Death, Murder and Black Magic: Catherine Neilan talks to cover artist Leah Gordon about her work. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Sumaila Umaisha talks to the author of Half of a Yellow Sun. Innua Ellams, artist and poet, talks to a hobo about Diane Abbot, gay suicide and our theme. Introducing Simon Munnery’s new column exclusive to Trespass. Web Trawl: We talk to Persian rapper Reveal about his incendiary lyrics. Sexuality Feature: Sabyn Javeri-Jilliani’s story Behind the Veil, based on a true account of sex beneath the abaye. Exiled Writers: A look at the work of Mahmood Jamal and Shereen Pandit. Photo Story: The Strumpet’s Progress, starring poets Dzifa Benson and Jacob Sam-La Rose. An extract from Sonali Bhattacharyya’s story Falling Over in the Dark. With art from El Anatsui, Mohamed Omer Bushara and Jorge Dias, and poetry by Anthony Joseph, Louise Hercules, Yen Li, Anjan Saha, Nick Makoha, Georgina Banfield and many more . . .
Fiction and Theatre
‘The Stall’ by Shereen Pandit
‘Behind the Veil’ by Sabyn Javeri-Jilliani
An extract from ‘Falling Over in the Dark’ – a play by Sonali Bhattacharyya
Poetry
‘All Dressed Up’ by Kehryse Vanessa Johnson
‘A Girl Combs her Hair’ by Yen Li
‘Incident’ by Jenny Mitchell
‘The Regal’ by Anthony Joseph
‘On being buck naked/ Time and You’ by Georgina Banfield
‘Bottom Power’ by Dzifa Benson
‘Fair Play’ by Rikki Weir
‘Song for a Spent 100W Bulb’ by Jacob Sam-La Rose
‘A widow’s lament in guava season’ by Anthony Joseph
‘I was adopted by my grandmother’ by Norsana Sondiyazi
‘The Mulatto Murder Lily’s Son (1948)’ by Nicolette Bethel
‘The Summit’ by Louise Hercules
‘Open Mic Night’ by Anjan Saha
‘Secret of the Sun’ by Konye Obaji Ori
‘Kumbh Mela in India’ by Kathy Conde
‘Coal’ by Nicholas Makoha
‘Frayed Edges’ by Katrice Williams
Features
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks to Sumaila Umaisha
‘Ron’ by Inua Ellams
‘Writing in Exile’ by Alexis Hercules
‘Land of Mist’ by Philip Gardiner
‘Death, Murder and Black Magic’ by Catherine Neilan
Reveal talks to Niki Seth-Smith
‘The Darwin Delusion’ by Simon Munnery
‘The Lion’s Den of Somali Women’ by Niki Seth-Smith
Art and Photography
Inua Ellams and Sara Shamsavari
Peter Ainsworth
‘A Strumpet’s Progress’ by Hugh O’Malley
Mohamed Omer Bushara
El Anatsui
Jorge Dias
Michael Wilce
Gillian Vaux
Ana Aceves
Leah Gordon
Selections from ‘Angaza Afrika: African Art Now’ by Chris Spring
Music
Bishi
Cover
‘Ti Esklav Yo’ by Leah Gordon, 2000
Phil Neal is co-founder and proprietor of Theobroma Cacao, a vibrant chocolaterie. Philip has had a distinguished career as head Pattisier in some of the UK's leading five star establishments. www.theobroma-cacao.co.uk
Konye Obaji Ori is a Nigerian international student at the University of Indianapolis. He is a student poet, fiction writer, and playwright. He hopes to help change the political scene in Africa through his literary voice.
Gillian Vaux has an MA Photography at LCC from which she graduated in 2007..
Nicolette Bethel is a playwright, a poet, a fiction writer and an anthropologist, and her work has been published in a variety of places, including The Caribbean Writer, Calabash, The Oxford and Cambridge May Anthologies 1993, II, The Avatar Review (forthcoming).
Jenny Mitchell’s poetry and short stories have been published in several anthologies and her travel articles have been published in the Guardian, the Observer and Pride Magazine. Her play, English Rose, was broadcast on Radio 4.
Kathy Conde is Associate Editor for Bombay Gin, Naropa University's literary magazine. She earned an MFA from Naropa in Writing and Poetics. Her work has appeared in Calapooya, Orbis, Poetry East, CutThroat, and other literary journals.
