Kiota Lab

Our final Podcast of the series!!! Hosted by our very own Aisha Ali, featuring:

Miri Tkaya

Miri Tkaya is a British-Egyptian, Invisibly-Disabled Artist, Vocalist, Song-writer, Writer, Performer and Speaker. Miri is passionate about imagination, Arts and language as vehicles to transcend and transform. Longing for a world of mirrors that reflect our authentic selves, she is committed to examining the space between perception and reality, uncovering and celebrating the ‘unseen’ and the ‘other.’ Through lilting jazzy melodies, intricate harmonies and poetic rhythmical lyricism, Miri weaves philosophy and song with honesty, playfulness and grit.

Miri is currently creating music for a gig-theatre show about invisible illness and perception.

Her song "Blood Moon/Wash Away” is about navigating cycles of fluctuating symptoms and abilities in chronic invisible illness, washing away the horizontal hours, the skepticism and judgement that comes with them, and constantly starting over again.

This is an exclusive demo which will be turned into a fuller arrangement. Produced by Dom Richardson.

AND

Muneera Pilgrim

Muneera Pilgrim is a Storyteller, International Poet, Cultural Producer, Writer, Broadcaster and TEDx  speaker.

She co-founded the Muslim Hip-Hop and spoken word duo Poetic Pilgrimage, and has since gone on to create waves as a solo artist. She is a  co-founder of  a new platform, Black Muslim Women Bike

She conducts workshops, shares art, lectures, and finds alternative ways to tell stories, build community and exchange ideas.

She regularly contributes to BBC 2’s Pause for Thought, she is an associate artist with Inbetween Time, an associate artist with English Touring Theatre where she is writing her first play, and she is currently writing her first official poetry collection will be released in 2021 with Burning Eye Books.

Her piece “Dating in this economy” is a section of a work in progress play about coming of all things: age, realisation, acceptance....it’s a woman’s tale. This is in collaboration with English Touring Theatre.

CW: talk of islamophobia, racism and violence

We are joined by:

Hanan is a Welsh-Iraqi poet and writer based in Cardiff.  She has been featured on both ITV Wales and BBC Wales and worked in partnership withNational Museum Wales, Artes Mundi, Warwick University,Swansea Fringe,StAnza Festival, WalesArts Review and Seren Books. Her work has been published in Banat Collective, Hedgehog Press, Wales Arts Review, Sukoon mag, Lumin Journal, Poetry Wales, Parthian, Y Stamp, sister-hood magazine and MuslimGirl.com.  Her winning monologue was featured at Bush Theatre’s Hijabi Monologues. She is the co-founder of Wales’ first BAME open mic series 'Where I'm Coming From'. She was a 2018-2019 Hay Festival Writer at Work.  Her debut poetry pamphlet ‘My Body Can House Two Hearts’ was published by BurningEye Books. She is a recipient of the 2020 Ffolio  - Ffilm Cymru/ BBC Wales short film commission.

Bertel Martin of Bristol Black Writers Group, Bertel Martin has been active in Bristol’s writing scene for over 25 years, as a writer, performer and producer. Promoting Caribbean and African writers in Yardstick and with the British Council. A co-founder of Word of Mouth (now Blah, Blah, Blah), Former Director of Plymouth International Book Festival and Director of City Chameleon, a publishing company specialising in poetry and short stories, Bertel has been published in a number of anthologies. Performance highlights include performing with Lee Evans, Benjamin Zephaniah, Attila Stockbroker and Jean "Binta" Breeze. Currently Bertel is on the board of directors of Bristol Short Story Prize and the board of Trustees of the Tobacco Factory and trying to find time for his own projects.

-Hosted by Aisha Ali

-Poetry from Vanessa Melody 

Vanessa Melody is singer-songwriter and poet of Afro-Caribbean descent, born and raised in Bristol.

