Africa Writes Bristol 2019 is set to celebrate contemporary literature and thought from Africa and the diaspora from June 30 – July 4, 2019.
Africa Writes Bristol 2019, co-produced by TJ Dema and Kate Wallis, is an offshoot of the popular London, UK based Africa Writes festival that has been running since 2014. It is brought to you by the Royal African Society and Saseni!, and supported by Arts Council England, the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, University of Bristol and the University of Exeter.
The festival will celebrate contemporary literature from Africa and the African diaspora with a series of performances, book launches, panels and workshops in Bristol. Thirty writers and other creatives drawing on histories and geographies from across Botswana, Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Somaliland, South Africa, Uganda, UK, USA, and Zambia. Fans of these writers will be able to see these events hosted at the Malcolm X Community Centre, Arnolfini, The Cube, Foyles, Wickham Theatre and Waterstones.

The headline event of the festival will be the launch of the Margaret Busby edited anthology New Daughters of Africa with over 200 writers from across the globe. It will be held in partnership with St Paul’s Carnival, where Dialogue Books’ Sharmaine Lovegrove will be in conversation with Margaret Busby and contributors to this influential anthology at the Malcolm X Community Centre.
New Daughters of Africa‘s overall influence on the festival is quite evident with nearly every panel featuring a contributor from Ros Martin to Jay Bernard to Nadifa Mohamed. There is also an emphasis on showcasing the extraordinary literary achievements of Black women writers from Bristol-based Liz Mytton’s new play Back Home to Namwali Serpell’s debut novel The Old Drift.
If you are in Bristol during the period of the festival and would like to check out some of the hottest writers (seriously we have some really attractive writers nowadays) and their writing then click here to get information and tickets. A majority of the events are free so no excuses.
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