International Migrants' Day — Poetry and Conversation From Here To There — Online, Thurs, 18 Dec. 2025, 6-7.30pm UK time

[Ambrose Musiyiwa]

Greetings,

Join us for poetry and conversation on African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility.

The online gathering is free and open to all and takes place online, from 6pm till 7.30pm (UK time) on Thursday, 18 December, International Migrants' Day 2025.

REGISTRATION

To attend, book your ticket here.

ABOUT THE READINGS AND CONVERSATION

Co-hosted by Omobola Osamor, Dike Nwosu and Thyolo Musyoka, the gathering will feature contributions from poets M. Chambers, Zita Holbourne, Rene` Level, Sante Matteo, Fauziyatu ‘Fauzi’ Moro, Thyolo Musyoka, Dike Nwosu, Omobola Osamor, James Sentiba, and Palmwine Sounds. 

The poets will be reading and discussing poems in From Here To There: 101 Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (CivicLeicester, 2025) and the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series.

There will also be a Q&A session and conversation with all present.

International Migrants Day is observed annually on December 18 to recognize the significant contributions of migrants to societies worldwide, highlight the challenges they face, and advocate for their fundamental human rights and safer migration pathways.

ABOUT THE SERIES

The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series is volunteer-led, and is organised by Forced Migration and The Arts in association with CivicLeicester and the migrants' rights collective, Regularise.

The series was inspired by the Africa Migration Report: 2nd Edition (African Union and International Organisation for Migration, 2024).

The series has open calls for poems (40 lines or less) and short prose (100 words or less) exploring: 

• African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility, 
• how African and Asian refugees are drowning in the English Channel, and 
• Edward Nkoloso, Afronauts and the 1960s Zambian Space Programme.

We take the African diaspora to include all people of African descent in all the ways they define themselves, e.g. African, African American, Afro Asian, Afro Brazilian, African-Caribbean, Afro Italian, Afro Latino, Afropean, Black British, Black, etc.

As part of the series, we have released two poetry collections so far, Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (CivicLeicester, 2024), edited by Munya R and I (both, Zimbabwe / UK), and From Here To There (CivicLeicester, 2025), edited by Nandi Jola (South Africa / Northern Ireland) and Omobola Osamor (Nigeria / USA).

RECORDINGS

The readings and conversation will be recorded and made publicly accessible, in whole or in part, through the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series video playlist, and through social media and the website we are building around the poetry anthology series.

Kind regards, 

Ambrose Musiyiwa

Coordinator, Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series

Ambrose Musiyiwa | Coordinator, Journeys in Translation (Journal Article; Video Playlist), and The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series (Concept Note; Call for Submissions; Funding Appeal; Video Playlist) | (Ed.) [New Book] Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (CivicLeicester, 2024. Co-edited with Munya R from the migrants' rights collective, Regularise); Welcome to Britain: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (CivicLeicester, 2023); Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (CivicLeicester, 2020)