Sumaila Isah Umaisha is the literary editor of New Nigerian Newspapers, Kaduna, Nigeria. He won the 2004 and 2007 editions of the Literary Journalist of the Year Award (awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors).
Kehryse Vanessa Johnson is a 26 year old freelance writer. She is currently writing her first novel.
Dzifa Benson is a writer and performer whose work has been featured in the Guardian, the Evening Standard and the Bush Theatre. In 2008 she took part in Translations; exploring how African mythologies travel the world before returning home.
Anthony Joseph is a Trinidadian born poet, novelist, lecturer and musician. His publications include Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1997) and The African Origins of UFOs (Salt, 2006). In 2004 he was chosen by renaissance one and the Arts Council as one of 50 black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. www.anthonyjoseph.co.uk
Anjan Saha is the director of London Literature Lounge. He runs events at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden and other venues. He has written and performed three critically acclaimed shows; Mathematics of Rain, Tales from the Cooking Pot and most recently with his band Lost Luggage- the Art of Travelling Lightly. E: thisisanjan@googlemail.com / 07973 709 315
Georgina Banfield has featured in poetry nights and festivals in London, Bristol, Scotland and Ireland. Her poetry has been published in magazines and journals.
Sabyn Javeri – Jillani’s fiction has been published in World Audience, Wasafiri and The London Magazine. Her short story was the title story of the anthology, ‘And the World Changed’ (published by Women Unlimited and reprinted by Oxford University Press and the Feminist Press, NY) and again in the Harper Collins anthology, ‘Neither Night nor Day.’
Katrice Williams has done international projects in Guizhou, China, Baragwaneth hospital (Johannesburg), South Africa and coordinated Women's Rights and Empowerment workshops in Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia with FORGE in 2007.
Fred Johnston has had eight collections of poems, three novels and a collection of stories published. Fred is the founder of Galway city's annual literature festival, Cúirt in 1986, and is now the director of The Western Writers' Centre, Galway. His most recent collection of poems is 'The Oracle Room,' published by Cinnamon Poetry (UK).
Nicholas Makoha is a poet and educationalist of Ugandan origin. He has performed internationally and around the UK including the Royal Festival Hall, Green Room and the Ideas Foundation. In early 2005 his chapbook The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man was published by Mouthmark press.
Yen Li is from Vancouver, B.C. Her time is taken up with Mah Jong, poetry, wing chun and punk rock. Her book Chinese Rocks is out on Farrago.
Louise Hercules’s poetry has been published in: Pride Magazine (Nov 2005), Brown Eyes: A Selection of Creative Expressions by Black & Mixed Raced Women (2005), Forward Press’: Celebrations – 15 Years of The Peoples Poetry (2005), Chroma: A Queer Literary Journal (2006), Forward Press’: A Bedtime Stories for Everyday of the Year (2006), Sexual Attraction Revealed: A Selection of Creative Expression by Black & Mixed Raced Women (2007), London Miscellany (2007).
Mohamed Omer Bushara was born in Omdurman, Sudan, in 1946. During much of his life in Sudan he worked under autocratic militaristic regimes, and was forced into exile in Saudi Arabia and then in the UK.
El Anatsui’s work was shown at the 1990 and the 2007 Venice Biennale; since then he has held numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including at the October Gallery, London in 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2005. Public collections: the British Museum, London; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; the Pompidou Centre, Paris, and the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf.
Jorge Dias was born in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1972. He is currently Curator of the National Museum of Art in Maputo. Dias’s solo exhibitions include: ‘Systems and Connections’ at the Galeria Campus Avançado in Niterói, Brazil (2002), ‘Zoologia dos tropicos’ (‘Zoology of the Tropics’) at the Lago cultural centre in Portugal (2005) and has participated in group shows in Mozambique, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Angola.
Phillip Gardner: www.gardinersworld.com.
Simon Munnery is part of the original Comedy Zone line-up at Edinburgh, with Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr and Chris and George. Simon created Alan Parker-Urban Warrior (who) starred on ITV's Saturday Live and appeared in his own BBC2 show London Shouting. Simon enjoyed a sell-out run as Alan Parker at The Adelaide Comedy Festival. The series won the Sony Gold Award for Radio Comedy. Simon was nominated for Best Television Newcomer for London Shouting (BBC2) at The 1996 British Comedy Awards.
Inua Ellams is a poet, a writer, teacher and performer. He was the 2005 Farrago New Year Poetry Slam Champion and also London Slam Central's first Poetry Slam Champion, and on national poetry day 2007 was featured on the Times Online as writer.
