[Video] The Poetry of Forced Migration - Malka al-Haddad and Loraine Masiya Mponela: In Conversation

[Ambrose Musiyiwa]

Poets and City of Sanctuary ambassadors, Malka al-Haddad and Loraine Masiya Mponela read and discuss each other's and their own work and share insights and reflections on the influences they draw on in their writing and activism. 

Malka and Loraine were speaking at 'The Poetry of Forced Migration', a conversation that was held on Thursday, 28 March 2024 as part of Forced Migration and The Arts, an international network that brings together refugee and non-refugee artists, academics, activists and art spaces for conversation exploring work the people are doing at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet.

The video from the conversation is accessible here. 

ABOUT THE POETS 

Malka Al Haddad, the author of The Truth at the End of the Night (Palewell Press Ltd, 2023) and Birds Without Sky: Poems from exile (Harriman House Ltd, 2018). Malka grew up during the Iran-Iraq war and lost several close family members during the first Gulf War and American invasion in 2003. She became a poet and a human rights advocate, which attracted hostility towards her in Iraq. While she was studying English in preparation for her PhD in the UK, death threats against her escalated and she couldn't return back to her beloved home and family. Malka's asylum claim was continually refused by the Home Office and after 11 years, she was eventually granted leave to remain, but without access to public funding. She is now an ambassador for City of Sanctuary in the UK. Malka's pain and anger on behalf of all those caught up in the UK asylum system give her poetry a passionate strength and urgency. 

Loraine Masiya Mponela, a migrants rights campaigner, community organiser, City of Sanctuary ambassador, and the author of Now I Sing: 50 poems to celebrate 50 years (Independently published, 2024) and I Was Not Born a Sad Poet (Independently published, 2022). Loraine was born and raised in Malawi, and currently lives in England, UK. A writer of poetry, comedy and articles, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and magazines. 

NOTES

The next Forced Migration and The Arts forum/indaba is taking place on Thursday, 30 May 2024 in three sessions, namely:

● 2.00pm - 3.30pm (UK Time): Session 1: Arts-based methods, Storytelling, Visual Arts, and Digital Activism, with Charly Morris (UK), Augustine Murenzi (Kenya), and Cecilia G. Salinas (Norway);

● 4.00pm - 5.30pm: Session 2: Playback Theatre, Children's Books, and Accents in Performance, with Alisa (Ukraine), Sade Fadipe (UK), and Ana Pfeiffer Quiroz (Canada);

● 6pm - 7.30pm: Session 3: The Poetry of Forced Migration - In conversation series, with Camilla Reeves, Founder and Senior Editor, Palewell Press Ltd. (The second editor or publisher who will be speaking in the session will be announced closer to the event.)  

Art forms the speakers will be drawing on include theatre, visual arts, children's books, storytelling, and poetry publishing. Attendance and participation are free and open to all. 

To attend, please register here.

With regards,

Ambrose

 

Ambrose Musiyiwa | Facilitator, CivicLeicester & Forced Migration and The Arts | Coordinator, Leicester Human Rights Arts and Film Festival & Journeys in Translation

(Ed.) [New Book] Welcome to Britain: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2023); Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2020)