Writers of Colour Writing Group is a 10-month programme co-curated by Hannah Lavery and Marjorie Lotfi, hosted by the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, for Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland.
We hope to have a cohort of writers join us for all sessions – please sign up for all writing workshops if you can.
Registration opens Monday 20th June at 9pm.
Calendar of events
All writing workshops are on the last Friday of the month, from 12-1pm (excluding August and December)
Friday June 24th, 12-1pm
Friday July 29th, 12-1pm
Aug 26th, 12:15pm Edinburgh International Book Festival
Friday Sep 30th, 12-1pm
Friday Oct 28th, 12-1pm
Friday Nov 25th, 12-1pm
December in-person hybrid reading celebration date TBC (Marjorie and Hannah co-hosting)
Friday Jan 27th 2023, 12-1pm
Friday Feb 24th, 12-1pm
Spring 2023: Audio Anthology launch (you may be required to attend at least 3 writing workshops to submit to this anthology)
Please find more details and access info below.
Co-Curated by Hannah Lavery and Marjorie Lotfi
Each writing workshop will be led by Hannah Lavery or Marjorie Lotfi, with writing prompts and a safe space for exploring and developing your writing practice.
The Writers of Colour Writing Group has prodduced two audio anthologies and we aim to produced another ‘Mixtape’ on work created during this programme.
We also hope to visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August and host an in-person hybrid reading/celebration in December.
Hannah Lavery is an award-winning poet, playwright, performer, experienced workshop facilitator and Edinburgh Makar. Her poetry has been published widely and her poem, Scotland, you’re no mine, was selected by Roseanne Watt as one of the Best Scottish Poems 2019. The Drift, her autobiographical play, toured Scotland as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Season 2019. In 2020, she was selected as one of the Scottish Voices for BBC Writers’ Room, and received a Creative Edinburgh Award in 2020 for her work with the Writers of Colour group and with Fringe of Colour. Her highly acclaimed play Lament for Sheku Bayoh was directed by Hannah in a co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival. Hannah is one of Imaginate’s Accelerator Artists and an Associate Artist with the National Theatre of Scotland. Hannah’s debut collection Blood, Salt, Spring was published in March 2022 by Polygon.
Marjorie Lotfi is an award-winning poet, seasoned performer and facilitator of creative writing, and the Development Director of Open Book. Her poems have been included in Best Scottish Poems, won competitions and been performed live across Scotland and on BBC Radio 4/Radio Scotland. They have also been widely published, including in Being Human and journals such as The Rialto, Gutter, Rattle, Ambit and Magma, and have been commissioned for a number of anthologies. She is a winner of the inaugural James Berry Prize, and her first collection is forthcoming with Bloodaxe Books in 2023. Refuge, poems about her childhood in revolutionary Iran, is published by Tapsalteerie.
@marjorielotfi on both Twitter and Instagram | marjorielotfi.com
Access
- Tickets are free or Pay What You Can.
- 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, a desktop or mobile device to join by audio and/or video and writing materials/device.
- You may mute your mic/switch off video or take a break at any time.
- All SBWN events will adhere to our Safer Spaces Policy.
- Automatic live captions and transcripts are provided via Otter.ai. Please add your access requirements during registration (for example BSL/in-person captioner) and we’ll do our best to provide.
- For participants on low incomes, we have some bursaries for data (£7) and caregiver/childcare (£30) for online events; plus travel (within Scotland) for in-person events.
Questions? Email scottishbpocwriters@gmail.com.