Catherine Neilan is a journalist and aspiring writer who lives and works in London. She is the news editor of two publications, and writes freelance articles for a number of papers when she can.
Alia Bano teaches English at the College of North East London. She is a poet and writer.
Sonali Bhattacharyya's radio plays, It’s Coming Home, India-lite and Two Men in the Fog, have all been broadcast on Radio Four. Her stage play A Thin Red Line, co-commissioned by the Birmingham Rep, Kali Theatre Company, and Black Country Touring, toured venues in Birmingham, the Black Country and London, in 2007.
Jacob Sam-La Rose. Poet, Artistic Director of the London Teenage Poetry SLAM and Editor-in-Chief of Metaroar.com, Jacob Sam-La Rose’s pamphlet ‘Communion’ was selected as the PBS pamphlet choice for Autumn 2006. His poetry has been anthologised in ‘A Storm Between Fingers’, ‘Automatic Lighthouse’, ‘Poetry For Lebanon’, ‘Velocity: The Best of Apples & Snakes’, and other publications.
Michael Wilce has worked in professional photography since 1989. He is a freelancer, working for major international photographers, agencies and magazines. View Michael’s work at www.profotos.com/pros/index.cfm?member=155
Yuki Saito’s wigs have been used in theatre productions, operas, window displays (including a special Christmas window display for Selfridges London), on the catwalk (at London Fashion Week) and for corporate events (most recently at a Creative Industries event held at Coutts bank London). You can contact Yuki at mail@yukiness.com, www.yukiness.com
Melanie Palmer graduated and taught at Central St Martins. She had a fashion show at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and has recently had pieces in Italian Vogue Gioiello. Melanie is a specialised fashion/textile designer & Felt Maker. See her work at www.melaniepalmerlondon.com, Email: melaniepalmer1@hotmail.com Mob: 07950 354 796
Stephen McGowan. Recent work includes shoots for Teen Vogue, VMan, New York magazine, Glamour (US), Men's Vogue and on the S/S 07, Pepe Campaign. He has worked on collections for Dai Rees, Ghost and Robert Carey-Williams. He styled the video shoot for 'Immortal' – a song by Noah Francis feat. The Wu Tang Clan, as well as designing costumes for Anaphylaxis, an arthouse movie directed by Ayman Farahat. He can be contacted at afterbefore@btinternet.com, M: 07771 605 878
Hugh O'Malley is a London-based photographer, known for his work in fashion. His work has been featured on BBC3, Tatler, Cosmo, Grazia and OK! Currently, Hugh is working on a number of projects while running his busy studio in Hackney. Hugh can be reached at hugh@somaphotos.com.
Caco Kinoshita is a make-up artist living in London. cacokinoshita@hotmail.co.jp
Fiction and Theatre
‘The Stall’ by Shereen Pandit
‘Behind the Veil’ by Sabyn Javeri-Jilliani
An extract from ‘Falling Over in the Dark’ – a play by Sonali Bhattacharyya
Poetry
‘All Dressed Up’ by Kehryse Vanessa Johnson
‘A Girl Combs her Hair’ by Yen Li
‘Incident’ by Jenny Mitchell
‘The Regal’ by Anthony Joseph
‘On being buck naked/ Time and You’ by Georgina Banfield
‘Bottom Power’ by Dzifa Benson
‘Fair Play’ by Rikki Weir
‘Song for a Spent 100W Bulb’ by Jacob Sam-La Rose
‘A widow’s lament in guava season’ by Anthony Joseph
‘I was adopted by my grandmother’ by Norsana Sondiyazi
‘The Mulatto Murder Lily’s Son (1948)’ by Nicolette Bethel
‘The Summit’ by Louise Hercules
‘Open Mic Night’ by Anjan Saha
‘Secret of the Sun’ by Konye Obaji Ori
‘Kumbh Mela in India’ by Kathy Conde
‘Coal’ by Nicholas Makoha
‘Frayed Edges’ by Katrice Williams
Features
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks to Sumaila Umaisha
‘Ron’ by Inua Ellams
‘Writing in Exile’ by Alexis Hercules
‘Land of Mist’ by Philip Gardiner
‘Death, Murder and Black Magic’ by Catherine Neilan
Reveal talks to Niki Seth-Smith
‘The Darwin Delusion’ by Simon Munnery
‘The Lion’s Den of Somali Women’ by Niki Seth-Smith
Art and Photography
Inua Ellams and Sara Shamsavari
Peter Ainsworth
‘A Strumpet’s Progress’ by Hugh O’Malley
Mohamed Omer Bushara
El Anatsui
Jorge Dias
Michael Wilce
Gillian Vaux
Ana Aceves
Leah Gordon
Selections from ‘Angaza Afrika: African Art Now’ by Chris Spring
Music
Bishi
Cover
‘Ti Esklav Yo’ by Leah Gordon, 2000
Phil Neal is co-founder and proprietor of Theobroma Cacao, a vibrant chocolaterie. Philip has had a distinguished career as head Pattisier in some of the UK's leading five star establishments. www.theobroma-cacao.co.uk
Konye Obaji Ori is a Nigerian international student at the University of Indianapolis. He is a student poet, fiction writer, and playwright. He hopes to help change the political scene in Africa through his literary voice.
