This event is open to Black writers* in Scotland at all levels of experience.
All SBWN events will adhere to our Safer Spaces Policy. You can learn more about our policy here.
“Undo me” – Language, Form and the Potentiality of Unsettling with Olumide Popoola
Tuesday 10th March
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Zoom
In this workshop conversation with Olumide Popoola we look at the potentiality of ‘being undone’, ‘undoing’, and ‘being unsettled’ in our writing as generative and imaginative moments. The invitation is to reframe our writing practice to shift patterns, and the centring of characters and voices in a way that might destabilise dominant narratives.
This workshop conversation is part of Loose Ends: Explorations in Diasporic Writing Craft, a writing and peer-learning series that creates intentional space for Black diasporic writers to come together and think about craft in expansive ways, embracing interwoven storytelling traditions and the layered, in-between experiences of diaspora. When we say “craft,” we don’t mean rigid rules or a checklist of techniques. We’re interested in craft as something alive and evolving – craft as the choices that shape a piece of writing, craft as a verb, craft as a vessel that carries us through time and space, craft as something resourceful and improvised, practice instead of perfection, writing as a tool as much as something to be refined.
If you’re feeling unsure about whether this is for you, that’s completely okay. You don’t need to arrive polished or certain. You’re welcome at any stage, in any form, whether you call yourself a writer or someone who writes sometimes. The aim is simple: to build confidence in the work you’re already making, in the company of others doing the same.
Who it’s for + how to join
These gatherings are by and for Black writers, or Black people interested in writing of any kind. Some sessions are in-person in Glasgow, some are online on Zoom. Feel free to share with anyone who fits this and might want to join.
If you’d like to join or have any questions, email martha.adonai.williams@gmail.com.
*By Black we mean anyone with African heritage or ancestry, including people of mixed heritage.
Access
- Automated captions
- A limited number of bursaries are available for attendees:
- Carer/childcare: £30 per session (counts as income to HMRC)
- Data: £8 per online session
- Request a bursary by completing our form.
- Please share any other access requirements with Martha.
About the facilitators
Martha Adonai Williams is a writer, facilitator, producer, community organiser, black feminist and friend. Her practice departs to and returns from black feminist world-making, always, with regular layovers in front of trash tv or in the garden. Her work considers the wilderness and margins as sites of resistance, refusal and homecoming. She works with writing and storytelling as therapeutic tools and as methods for community building. She curates SBWN’s Metaphors for a Black Future programme.
London-based Olumide Popoola is a Nigerian-German writer. Her publications include a novels, short stories, a play, and poetry. Olumide has a PhD in Creative Writing and is a lecturer in creative writing (poetry) at Greenwich university. Olumide’s critically acclaimed novels When We Speak of Nothing and Like Water Like Sea were published by Cassava Republic Press in 2017 and 2024.
Organisers & Background
This event is organised by Martha Williams & members of the Saturday Morning Writers Group, in collaboration with Scottish BPOC Writers Network. Supported by Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland.
Loose Ends is an evolution of the Metaphors for a Black Future programme. Metaphors has always been about making and protecting space for writers to experiment and take a break from expectations of excellence. The programme has intentionally avoided craft workshops or genre specifics, wanting instead to encourage participants to find their own flow and loosen their idea of what they do and don’t do. While staying true to nourishing writers and supporting creative growth, the 2025-26 edition of Metaphors does a bit of a 180. This year is all about giving ourselves permission to be good, to welcome excellence when it comes.
