As we take our ease from all the excitement of Hay Festival and stretch out to enjoy a few days of glorious summer weather. The evenings are light, long and balmy, filled with flitting birds and the distant sound of revellers returning home. It’s actually the perfect time to pick up a good book and find an quiet outdoor space in which to enjoy it.
If you lean towards poetry then why not grab a copy of More Fiya : A New Collection of Black British Poetry Editied by Kayo Chingonyi
This important collection includes the work of Kandace Siobhan Walker, who has judged Hay Writers’ Circle Poetry Competition in previous years.
“(This) collection is rich for its array of imagery, lyricism and rhythm which brings to life ancestral homelands throughout the African continent and Caribbean isles while also highlighting what it means to be Black and British in the 21st century … More Fiya serves as a powerful reminder of what is possible when communities are given the opportunity to champion and celebrate themselves outside the confines of homogeneous understanding of poetrics.”
ANDRÉS ORDORICA
It includes work from: Jason Allen-Paisant, Raymond Antrobus, Janette Ayachi, Dean Atta, Malika Booker, Eric Ngalle Charles, Dzifa Benson, Inua Ellams, Samatar Elmi, Khadijah Ibrahiim, Keith Jarrett, Anthony Joseph, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Vanessa Kisuule, Rachel Long, Adam Lowe, Nick Makoha, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Momtaza Mehri, Bridget Minamore, Selina Nwulu, Gboyega Odubanjo, Louisa Adjoa Parker, Roger Robinson, Denise Saul, Kim Squirrell, Warsan Shire, Rommi Smith, Yomi Sode, Degna Stone, Keisha Thompson, Kandace Siobhan Walker, Warda Yassin, Belinda Zhawi
More Fiya: A New Collection of Black British Poetry is available at all good bookshops.
A Poem :
The Moon has seen it all Before
Three
leave the warm cacophonous café
mother, daughter and wakeful months-old baby
wander the Bermondsey street pavements
with pram and shawl
dodging the power scooters, the shrieking spritzer gangs, the man with the paper cup held out
sat on the roadside as darkness falls
we turn into the park and there between
the benches and the tennis courts stands a shocking cherry tree
laden with swinging pom poms of blossoms
still just pink in the gloaming
you lift the crying child out of
the pram’s imprisonment
and holding her high reach above her to
bounce the blossoms
she lurches and grins and laughs
The moon looks on from behind the blooms
two drunks on the bench
look on from behind their cans
two teenage girls stotting by in thigh high skirts look on
at the marvel of a baby wide awake at nine o’clock at night loving her life.
by Ange Grunsell
And finally – just 2 weeks left to enter our Non Fiction competition with £100.00 first prize.
All the details are on our Competitions page and we would be delighted to receive your entry.
THE HAY WRITERS 