporded, split, and now hard pressed to enter the birth.

In the dream the reassembled desire to conceive wraps the tearing placenta to a walled uterus, urge formed complicit.

* * *

The event lasted 45 minutes and was also streamed live online. In the Q&A at the end, I was keen to ask a question:

NM: It's great to see you in the flesh as I've been watching you on YouTube for a long time. It actually feels like I'm in your front room.

CR: Because you are! This is my home. I'm really enjoying reading.

NM: I wanted to ask you about Just Us — the process — because I also make art and I'm a writer and poet, so all of that is working well for me. Do you think there will be any more books like Just Us in the future?

CR: Right now, I'm failing badly at trying to work on a new book ... I've been looking at all of these people ... Mahsa Amini, people who do things ... in grasping life they also have to grasp death at the same time, that you can't separate the two things. [NB: Mahsa Amini, aged 22, died in custody on 18 September 2022, three days after her arrest by the notorious morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic Republic's strict dress code for women] Mahsa Amini, the woman who lowered her headscarf, was killed in Iran. But the people came out in objection to her killing, but, they too in coming out to value Mahsa's life, had to grasp their own death and know that the moment you do that, is the moment that the State no longer has control over you.

Lewis Hyde once said, 'Poetry is outside of the market economy so it allows that freedom for the writer to do whatever they want.' So, I've always felt that in the realm of poetry, it's the one genre that has not needed market controls or influences. The world of poetry is the most open place"

When asked about the meanings of the title PLOT, Claudia Rankine said:

CR: The title was chosen because of the multiple meanings and it contained both the idea of a storyline and a plan and also a grave — all thematically relevant to the possibilities of where we were going, i.e. whether following Wolff to the River Ouse or fighting in scenes of a marriage or using language to describe my own husband. Throughout the book, there are moments when the titles are words that are contained in other words. I wanted to show how the word lives independently and also in relation too.

The final question was 'Do you have any advice on how to broaden the readership of poetry?

CR: Poets like T.S. Eliot used to be able to fill stadiums. I think poetry should be heard on the radio. It's an oral activity ... the music ... there's so much work that goes into the cadenza... we could have five-minute sections in mainstream radio, just before the 12 o'clock news, to listen to a poem. I think when people begin to hear it, they'll become less afraid because poetry is just language but because it defies the rules of grammar, of expectation, there's a kind of 'I don't get it.' But you do know, and you will get it if you're open to it. You have to let down the guard that says, because this isn't functioning like a newspaper article, I'll be able to understand this. It's just habits of reading and listening.

Claudia Rankine recommended Poor (2020) by Caleb Femi, winner of The Forward Prize Best First Collection (2021). "Unlike me, he doesn't have to buy in images, he takes his own photographs that are in the book. It's really phenomenal."

Claudia Rankine is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays. She has won numerous awards, too many to list here. I particularly enjoyed reading Just Us: An American Conversation, a brilliant arrangement of essays, poems, and images, which includes the voices and rebuttals of others, e.g., white men in first class responding to, and with, their white male privilege; a friend's explanation of her infuriating behaviour at a play, and much more.

Sara Ahmed in Conversation with Sunny Singh

 

Image Credit: N.Moore L: Sara Ahmed, R: Sunny Singh

On 9 March 2023, I went to see Sara Ahmed, one of the world's leading feminist thinkers and writers, in conversation with academic and writer Sunny Singh, who teaches English Literature at London Metropolitan University, with a special interest in feminist and postcolonial theory. The conversation was about The Feminist Killjoy Handbook, followed by an audience Q&A and a book signing.

The event was held at Foyles in Charing Cross Road, London, one of the UK's most famous booksellers, comprising five floors of books, with a dedicated events space on the sixth-floor hosting author events, in conversations and more.

Sara Ahmed spoke about the stories, theory and history that inspired The Feminist Killjoy Handbook. This book calls on those dismissed or ridiculed for calling out sexism and division, to find solidarity and empowerment.

I first came across 'A Killjoy Survival Kit' and 'A Killjoy Manifesto' in Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed where she unpacks the term 'killjoy' in ways that open up a whole different way of seeing how those experiences of being or becoming a killjoy:

"can feel, sometimes, like making your life harder than it needs to be. I have heard this sentiment expressed as kindness: as if to say, just stop noticing exclusions and your burden will be eased. It is implied that by not struggling against something you will be rewarded by an increasing proximity to that thing. You might be included if only you just stop talking about exclusions. Sometimes the judgement is expressed less kindly: disapproval can be expressed in sideways glances, the sighs, the eyes rolling; stop struggling, adjust, except. And you can also feel this yourself: that by noticing certain things you are making it harder for yourself.

But the experiences we have are not just of being worn down; these experiences also give us resources. What we learn from these experiences might be how we survive these experiences" (Ahmed, 2017 p. 235).

Having read Living a Feminist Life I was enthusiastic about the Foyles event since that book had me making copious notes on yellow post-it notes so as to capture the many insightful theories and practicalities of living a feminist life. However, I must admit the actual conversation between Sara Ahmed and Sunny Singh was a bit flat in places as it lacked context and depth, which I think was due to the questions which arose quite randomly almost out of thin air, so a bit of a missed opportunity. Some of the questions could have been better framed. 

Sara Ahmed is the author of many works including The Cultural Politics of Emotion and Complaint!. Her work occupies the intersections of feminist, queer and race studies. She was Professor of Race and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, until 2016. She resigned from her post in protest at the failure to deal with the problem of sexual harassment.

