Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Stand-out evening from the immense Lyra Fest, showcasing exceptional Ghanaian voices in the world of spoken word. Performances by the multi-award-winning Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, slam champion Alhassan Mohamed, and rising writers Nice Cailie Ineza and Ewurama Nhyira Essel, celebrating West African history, identity and culture."
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A event held at Watershed on Saturday 20th April. The event starts at 20:00.
Date: Saturday 20th April
Venue: Watershed (W3)
Time: 20:00 - 21:15pm
Tickets: £5
BSL Interpreted ✔
Live Streamed + Captioned ✔ (please note: only the live stream will be captioned, not the in-person performance)
Back Stories of the Afro Wind
An evening of performances from poets all the way from Ghana! Including multiple award-winning poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo. A collaboration with Ashesi University (Ghana), supported by Bath Spa University (UK).
It all lies in the past, but what makes us who we are? What contributes to our present and is transforming our future? Get a glimpse of what it is like to be African, as our talented poets immerse you in their culture, life, and history, and a reimagining of the future through the lens of technology, creativity, and uniqueness. With a taste of West and East African we want you to see our world as we do. AKWABA
Featuring poetry from headliner and acclaimed Ghanian poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, as well as some of the finest up and coming voices in poetry and spoken word from Ashesi University Ghana including Alhassan Mohammed, Nice Cailie Ineza and Ewurama Nhyira Essel. Hosted and presented by Dr. Millicent Adjei of Ashesi University, with an introduction from John Strachan of Bath Spa University.
In collaboration with Bath Spa University, who have funded this cultural exchange with Ashesi University in Ghana.
This event will be BSL interpreted.
The event is also available to watch via live stream. Please book a ‘Live Stream Ticket’ at checkout.
Gabriel Awuah Mainoo is a Ghanaian writer; poet, editor & lyricist raised by his father in soccer and racket-sport disciplines. He won the 2021 Africa Haiku Prize, the 2022 Singapore Poetry Prize, the 2022 Samira Bawumia Literature prize (poetry), the 40 Under Forty Awards for Authorship & Creative writing, special prize winner of the Soka Matsubara international haiku contest, LFP/ RML/ Library of Africa and the African Diaspora chapbook prize. Prize winner in the 2022 Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Contest & the 6th Ghana Association Writers Literary Awards for his book ‘’Lyrical Textiles, Illuminated Press, USA). Mainoo is a Recipient of the 2022 West Africa Writers Residency, the 2023 Transatlantic relatives Residency, a 2024 International Writers W0rkshop writer-in-residence at Hong Kong Baptist University & a forthcoming writer-in-residence at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Gabriel is the Author of ‘‘Travellers Gather Dust and Lust’’, (Mwanaka Media and Publishing, Zimbabwe), ‘‘We are Moulting Birds’’, (Light Factory Publication, Canada), ‘‘Chicken Wings at the Altar’’, ‘‘60 Aces of Haiku’’, ‘‘Lyrical Textiles’’ (Illuminated Press, US) & ‘‘Sea Ballet’’, forthcoming. He edits poetry for Goat Shed Press, UK & the Journal of African Youth Literature. Mainoo’s writing has appeared in The London Reader, FIYAH, Prairie Fire, EVENT, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Woodward Review, the other side of hope, Best New African Poets Anthologies (2018, 2019, 2020), Old Love Skin, Black Bamboo & others. Mainoo is a tennis professional in the morning, a student in the afternoon, and a writer in the evening. He’s represented by Chandler Crawford, USA.