Gillian Vaux has an MA Photography at LCC from which she graduated in 2007..
Nicolette Bethel is a playwright, a poet, a fiction writer and an anthropologist, and her work has been published in a variety of places, including The Caribbean Writer, Calabash, The Oxford and Cambridge May Anthologies 1993, II, The Avatar Review (forthcoming).
Jenny Mitchell’s poetry and short stories have been published in several anthologies and her travel articles have been published in the Guardian, the Observer and Pride Magazine. Her play, English Rose, was broadcast on Radio 4.
Kathy Conde is Associate Editor for Bombay Gin, Naropa University's literary magazine. She earned an MFA from Naropa in Writing and Poetics. Her work has appeared in Calapooya, Orbis, Poetry East, CutThroat, and other literary journals.
Sumaila Isah Umaisha is the literary editor of New Nigerian Newspapers, Kaduna, Nigeria. He won the 2004 and 2007 editions of the Literary Journalist of the Year Award (awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors).
Kehryse Vanessa Johnson is a 26 year old freelance writer. She is currently writing her first novel.
Dzifa Benson is a writer and performer whose work has been featured in the Guardian, the Evening Standard and the Bush Theatre. In 2008 she took part in Translations; exploring how African mythologies travel the world before returning home.
Anthony Joseph is a Trinidadian born poet, novelist, lecturer and musician. His publications include Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1997) and The African Origins of UFOs (Salt, 2006). In 2004 he was chosen by renaissance one and the Arts Council as one of 50 black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. www.anthonyjoseph.co.uk
Anjan Saha is the director of London Literature Lounge. He runs events at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden and other venues. He has written and performed three critically acclaimed shows; Mathematics of Rain, Tales from the Cooking Pot and most recently with his band Lost Luggage- the Art of Travelling Lightly. E: thisisanjan@googlemail.com / 07973 709 315
Georgina Banfield has featured in poetry nights and festivals in London, Bristol, Scotland and Ireland. Her poetry has been published in magazines and journals.
Sabyn Javeri – Jillani’s fiction has been published in World Audience, Wasafiri and The London Magazine. Her short story was the title story of the anthology, ‘And the World Changed’ (published by Women Unlimited and reprinted by Oxford University Press and the Feminist Press, NY) and again in the Harper Collins anthology, ‘Neither Night nor Day.’
Katrice Williams has done international projects in Guizhou, China, Baragwaneth hospital (Johannesburg), South Africa and coordinated Women's Rights and Empowerment workshops in Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia with FORGE in 2007.
Fred Johnston has had eight collections of poems, three novels and a collection of stories published. Fred is the founder of Galway city's annual literature festival, Cúirt in 1986, and is now the director of The Western Writers' Centre, Galway. His most recent collection of poems is 'The Oracle Room,' published by Cinnamon Poetry (UK).
Nicholas Makoha is a poet and educationalist of Ugandan origin. He has performed internationally and around the UK including the Royal Festival Hall, Green Room and the Ideas Foundation. In early 2005 his chapbook The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man was published by Mouthmark press.
Yen Li is from Vancouver, B.C. Her time is taken up with Mah Jong, poetry, wing chun and punk rock. Her book Chinese Rocks is out on Farrago.
Louise Hercules’s poetry has been published in: Pride Magazine (Nov 2005), Brown Eyes: A Selection of Creative Expressions by Black & Mixed Raced Women (2005), Forward Press’: Celebrations – 15 Years of The Peoples Poetry (2005), Chroma: A Queer Literary Journal (2006), Forward Press’: A Bedtime Stories for Everyday of the Year (2006), Sexual Attraction Revealed: A Selection of Creative Expression by Black & Mixed Raced Women (2007), London Miscellany (2007).
