Metaphors For A Black Future Gathering
This year, Metaphors For A Black Future will be an in-person, day event at the CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.
We will be joined by award-winning author Irenosen Okojie, who will lead us in a speculative writing workshop. You will also have the opportunity to be inducted into CCA’s Publication Studio, a book printing and binding resource, which following your induction, you will gain access to for future use. There will be an opportunity for you to share works-in-progress created during the workshop (if you would like to), followed by a delicious meal to finish the day.
This gathering aims to give us space and time to meet and connect with other Black writers/artists/creatives based in Scotland. If you don’t consider yourself a writer but enjoy writing, this space is also for you. It will be a day of creation, creative play/experimentation, care and relationships.
For more information on who is involved and the Publication Studio, please see below.
Workshop
Prize winning writer and judge Irenosen Okojie leads this workshop exploring metaphysical speculative works to spark creative responses. In this interactive session, there will be exercises, sharings and feedback. There is something for writers at all stages, whether you’re new to writing, already working on a project or keen to pick up after a break, permission is given to play beyond the limits of imagination.
Please note, to attend, you must be:
- Based or living in Scotland
- Black/from the African and/or Caribbean diaspora (including mixed heritage)
- a writer or interested in being a writer, or have a creative writing practice
Tickets are free/donation and include:
- induction to the Publication Studio (optional)
- a speculative writing workshop with Irenosen Okojie
- beverages, light refreshments, snacks and one meal (dinner)
- space and time to meet and connect with Black writers/artists/creatives based in Scotland
Time 11am to 7pm to be confirmed:
- 11am – 1pm: inductions to the Publication Studio (optional)
- 1pm – 6pm: writing workshop, plenty breaks and space to relax, recharge and/or mingle, sharing
- 6pm – 7pm: dinner
Please make sure you read any emails we send you so you are aware of the confirmed times for this event.
Covid precautions
- We require everyone to take a lateral flow test within 24 hours of the event starting. (We can reimburse the cost of your test. Please see the Access section below.)
- The room will be ventilated including open windows (please bring layers)
- We may ask everyone to wear masks if requested by a participant
Access
Before participating in this event, please note the following:
- Free tickets (up to 25 tickets)
- Quiet area provided
- CCA Access and Visitor information – includes accessible and gender neutral toilets, lift access, Contact Scotland BSL (enquiries), hearing loop, noise cancelling headphones, sensory materials.
- CCA Virtual Tour (we will be in the Clubroom)
- BSL translators on request
- Travel bursaries within Scotland
- Childcare/carer bursaries (typically up to £60 per day)
- Covid lateral flow test cost reimbursed (up to £9)
- Accommodation if needed, e.g. travelling long distances/over 3 hours or a disability requirement
Please state your access requirements on the booking form
This event will not be hybrid/digital. The majority of our programme year-round is digital, including our monthly Black Writers Group.
Questions? Email scottishbpocwriters@gmail.com
Metaphors For A Black Future - People
Writing Workshop Facilitator
Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language, and ideas. Her novel Butterfly Fish, short story collections Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch have won and been shortlisted for multiple awards. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Observer, The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, she won the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for her story, Grace Jones. She is the co-presenter of the BBC’s Turn Up For The Books podcast alongside Simon Savidge and Bastille frontman, Dan Smith. She has been a judge for various prizes including the Dylan Thomas Prize, The Gordon Burn Prize as well as the BBC National Short Story Award. She is a Contributing Editor for The White Review. Her work has been optioned for the screen. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE For Services To Literature.
Metaphors For A Black Future Curator
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 at the allotment. 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. Her recent work has been shown as part of Fringe of Colour films and published in MAP magazine. She runs call&response black feminist writing community, programmes for Glasgow Zine Library and curates SBWN’s annual Metaphors for a Black Future programme.
In partnership with Scottish BPOC Writers Network
Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) is an advocacy group connecting Scottish BPOC writers with the wider literary sector in Scotland, facilitating necessary conversations around inclusive programming, delivering a programme of BPOC-led events and providing an online community for BPOC (Black people, People of Colour) writers based in or from Scotland.
SBWN Contacts: Jeda Pearl Lewis and Titilayo Farukuoye scottishbpocwriters@gmail.com
CCA Publication Studio
Publication Studio at the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow is part of an international network of eleven studios spanning four continents.
Founded in Portland, Oregon in 2009, Publication Studio prints and binds books one at a time on-demand. Creating original work with artists and writers, they attend to the social life of the book. The studio is a laboratory for publication in its fullest sense – not just the production of books, but the production of a public.
CCA launched Publication Studio Glasgow in 2016, with partners My Bookcase, Good Press, A Feral Studio and artist Joanna Peace. It was designed as a publishing enterprise as well as an open source printing facility housed at CCA.
Publication Studio Glasgow facilities include:
- A room with a table to work
- A perfect binder machine (WF Digibind)
- A3 guillotine (Ideal 3905)
- Use of a photocopier printing A4 and A3 in colour and B&W
- Bone folders, stamps, rulers, pen markers and other hardware
