Essah's Way

Episode 087. Samatar Elmi opens up about Somali culture, his role as poet, and how the pandemic changed his view of life.

Episode 086. Saddiq Dzukogi discusses grief, fathering, and migration through poetry.

Saddiq Dzukogi is the author of Your Crib, My Qibla. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Oxford Review of Books, Kenyon Review, Oxford Poetry, Salamander, Southeast Review, and Obsidian, among others. His chapbook Inside the Flower Room was selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for the APBF New-Generation African Poets Series. He was a finalist for the 2017 Brunel International African Poetry Prize. Saddiq is currently a PhD student in English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Order Your Crib, My Qibla here: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496225771/

Episode 085. Yunielis Clemente Ortiz habla de su experiencia de emprendimiento y crecimiento de ser eco-consciente en Puerto Rico.

Yunielis Clemente Ortiz graduó con un bachillerato en ciencias ambientales de la UPRRP y trabajó con Servicio Forestal en El Yunque. Ahora es dueña de su propio negocio GRANOSPR desde 2019, con una misión a educar sobre problemas ambientales y proveer alternativas para disminuir huella de carbono. Ella es viajera, feminista, liberal, lectora y ambientalista.

Compra sus productos aqui: www.granospr.com

Episode 084. Adam Lowe celebrates life by discussing his abundant evolution as a writer, performer, and publisher.

Adam Lowe is an award-winning writer, publisher, and creative producer from Leeds, who now lives in Manchester. He is UK LGBT+ History Month Poet Laureate and was the Olympic poet for Yorkshire in 2012. He has taught at the University of Leeds, UCLAN, and English PEN. His life writing encompasses prose memoir, theatre, and poetry, and his performances are often intimate, confessional and playful. He often incorporates queer and Caribbean performance elements (spoken word, drag, jazz, song) into his work.

https://adam-lowe.com

Episode 083. Essah Cozett encourages everyone to find their light by looking within.

Episode 082. Roger Robinson reflects on the power of prayer which allows him to be present in his art.

Roger Robinson is a writer who has performed worldwide. He is the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2019, RSL Ondaatje Prize 2020 and RSL Fellow. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the Black-British writing canon. His latest collection ‘A Portable Paradise’ was a New Statesman book of the year. He is an alumnus of The Complete Works and was shortlisted for The OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, commended by the Forward Poetry Prize and is currently shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2020. He is co-founder of both Spoke Lab and the international writing collective Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist for King Midas Sound and has also recorded solo albums with Jahtari Records.

Episode 081. Raina León honors her journey by reflecting on her roots while actively encouraging others to make space for joy.

The deadline for her new workshop is February 15, 2021. Sign up here: https://www.thespeakeasyproject.net/overview-workshops

Raina J. León, PhD is Black, Afro-Boricua, and from Philadelphia. She is a mother, daughter, sister, madrina, comadre, partner, poet, writer, and teacher educator. She believes in collective action and community work, the profound power of holding space for the telling of our stories, and the liberatory practice of humanizing education. She is the author of three collections of poetry, Canticle of Idols, Boogeyman Dawn, and sombra: dis(locate) and the chapbooks, profeta without refuge and Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self. She is passionate about Afro-futurism, genealogy and walking in relationship with our ancestors, ecopoetics, writing for change, writing for healing and health, and mothering.

Episode 080. Assumpta Vitcu reveals how she created a thriving career by pursuing her passions.

Assumpta is a London based British-Nigerian Poet, Writer and Event Planner. Her work has been featured within Parxis Magazine and a number of publications including the Ake Review and POSTSCRIPT. Assumpta’s writing centres on love, loss, life-lessons and loneliness.

Episode 079. Nick Makoha shares how his life experiences inspired him to establish the Obsidian Foundation to celebrate Black poets around the world.

If you are a Black poet interested in participating in the next retreat, please join the mailing list here: www.obsidianfoundation.co.uk

The Founder of Obsidian Nick Makoha is a Ugandan poet and playwright and based in London. His debut Kingdom of Gravity was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize and nominated by The Guardian as one of the best books of 2017. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and Complete Works Alumni. He won the 2015 Brunel prize and 2016 Derricotte & Eady Prize for his pamphlet Resurrection Man. He was the 2019 Writer-in-Residence for The Wordsworth Trust and Wasafiri. His play The Dark was directed by JMK award-winner Roy Alexander and shortlisted for the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award. He has been involved in TV marketing campaigns for Voices Nationwide: Celebrating Fatherhood and the Gillette, Being A Man digital campaign for The Southbank Centre. His poems appeared in The New York Times, Poetry Review, Rialto, Poetry London, Triquarterly Review, Boston Review, Callaloo, and Wasafiri.

Episode 078. Essah Cozett discusses her mission for this year and encourages listeners to hold her accountable.