Hosted by the renowned literary activist, writer and playwright Khadijah Ibrahiim, this special event features poets and artists from Yorkshire. We’ll begin with a panel discussion exploring women’s voices, activism and the fight for a fairer world featuring guest poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan.

This is followed by the screening of new short films featuring emerging writers from Studio12 in Leeds that Khadijah recently led mentoring sessions with. The event finishes with a performance from The Sunday Practise – a leading grassroots jam session, with poets, DJs and musicians from Leeds, representing a wide cultural perspective of female poets across the UK.

This is part of a series of events accompanying the exhibition Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights, developed in partnership between the British Library and Leeds Libraries.

Please note this event includes strong language that some may find offensive.

Register here

About the speakers

Khadijah Ibrahiim is a literary activist, published writer and playwright, who combines interdisciplinary art forms to reimagine poetry as performance theatre. Hailed by the BBC as one of Yorkshire’s most prolific poets, Khadijah has performed and produced art programmes in the USA, Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is an educator, writer and poet from West Yorkshire. Her work disrupts and interrupts questions of history, race, knowledge and power – interrogating the political purpose of narratives about Muslims, migrants, gender and violence.

The Sunday Practise is a live music and poetry night in Leeds. Running since 2013, it has grown to be a well-established night of the Leeds spoken word community. Featuring local and international acts, The Sunday Practise encourages artist collaborations and building new relationships. Run by Leeds Young Authors alumni, The Sunday Practise team also offers creative writing workshops to schools, youth groups and young adults.

Studio12 is a digital media initiative run by Leeds Central Library that invests in the creative talents of disadvantaged young people living in Leeds and surrounding areas. Studio12 strives to provide a creative process to educate, engage and include young people in producing new work. It provides free access to a fully equipped production studio with a wide range of industry based equipment and software, along with training, support and an industry panel of creative professionals.

Header Image: Illustration by Tim Marrs