Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series — Readings and Conversations — Online, Sat., 16 May 2026 (2pm & 6pm BST)

[Ambrose Musiyiwa]

Join us for the first two readings and conversation sessions focusing on Volume 3 (forthcoming) in the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series. 

The sessions take place online on Saturday, 16 May 2026 at 2pm and 4pm BST (UK time). To attend, register here.

The poets taking part are: (2pm-3.30pm BST) Suchitra Awasthi (India), Craig Dobson (UK), Oluseye Fakinlede (Nigeria / USA), Sante Matteo (Italy / USA), Testimony Odey (Nigeria), Matteo Preabianca (Italy), and (6pm-7.30pm) Giles Dawnay (UK), Kay Mabasa (Zimbabwe), Thompson Mac-King (Ghana), and Shamiso Madeira Fombe (Zimbabwe).

ABOUT VOLUME 3

Edited by Ayo Ayoola-Amale (Nigeria / Ghana) and Sello Huma (South Africa), Volume 3 (title TBC) follows Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration (2024, edited by Munya R and I) and From Here To There (2025, edited by Nandi Jola and Omobola Osamor) and will feature poems from 63 poets based on the continent and in the diaspora.

UPCOMING SESSIONS

As part of the process leading to the publication of Volume 3, we are hosting a series of online readings at which poets contributing to the anthology can read and discuss their work.

The next readings and conversations take place on the following dates:

May 23 (Sessions 4-6) (Registration Link)
2pm-3.30pm;
4pm-5.30pm &
6pm-7.30pm UK Time

May 30 (Sessions 7-9) (Registration Link)
2pm-3.30pm;
4pm-5.30pm &
6pm-7.30pm UK Time

The list of poets taking part in the sessions will be given closer to the events.

RECORDING

The readings and conversations will be recorded and made publicly accessible through the Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series video playlist and through social media and the website we are building around the 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 and International Organisation for Migration, 2024) and 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 being left to drown in the English Channel, and
• Edward Nkoloso, Afronauts and the 1960s Zambian Space Programme.

The series is currently not in receipt of funding from any source.

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

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

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

BOOK REVIEW

Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure's review of From Here To There published in Exiled Ink Magazine, Issue 9, 2026 (p.26) might also be of interest.

Kind regards,

Ambrose Musiyiwa
Coordinator, Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series 

Ambrose Musiyiwa | Coordinator, Forced Migration and The Arts (Blog), Journeys in Translation (Journal Article; Video Playlist), and The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series (Concept Note; Call for Submissions; Video Playlist; Funding Appeal) | (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)