An Invitation — From Here To There: Online Book Launch & Celebration — Wed., 10 Dec. 2025, 6-7.30pm (UK time)

[Ambrose Musiyiwa]

Greetings,

To celebrate the publication of From Here To There: 101 Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (CivicLeicester, 2025; ISBN: 1068221038), the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series is hosting an online book launch, from 6pm till 7.30pm (UK time), on Wednesday, 10 December 2025.

The event is free and open to all.

10 December is Human Rights Day and is observed around the world to mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948.

REGISTRATION

To attend, please register here.

STRUCTURE

As part of the launch and celebration, featured poets from here to there will read and discuss their work, followed by a Q&A session and discussion with all present on the poems and the anthology, and on topics that include free movement and African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility.

The poets reading and sharing their thoughts and reflections are: 

• Jim Aitken, "Ncuti Looks Back" (From Here To There, p 3)     
• Antje Bothin, "Nighttime" (p 13)
• Zainab M. Hassan (Co-host), "A Dreadful Day" (p 22); "Breath of Identity" (p 24)
• Zan V. Johns, "Covered by Prayer" (p 28)   
• Samuel Julius Kargbo, "Victim of Tribalism" (p 31); "Ramshackle Boats" (p 33)
• Anton Krueger, "you’re always going" (p 35)
• Karuna Mistry, "The Isthmus That Splits Us" (p 48); "Perspectives (Home from Home)" (p 49)
• Ambrose Musiyiwa, "st georges walks into a pub" (p 61); "There Will Always Be One More Thing" (p 62)   
• Francis Muzofa (Co-host), "Old/Lonely/Homeless" (p 72); "Serengeti Gazelles" (p 73)
• Omobola Osamor (Editor; Co-host), "Tomorrow on today’s plate" (p 102); "You Threw Yourself Away" (p 103); "A Refugee’s Prayer" (p 104), and 
• Elly Ray, "The Search" (p 106); "Homeland Strays" (p 107).

Edited by Nandi Jola (South Africa / Northern Ireland) and Omobola Osamor (Nigeria / USA), the collection features contributions from writers who include: Yemi Atanda, Zainab M. Hassan, Ugwuja Emmanuel Ifeanyichukwu, Zan V. Johns, Anton Krueger, Octavia McBride-Ahebee, Jenny Mitchell, Tanure Ojaide, Dike Okoro, SuAndi, Furaha Youngblood, and more.

The title, From Here To There, comes from a poem by Thulani Mahlangu, one of 63 voices in the anthology.

The 101 poems explore personal, familial and community experiences around African and African diasporic migration and (im)mobility, Blackness, Africanness, African diasporism, and more.

RECORDINGS

The session will be recorded and the recordings, in whole or in part, will be made publicly accessible through the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series video playlist.

The recordings will also be made publicly accessible through social media and through the website we are building around the poetry anthology series.

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 / International Organisation for Migration, 2024).  

Because we would like to keep the conversation going until the African and African diasporic migrant is treated with dignity and respect on the continent and around the world — and because everyday is Africa Day — we remain open 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 (we are still accepting submissions on the topic), and on 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.

So far, we have released two collections: 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: 101 Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (CivicLeicester, 2025), edited by Nandi Jola (South Africa / Northern Ireland) and Omobola Osamor (Nigeria / USA). 

More are on the way.

Our concept note is accessible here.

To cover some of the costs associated with the work, we have a crowdfunding appeal.

Any support you can lend us in spreading the word about these and about books in the series will be appreciated.

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)