Dr. Millicent Adjei is an interculturalist, an international educator, and in the business of developing human connections. She is the founder of Kuumba Intercultural Leadership and Educational Training, which focuses on helping people engage in intercultural learning experiences in a way that helps them identify and live in stronger alignment with their own personal values and beliefs while working effectively, appropriately, creatively, and authentically with people who hold different values and beliefs. She is devoted to the field of higher education administration and has served in various leadership roles over the past twenty years. She has for the past ten years to date served as the founding associate director and now director of the Office of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi University where she provides strategic leadership to the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion and internationalization efforts. She also doubles as an Adjunct faculty at the Humanities and Social Sciences department at Ashesi where she teaches a third-year university-required course in Leadership as Service. Millicent holds a BSc. in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, a master’s in organizational leadership, Policy, and Development, and a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Development Education, both from the University of Minnesota.
Alhassan Mohammed is a poet, slammer, and a spoken word artist. Being a performance poet, Alhassan has written and performed several poems on stage, including cultural, political, economic, educational, and musical concerts across Ghana. He was a finalist at the National Grand Poetry Slam in Ghana for the Africa Cup and World Poetry Championship Competition and was nominated as the Writer of The Year in 2023, at the Ghana Excellence Awards. He has won several awards including the Samira Bawumia literature prize and the Best Writer Award at the annual Creative Festival organized in Ashesi, Ghana. His pieces are often centered around themes of Pan-Africanism, love, Social Activism (climate change, mental health, social injustice). He uses his poetry to entertain, educate and call people to action.
Nice Cailie Ineza is a writer and former prize-winning comedian from Burundi, exploring the creative world through various mediums, from songs to poems. Her journey in writing began in 2014, and she started performing her work on national stages in 2018. Her achievements include performing at her country's Independence Day and being published in OSUN Global Commons. She has also curated TEDx events and serves as a writing tutor at her university. Currently, she's pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science and occasionally writes short stories for different organizations.
Ewurama Nhyira Essel is a young writer and poet weaving dreams through ink and verse. Born in 2004, her love for storytelling blossomed. From heartfelt poetry to enchanting tales, Ewurama paints emotions with words. Across genres, her work resonates widely, inviting readers and listeners into a captivating world where every woven mystery tells a story worth remembering. She is the author of the highly praised ‘Black queen Sceptre’, an intriguing novel.
Bath Spa University teaches and researches across art, sciences, education, social science, and business. The University employs outstanding creative professionals who support its aim to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise.
Filters:
Live Event
Online/Streamed
Captioned
BSL Interpreted
Part of #LyraFest
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Venue: Watershed (W3)
Time: 20:00 - 21:15pm
Tickets: £5
BSL Interpreted ✔
Live Streamed + Captioned ✔ (please note: only the live stream will be captioned, not the in-person performance)
Back Stories of the Afro Wind
An evening of performances from poets all the way from Ghana! Including multiple award-winning poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo. A collaboration with Ashesi University (Ghana), supported by Bath Spa University (UK).
It all lies in the past, but what makes us who we are? What contributes to our present and is transforming our future? Get a glimpse of what it is like to be African, as our talented poets immerse you in their culture, life, and history, and a reimagining of the future through the lens of technology, creativity, and uniqueness. With a taste of West and East African we want you to see our world as we do. AKWABA
Featuring poetry from headliner and acclaimed Ghanian poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, as well as some of the finest up and coming voices in poetry and spoken word from Ashesi University Ghana including Alhassan Mohammed, Nice Cailie Ineza and Ewurama Nhyira Essel. Hosted and presented by Dr. Millicent Adjei of Ashesi University, with an introduction from John Strachan of Bath Spa University.
In collaboration with Bath Spa University, who have funded this cultural exchange with Ashesi University in Ghana.
This event will be BSL interpreted.
The event is also available to watch via live stream. Please book a ‘Live Stream Ticket’ at checkout.