Mohamed Omer Bushara was born in Omdurman, Sudan, in 1946. During much of his life in Sudan he worked under autocratic militaristic regimes, and was forced into exile in Saudi Arabia and then in the UK.
El Anatsui’s work was shown at the 1990 and the 2007 Venice Biennale; since then he has held numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including at the October Gallery, London in 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2005. Public collections: the British Museum, London; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; the Pompidou Centre, Paris, and the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf.
Jorge Dias was born in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1972. He is currently Curator of the National Museum of Art in Maputo. Dias’s solo exhibitions include: ‘Systems and Connections’ at the Galeria Campus Avançado in Niterói, Brazil (2002), ‘Zoologia dos tropicos’ (‘Zoology of the Tropics’) at the Lago cultural centre in Portugal (2005) and has participated in group shows in Mozambique, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Angola.
Phillip Gardner: www.gardinersworld.com.
Simon Munnery is part of the original Comedy Zone line-up at Edinburgh, with Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr and Chris and George. Simon created Alan Parker-Urban Warrior (who) starred on ITV's Saturday Live and appeared in his own BBC2 show London Shouting. Simon enjoyed a sell-out run as Alan Parker at The Adelaide Comedy Festival. The series won the Sony Gold Award for Radio Comedy. Simon was nominated for Best Television Newcomer for London Shouting (BBC2) at The 1996 British Comedy Awards.
Inua Ellams is a poet, a writer, teacher and performer. He was the 2005 Farrago New Year Poetry Slam Champion and also London Slam Central's first Poetry Slam Champion, and on national poetry day 2007 was featured on the Times Online as writer.
Catherine Neilan is a journalist and aspiring writer who lives and works in London. She is the news editor of two publications, and writes freelance articles for a number of papers when she can.
Alia Bano teaches English at the College of North East London. She is a poet and writer.
Sonali Bhattacharyya's radio plays, It’s Coming Home, India-lite and Two Men in the Fog, have all been broadcast on Radio Four. Her stage play A Thin Red Line, co-commissioned by the Birmingham Rep, Kali Theatre Company, and Black Country Touring, toured venues in Birmingham, the Black Country and London, in 2007.
Jacob Sam-La Rose. Poet, Artistic Director of the London Teenage Poetry SLAM and Editor-in-Chief of Metaroar.com, Jacob Sam-La Rose’s pamphlet ‘Communion’ was selected as the PBS pamphlet choice for Autumn 2006. His poetry has been anthologised in ‘A Storm Between Fingers’, ‘Automatic Lighthouse’, ‘Poetry For Lebanon’, ‘Velocity: The Best of Apples & Snakes’, and other publications.
Michael Wilce has worked in professional photography since 1989. He is a freelancer, working for major international photographers, agencies and magazines. View Michael’s work at www.profotos.com/pros/index.cfm?member=155
Yuki Saito’s wigs have been used in theatre productions, operas, window displays (including a special Christmas window display for Selfridges London), on the catwalk (at London Fashion Week) and for corporate events (most recently at a Creative Industries event held at Coutts bank London). You can contact Yuki at mail@yukiness.com, www.yukiness.com
Melanie Palmer graduated and taught at Central St Martins. She had a fashion show at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and has recently had pieces in Italian Vogue Gioiello. Melanie is a specialised fashion/textile designer & Felt Maker. See her work at www.melaniepalmerlondon.com, Email: melaniepalmer1@hotmail.com Mob: 07950 354 796
Stephen McGowan. Recent work includes shoots for Teen Vogue, VMan, New York magazine, Glamour (US), Men's Vogue and on the S/S 07, Pepe Campaign. He has worked on collections for Dai Rees, Ghost and Robert Carey-Williams. He styled the video shoot for 'Immortal' – a song by Noah Francis feat. The Wu Tang Clan, as well as designing costumes for Anaphylaxis, an arthouse movie directed by Ayman Farahat. He can be contacted at afterbefore@btinternet.com, M: 07771 605 878
Hugh O'Malley is a London-based photographer, known for his work in fashion. His work has been featured on BBC3, Tatler, Cosmo, Grazia and OK! Currently, Hugh is working on a number of projects while running his busy studio in Hackney. Hugh can be reached at hugh@somaphotos.com.
Caco Kinoshita is a make-up artist living in London. cacokinoshita@hotmail.co.jp