Art and Literature in Conversation with Irenosen Okojie — Whitechapel Gallery, London

On 10 February 2022, I went to an Art and Literature Conversation held at the Zilkha Auditorium at the Whitechapel Gallery, East London. This was both a discussion to celebrate the latest issue of leading arts and literature magazine The White Review and a conversation between editor Izabella Scott and Irenosen Okojie, author of the award-winning novel Butterfly Fish published in 2015 by Jacaranda Books. 

Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author whose experimental works create vivid narratives that play with form and language. Her debut novel Butterfly Fish and short story collections Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch have won and been shortlisted for multiple awards. A fellow and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, Irenosen is the winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for her story, Grace Jones. She was awarded an MBE for Services to Literature in 2021.

What attracted me to this event was the combination of art and literature — both fields of the arts that I am particularly passionate about on many levels. It was fascinating to hear of Irenosen's writing process for Butterfly Fish and how she weaved art and literature within fiction to tell a unique and innovative story. 

Myself and Irenosen Okojie at Whitechapel Gallery

I was keen to ask a question at the end, in fact I was one of the first to ask! My question was related to form, especially because Irenosen uses many different forms in her writing. I asked her how she negotiates those forms; do they conflict with each other? Irenosen responded by saying she brings in art to her writing even if it's a setting, e.g. museums which she often visits; places where inspiration is available even to write poetry. Her favourite art form is film. Conflict is not necessarily a negative and can be a way of balancing the forms.

Novel's Synopsis:

"After the sudden death of her mother, London photographer Joy struggles to pull the threads of her life back together, with the support of her kind but mysterious neighbour, Mrs Harris. Joy's fortune begins to change when she receives an unexpected inheritance from her mother: a huge sum of money, her grandfather's diary and a unique brass warrior's head from the ancient kingdom of Benin.

Joy's search for the origins of the head take us on a journey through time as dark family secrets come to light. Joy unearths the ties between her mother, grandfather, the wife of the king and the brass head's pivotal connection to them all.

A spiritual successor to the tales of Marquez, Butterfly Fish masterfully combines elements of traditional Nigerian story-telling and magical realism in a multigenerational tale of the legacy of inheritance." — Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd.

Novel's Structure:

There are many aspects to Butterfly Fish that I like — the rhythm, texture, vivid imagery, richness of the writing style, and the beauty of the language: 

"I ran myself a bath longing for the peace the water held out for me. Lying there I watched an insect circle the light bulb on the ceiling and envied its frenetic flight. For years I'd been fed on incongruous things; smudges on windows washed away by rain, static from the TV, white lines just before traffic lights, wilting in shaky, paced train carriages. On the need to hold my loneliness, watch it change shape yet essentially stay the same. I felt woozy, faint. In the tepid water my grip on things slipped. The small, silvery, distressed figures I'd seen earlier in the kitchen offered their limbs to the dropped, bloody razor as the frantic black eyes of the dice spun." 

The short chapters work well too, amounting to a few pages and a few words, yet are packed full with storytelling that pays attention to detail that keeps you in suspense. 'Less is more' means that it is far less about the amount of words and far more about the depth of the novel and its intriguing form, multilayers, and pace of plot. Added to this is the actual physicality of the hardback copy of the book with its stunning front cover design. Presentation is key, especially as the book has a tactile feel about it.

Butterfly Fish is an extraordinary novel with a dual narrative set in contemporary London and eighteenth century Benin in Africa — thereby making use of Irenosen's West African heritage.  Reading this book was strangely satisfying as the writing possesses an elegant prose yet is quite humorous and playful, which keeps you grounded in reality yet you are able to savor the magical elements that do not feel out of place. Past and present are full of mystery and yet they quite skillfully and craftily make sense and work well together.

I was thankfully able to have a brief chat with Irenosen at the end of the event, where I made sure to get her to sign the hardback copy of her book.😊

Comments Welcome!

World Book Day 2022

 

Books by Nicole Moore

Today is World Book Day (WBD) which happens annually on the first Thursday of March. This year marks WBD's 25th anniversary. The theme this year is a message for all children: You are a reader!

Today, I am remembering and celebrating the books that I brought into fruition between 2005 and 2010, which were independently published collections of creative expressions by black and mixed-heritage women:

*Brown Eyes, 2005
  Sexual Attraction Revealed, 2008
*Hair Power Skin Revolution, 2010

*Funded by an Arts Council England  Grants for the Arts Award 

These anthologies included poetry and personal essays from a diverse group of black and mixed-heritage women — everyday women expressing themselves in their own unique style, without the white gaze. The writers offered empowering and creative ways of understanding and relating to a range of themes including gender, 'race', ethnicity, identity, hair, colorism, culture and heritage, with strong and reflective voices, some unheard; some previously published.

Full details are listed under 'Books' on the right of this blog.

In my childhood days, my reading was somewhat limited to books that I could read in my grandparents house — the Encyclopaedia Britannica a general knowledge book, which I would tackle occasionally; a few editions of my grandmother's Readers' Digest magazines (grown up stories that I would dive in and select something appealing) plus children's' novels that I loaned from my local library, which I really enjoyed visiting on Saturday mornings.  Then there were comics like Bunty a British comic for girls, which consisted of a collection of many small strips, the stories typically being three to five pages long. 

Thankfully, over the last twenty seven years I have widened my reading and with modern technology, I have a vast selection of books on my Kindle. I still have a yearning to  buy 'real' books and have a small collection that are of sentimental value mostly because they have been signed by the authors.

Happy World Book Day!

Comments welcome!