Gabriel Awuah Mainoo is a Ghanaian writer; poet, editor & lyricist raised by his father in soccer and racket-sport disciplines. He won the 2021 Africa Haiku Prize, the 2022 Singapore Poetry Prize, the 2022 Samira Bawumia Literature prize (poetry), the 40 Under Forty Awards for Authorship & Creative writing, special prize winner of the Soka Matsubara international haiku contest, LFP/ RML/ Library of Africa and the African Diaspora chapbook prize. Prize winner in the 2022 Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Contest & the 6th Ghana Association Writers Literary Awards for his book ‘’Lyrical Textiles, Illuminated Press, USA). Mainoo is a Recipient of the 2022 West Africa Writers Residency, the 2023 Transatlantic relatives Residency, a 2024 International Writers W0rkshop writer-in-residence at Hong Kong Baptist University & a forthcoming writer-in-residence at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Gabriel is the Author of ‘‘Travellers Gather Dust and Lust’’, (Mwanaka Media and Publishing, Zimbabwe), ‘‘We are Moulting Birds’’, (Light Factory Publication, Canada), ‘‘Chicken Wings at the Altar’’, ‘‘60 Aces of Haiku’’, ‘‘Lyrical Textiles’’ (Illuminated Press, US) & ‘‘Sea Ballet’’, forthcoming. He edits poetry for Goat Shed Press, UK & the Journal of African Youth Literature. Mainoo’s writing has appeared in The London Reader, FIYAH, Prairie Fire, EVENT, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Woodward Review, the other side of hope, Best New African Poets Anthologies (2018, 2019, 2020), Old Love Skin, Black Bamboo & others. Mainoo is a tennis professional in the morning, a student in the afternoon, and a writer in the evening. He’s represented by Chandler Crawford, USA.
Dr. Millicent Adjei is an interculturalist, an international educator, and in the business of developing human connections. She is the founder of Kuumba Intercultural Leadership and Educational Training, which focuses on helping people engage in intercultural learning experiences in a way that helps them identify and live in stronger alignment with their own personal values and beliefs while working effectively, appropriately, creatively, and authentically with people who hold different values and beliefs. She is devoted to the field of higher education administration and has served in various leadership roles over the past twenty years. She has for the past ten years to date served as the founding associate director and now director of the Office of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi University where she provides strategic leadership to the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion and internationalization efforts. She also doubles as an Adjunct faculty at the Humanities and Social Sciences department at Ashesi where she teaches a third-year university-required course in Leadership as Service. Millicent holds a BSc. in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, a master’s in organizational leadership, Policy, and Development, and a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Development Education, both from the University of Minnesota.
Alhassan Mohammed is a poet, slammer, and a spoken word artist. Being a performance poet, Alhassan has written and performed several poems on stage, including cultural, political, economic, educational, and musical concerts across Ghana. He was a finalist at the National Grand Poetry Slam in Ghana for the Africa Cup and World Poetry Championship Competition and was nominated as the Writer of The Year in 2023, at the Ghana Excellence Awards. He has won several awards including the Samira Bawumia literature prize and the Best Writer Award at the annual Creative Festival organized in Ashesi, Ghana. His pieces are often centered around themes of Pan-Africanism, love, Social Activism (climate change, mental health, social injustice). He uses his poetry to entertain, educate and call people to action.
Nice Cailie Ineza is a writer and former prize-winning comedian from Burundi, exploring the creative world through various mediums, from songs to poems. Her journey in writing began in 2014, and she started performing her work on national stages in 2018. Her achievements include performing at her country's Independence Day and being published in OSUN Global Commons. She has also curated TEDx events and serves as a writing tutor at her university. Currently, she's pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science and occasionally writes short stories for different organizations.
Ewurama Nhyira Essel is a young writer and poet weaving dreams through ink and verse. Born in 2004, her love for storytelling blossomed. From heartfelt poetry to enchanting tales, Ewurama paints emotions with words. Across genres, her work resonates widely, inviting readers and listeners into a captivating world where every woven mystery tells a story worth remembering. She is the author of the highly praised ‘Black queen Sceptre’, an intriguing novel.
Bath Spa University teaches and researches across art, sciences, education, social science, and business. The University employs outstanding creative professionals who support its aim to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise.
Filters:
Live Event
Online/Streamed
Captioned
BSL Interpreted
Part of #LyraFest
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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