Black History Month @The London Library R.A.P Party (In-person)
Rescheduled from 28th October
Poet Inua Ellams brings his exhilarating live literature phenomenon the R.A.P. (Rhythm and Poetry) Party to The London Library for a nostalgic, no-clutter, no-fuss, evening of hip-hop-inspired poems and favourite hip-hop songs.Ten poets + a DJ = the best night out you’ll ever have in a library – or anywhere, for that matter.
Joining Inua will be: Anjola Adedayo, Gabriel Akamo, Dzifa Benson, Courtney Conrad, Peter de Graft-Johnson AKA The Repeat Beat Poet, Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson, Hibaq Osman, Nii Ayikwei Parkes,Kareem Parkins-Brown and DJ Lily Fileen.
'A truly fluid literary event not just mingling poetry and music together seamlessly, but also bringing different tribes of poets: ages, races, gender, styles together. You will be moved in your heart and in your head.’— Roger Robinson
Inua Ellams is a Nigerian-born, UK-based poet, playwright and performer who has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the BBC. His latest play was an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters set in Nigeria, staged at the National Theatre. The Actual his fifth poetry release, and first full collection was published in 2020 by Penned in the Margins.
Anjola Adedayo is a poet and writer based in London. Her interactive poetry experience ‘MOOD’ takes the audience on a journey through the elusive feelings, unnamed hurts and the potentially present healing of daily life. MOOD has gathered an intimate community of deep feelers at sold-out shows virtually and in Lagos, London and Berlin. She can be found at anjolaa.com and @anj_ade on Instagram & Twitter.
Gabriel Akamo is a Nigerian-British poet, actor, facilitator, and creative producer, who draws on his background in both theatre and philosophy in his work. He is an alumnus of the Barbican Young Poets and the National Youth Theatre, and a former Roundhouse Resident Artist. His debut pamphlet, At the Speed of Dark, was published in 2020 by Bad Betty Press, and he will appear in Before Them, We, the forthcoming anthology by flipped eye.
Dzifa Benson is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work intersects science, art, language, the body and ritual. She abridged and adapted Othello for the National Youth Theatre’s REP company in 2021 and is currently working on her debut poetry collection and a commissioned play. She is a Ledbury Poetry Critic, reviews theatre for the Telegraph, fiction and non-fiction for the Financial Times and is a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow.
Courtney Conrad is a Jamaican poet who explores the intersectionality of religion, sexuality and migration. She is a member of The London Library Emerging Writers Programme, the Barbican Young Poets Programme and Malika's Poetry Kitchen. She is the 2021 Bridport Prize Young Writers Award recipient, 2020 shortlistee of The White Review Poet's Prize and longlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women Poets’ Prize. Her poems have appeared in multiple publications.
Peter deGraft-Johnson is The Repeat Beat Poet, a hip hop artist and broadcaster. He is the creator of the spoken word radio show #TheRepeatBeatBroadcast and his poetry has been published by Magma Poetry and Bad Betty Press and his debut single This That was released in 2020. His debut pamphlet A Testament To Life And Death will be published in February 2022 by Verve Poetry Press.
Lateisha Davine Lovelace-Hanson (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist and tranformative justice practitioner: writer, performer, theatre maker, embodiment practitioner, curator, community organiser and facilitator of Jamaican heritage. Recently artist-in-residence at Arts Admin’s ‘Apocalypse Reading Room’ at Toynbee Studios, she is also the creator of TO THE RITUAL KNOWLEDGE OF REMEMBERING, an artist community-lead project space exploring decolonial relationships to our bodies, memory and the land.
Hibaq Osman is a London based Somali artist and poet. Her debut pamphlet was A Silence You Can Carry. In 2017 and 2019 she released two online pamphlets in PDF form, the heart is a smashed bulb and CARVINGS. Her first full poetry collection where the memory was was published by Jacaranda Books as a part of their #Twentyin2020 initiative. She is a proud member of Octavia Poetry Collection.
Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian-British children's author, poet, broadcaster and novelist. He has won multiple awards including the ACRAG prize, and the Prix Baudelaire and Prix Laure Bataillon for his novel Tail of the Blue Bird. He is the founder of flipped eye publishing and was chair of judges for the 2020 Commonwealth Prize. His poetry collections are The Makings of You (2010) and The Geez (2020).
Kareem Parkins-Brown is a poet and visual artist from Grahame Park, North West London. Part of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen and a proud Barbican Poets alumnus. Kareem has been shortlisted for a bunch of things. @kalm.tree
N.B. This event will take place in-person at The London Library in alignment with up-to-date government COVID recommendations. Please see our Event Access and COVID Guidelines before you arrive. Doors (and the bar) open at 7.10pm for a 7.30pm start.
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