During Black History Month, we launch Scottish Black Writers Group, facilitated by writer Dean Atta in association with Scottish PEN.
Scottish Black Writers Group is a new, free writers group facilitated by our Co-Director Dean Atta and in association with Scottish PEN. It is a monthly meetup open to writers across the UK and Ireland who are Black/from the African diaspora, including people of mixed heritage.
Scottish Black Writers Group is a space to meet, chat, network and talk about the writing life – writers both published and unpublished are welcome to join us.
Book now on Eventbrite
You may sign up for one, several or all writers group events.
Scottish Black Writers Group Calendar
Third Thursday of the month, 7-9 pm
- Thu 18th March with Patrice Lawrence
- Thu 15th April with Nick Makoha
- Thu 20th May with Dorothy Koomson
- Thu 17th June with Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
In the past, we have been joined by guest speakers such as Eric Ngalle Charles, Leila Aboulela and Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Alex Wheatle and Nandi Jola
Please be mindful when booking. The Scottish Black Writers Group is for writers based across the UK and Ireland who are Black/from the African diaspora, including people of mixed heritage.
Scottish Black Writers Group with Alex Wheatle
Date: Thu 21st Jan 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In January we’ll be joined by Alex Wheatle. Born in London to Jamaican parents on the 3rd January, 1963 , Alex spent most of his childhood in social services care. A huge fan of reggae, in his mid-teens Alex was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system where he wrote lyrics for performances in community halls, youth clubs and blues dances in South London. His first novel, Brixton Rock, was published to critical acclaim by BlackAmber Books in 1999. Alex has won the London Arts Board Writers Prize in 2000 and has made multiple books published subsequently, including East of Acre Lane, The Seven Sisters/Home Boys, Island Songs , Checkers, co-written with Mark Parham in 2006 and The Dirty South. Alex was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008 . Alex’s first young adult novel, Liccle Bit was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2015. Crongton Knights, the follow-up novel to Liccle Bit won the Guardian’s Children’s fiction award for 2016 and the Renaissance Quiz Writers’ Choice Award. Brenton Brown, the sequel to Brixton Rock, was published by Arcadia in 2011 . Alex wrote and performed his own one man show, Uprising in 2011. Shame & Scandal, Alex’s debut play, played to sold out audiences at the Albany Theatre, Deptford in October, 2015. Alex’s latest work, Cane Warriors was published in October, 2020.
Scottish Black Writers Group with Nandi Jola
Date: Thu 18th Feb 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In February we’ll be joined by Nandi Jola. Nandi Jola is a South African-born poet, facilitator, writer, artist and storyteller. She came to Northern Ireland in 2001 and has since worked extensively in the arts. Nandi is a cultural ambassador and works in schools throughout Northern Ireland delivering cultural awareness workshops. In 2018 she co-founded She-Wolf Theatre Collective, following a sold-out performance of “The Vagina Monologues”, giving a platform for female writers and performers and speaking up about issues women face today. Nandi’s one-woman verse performance, “The Journey”, was selected for International Literature Festival Dublin in October 2020. Also in 2020, she facilitated the “SAME/Difference” creative writing and photography project, leading to this online exhibition: https://quotidian.ie/projects/same-difference/
Scottish Black Writers Group with Patrice Lawrence
Date: Thu 18th March 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In March we’ll be joined by Patrice Lawrence. Patrice Lawrence is an award-winning writer for children, teenagers and adults. Her books include Orangeboy, (shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and winner of the Bookseller YA Prize and Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction), Indigo Donut (winner of Bristol Crimefest YA Prize), Rose, Interrupted and Eight Pieces of Silva (Winner of Woman and Home Teen YA). Her adult short stories have been published in anthologies by Peepal Tree Press and Hamish Hamilton. She is a 2021 Costa Book Awards judge.
Scottish Black Writers Group with Nick Makoha
Date: Thu 15th April 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In April we’ll be joined by Nick Makoha. The Founder of Obsidian Nick Makoha is a Ugandan poet and playwright and based in London. His debut Kingdom of Gravity was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize and nominated by The Guardian as one of the best books of 2017. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and Complete Works Alumni. He won the 2015 Brunel prize and 2016 Derricotte & Eady Prize for his pamphlet Resurrection Man. He was the 2019 Writer-in-Residence for The Wordsworth Trust and Wasafiri. His play The Dark was directed by JMK award-winner Roy Alexander and shortlisted for the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award. He has been involved in TV marketing campaigns for Voices Nationwide: Celebrating Fatherhood and the Gillette, Being A Man digital campaign for The Southbank Centre. His poems appeared in The New York Times, Poetry Review, Rialto, Poetry London, Triquarterly Review, Boston Review, Callaloo, and Wasafiri.
Scottish Black Writers Group with Dorothy Koomson
Date: Thu 20th May 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In May we’ll be joined by Dorothy Koomson. Dorothy Koomson is an award-winning, global bestselling author whose novels have sold over two million copies in the UK alone. The author of powerful, thought-provoking and compelling ‘emotional thrillers’ where moral dilemmas are central and where the complex emotions of family and friendships are explored, Dorothy is also an Honorary Fellow of Leeds Trinity University and was awarded the prestigious IMAGE Award at the Black British Business Awards in 2019 in recognition of her achievements. Now the biggest selling Black author of adult fiction, Dorothy continues to use her platform to support new writers and recently launched The Happy Author podcast. She was also featured on the 2021 Powerlist, as one of the most influential Black people in Britain and recently appeared in GQ Style as a Black British trailblazer. Dorothy’s seventeenth novel, I Know What You’ve Done, is published by Headline in July 2021.
Scottish Black Writers Group with Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Date: Thu 17th June 2021
Time: 7-9pm
Facilitator: Dean Atta
A peer support and social space facilitated by Glasgow-based author Dean Atta for Scottish Black writers and Black writers based in Scotland to meet and discuss with Black writers from across the UK and Ireland, with a guest speaker each month courtesy of Scottish PEN.
In March we’ll be joined by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, 22, is a writer from South London who has dreamt of writing books about Black kids saving (or destroying) the world all her life. Her debut novel ACE OF SPADES is an unputdownable thriller that delves deep into the heart of institutionalized racism. Billed as ‘Get Out meets Gossip Girl with a shocking twist’, gal-dem has called it ‘one of 2021’s biggest books’. The novel was acquired by Usborne Publishing in 2018 and then pre-empted by Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group US in 2020. ACE OF SPADES will publish simultaneously in the UK and US in June 2021.
Faridah established and runs a mentorship scheme for unagented writers of colour, helping them on their journey to get published. She has also written for NME, The Bookseller, Reader’s Digest and gal-dem, and currently studies English Literature at a university in the Scottish Highlands.
Access
- All events are free.
- All events are suitable for people 18+ years.
- Events are hosted online using Zoom (instructions will be sent 2 days before each event or can be accessed via the Eventbrite Online Event page).
- To participate you will need an internet/wi-fi connection and a desktop or mobile device to join by audio and/or video.
- BSL interpretation/captioning/audio description provided on request during registration.
- Events over 2 hours long will have a comfort break in the middle. You may mute your mic/switch off video or take a break at any time.
- Please add any access requirements to the registration form.
- All SBWN events will adhere to our safer spaces policy. You can learn more about our policy here.