In 2018, confined to her bed due to a 3 week bout of illness, she produced over 50 poems that were later compiled and published through Balboa Press, in a book called 'Rise To Freedom Her Story in Rhyme'

Her poem, Mother Nature, is about how she spends a lot of time in the natural spaces in the area where she lives in Eastville. Mother Nature takes care of her, guides her and when she is still enough,  she can hear, feel, see and taste the essence of life that sustains her. She believes it is the same for us all because we are one, we are all connected.

-Comedy from Pravanya Pillay

2008 Sir Henry Floyd Form Representative Pravanya Pillay is a comedian and youth empowerment leader. In 2017 she founded Stomping Ground, an organisation which empowers young people of colour by transforming Bristol’s arts and cultural landscape so that it is fully accessible and representative. 

A director, writer and performer her comedic style is like marmite (yeasty) and leaves you wondering: “did I hate that?”. Pravanya Pillay’s surreal, absurdist humour is always silly, always fun and always a bit pointless. Critics say “well she’s having a good time” and “wow, that’s a lot of energy”

-Pravanya chats to Aisha about her comedy inspiration, what she's learned in lockdown and her plans for the future.

Hosted by Shagufta K. Iqbal, we are joined by: 

Asmaa Jama is a Danish-born Somali poet, artist and co-founder of Dhaqan Collective. Asmaa's work has been published in print and online, in places like The Good Journal, Popshot, ANMLY, and Ambit. As an artist, Asmaa has been featured by Dark Yellow Dot and Kayd Somali Arts & Culture, and publicly exhibited by Rising Arts Agency and Tate Collective. Most recently, was an artist-in-residence at IBT's Creative Exchange Lab and writer-in-residence at Arnolfini, Bristol.

Safiya Kinshasa (who also performs under the alias Birdspeed) is a British-born Barbadian-raised artist of Barbadian and Jamaican descent. She has the ability to captivate audiences by effortlessly weaving poetry, storytelling, satirical humour and dance/movement. Her poetry (page & stage), which predominantly focuses on her Caribbean heritage, braids rhythm, science, dance and technology.

Safiya was recently announced a recipient of the Jerwood Arts| Apples & Snakes Performance in Poetry Programme and the winner of the 'New Voice in Poetry Prize' courtesy of Culture Recordings. This year she was shortlisted for the Outspoken Page Poetry Prize and Longlisted for the Film and Performance Prize.

Presented by Aisha Ali, featuring the work of Shaun Clarke, The Struggle and Shagufta K. Iqbal, The Snake Woman.

Shaun is the founding member of Urban Word Collective and writes, songs, articles and short stories. He is a self-professed “accidental” Poet and self published Author who explores current events and cultural developments. He has worked with Ujima Radio, Talking Tales, Bristol Cable, BBC Bristol, Freed of Mind, DMAC UK, and performed at BOV, Redfest, Harborside Festival, Refugee Festival and other events. He has also judged a poetry slam for Hammer and Tongue. His two urban poetry collections featuring diverse/emerging authors from across the UK, Lyrically Justified 1 & 2 and now 3, (with guests The Last Poets) are available to purchase. His poem The Struggle is about the Grenfell Disaster.

Shagufta Iqbal, is a Poet, Novelist, Tedx Speaker, co-creator of Kiota, and author of ‘Jam is for Girls, Girls get Jam.’

Commissioned by the Portico Library in Manchester, 'the Snake Woman', explores the occult, fairytales and Punjabi love stories, in particular that of the tragic story of Sohni Mahiwal. A big fan of 90’s actress Sri Devi, this is Shagufta K Iqbal’s homage to the legend of the Nagina (the Snake Woman). 

An insight into upcoming artists who will be featuring in Kiota Bristol Podcasts, sharing extracts from novels, short stories, poetry, comedy sets, to monologues and music. Presented by yours truly, Aisha Ali and Shagufta K. Iqbal.

This is the FIRST Kiota Lab Podcast with:

-Poet Amena Kofi

We talk about artistic process during lockdown and the role making art plays in our lives. We also talk about the ways we support ourselves as artists and the value in making work that reflects the landscape of the times.

(Please note there may be differences in the volume of the recording - we are learning how to podcast on the job, please bear with us!)