WIP Pod 

Work In progress is a show where I talk to people about something they are working on personally or creatively.

Hi, I’m Abdullah Adekola (he/him)  a Black-British working-class writer and performer. My breakthrough collection of poetry 'Nigrescence' is out now on adekola.bigcartel.com

You can follow Adekola on instagram 

Work In progress pod

#Adekolapoetry #Workinprogresspod #Blackpoet#Blackartist #BlackBritish #Mentalhealth #Workingclassartist #Northernartist

Kamil Mahmood is a Poet, Spoken word, and Visual Artist born and raised in Birmingham. His work explores identity, community, Islam, the British Pakistani diaspora, masculinity, and power dynamics. His debut collection, Mute Men, was published by Verve Poetry Press in 2019. He is co-founder of Gully Collective; a space connecting and supporting south Asian creatives. He was shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Prize in 2021.

“Nour K. (they/them) is a 22-year-old Sudanese journalist, poet, and writer currently living in the Netherlands. They identify with the third culture experience of being brought up in countries that are not their own & yet making homes out of shared experiences. Their poetry collection ’emerge(ncy)’ explores the non-linearity of growing up and themes of connection, displacement & spirituality.” After some technical issues, we get into a really uplifting conversation.  

Recorded August 2021  

Check out Nour's work https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/nour-and-abdullah-naji/emergency/paperback/product-njqdm6.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Ana Silvério is from Brazil, where she began her studies of Ballet, Folk Dances, Jazz, and Drama. She received a first-class honours degree in “Choreography, Methodology, and Pedagogy of Dance” from the St. Petersburg University of Human Sciences, Russia

Ana performed with the White Nights Ballet Theatre, Folk dance group Banzé, Performing Arts Company Lorenzo Fernandez, among others. She was awarded in different dance festivals as well as served on the judging committee of many others. She has published several articles on dance history and critique, and the translation of the book “Basic Principles of Classical Dance” by Vaganova.

Ana is based in York, UK. She is a freelance ballet teacher. Ana founded recently the Terpshichoring dance company and serves as its choreographer and artistic director.

We talk about coming to the UK and to the north of England, love, family, motherhood and meaning.

From Abigail - I am a 2nd-year psychology student at the University of Leeds. Not really seeing many people like me I got involved with the black feminist society that made me come to terms with my passions. Such as journaling having been featured on Gurls Talk. Writing, being a member of Word by Word (WBW) and curating, having put on events such as decolonising psychology mental health workshop, black fem soc bookclub, journaling workshops with WBW, and the LS6 project a Livestream of Leeds based artists raising money for charity. Alongside this, I have been a youth advocate for War Child since 2018, an organisation that fundraises through music, where I speak at concerts sharing my family's story.

We talk about Abigail going camping and being from Portsmouth and now in Leeds for university, Black identity, Black fem soc, East African representation, and all Abigail's creative projects. (Apologies for the audio issues, constructive feedback welcomed)

Work In Progress Podcast is a show where Abdullah Adekola, a Black-British, Northern creative, has conversations with interesting people about something they are working on personally or creatively.

The hope is that we can learn from each other and grow together.

Work In Progress is available now to watch on YouTube or listen to on Spotify, and many other places where you listen to podcasts

You can follow the show www.instagram.com/workinprogpodade/

Suzanne Pearson is a creative freelancer, currently across television, poetry, and spoken word. She’s Manchester-based but is originally from Rotherham. Her poems stem from her own experiences which usually center around grief, joy, feminism, and anything else that may pop into her head at any given moment.

I talk to Suzanne about, our New Creative North Audio Projects (poems /music). Challenges of making it as a professional creative. Black trauma/representation. Being stranded in New Zealand during Covid