In conversation

Talking about her writing life in Aberdeen

Penguin has published a new classic edition of Return to my Native Land, the Martinique-born poet Aimé Césaire’s tale of exile and homecoming​​. Recently, Jason Allen-Paisant joined Colin Grant at the London Review of Books bookshop to discuss Césaire's life and work.

A new documentary paints a fascinating portrait of the pioneering singer and author Pauline Black who, with the band The Selecter, was central in the late 1970s to the rise of 2-tone music and the revival of Ska. The film was released earlier this year and she talked with Gabriel Gbadamosi about her career and bearing witness to historical and contemporary British racial politics.

The author, screenwriter and founder of Storymix, Jasmine Richards, talks with Gabriel Gbadamosi about why she felt driven to start a studio dedicated to centring children and teens of colour in stories filled with joy and adventure. (photo by Hannah Pye)

Talking about writing for soap operas and the wider television industry.

The poet and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni has died. Her Penguin Modern Classics collection, published earlier this year, marked the culmination of an extraordinary career. In February, Giovanni talked with Colin Grant, about her poetry, her beautiful life and desire to go to Mars.

The names of the six writers who will take part in the 2025 WritersMosaic retreat have been announced. Clementine E Burnley and Amanda Vilanova from the inaugural retreat recall a magical experience and offer advice for the next cohort of writers.

Irenosen Okojie talks to Gabriel Gbadamosi about the alchemy of writing in the early hours and the power of stories to heal. She discusses challenging the stigma of mental ill health in literature and pouring love into Afrofuturism through her project, Black to the Future.

‘The spoken word poem takes the shape of its context, from performance to performance, each night is different and you feel different each time you read aloud.’

‘I wrote on a boat in the middle of the Thames, an experience of being held in the water, neither north nor south. I’m always attempting a fusion of opposites, of multiplicities, trying to write music with words.’

Marjorie Lotfi reflects on her journey towards becoming a writer, from fleeing Iran as a child in 1978 to arriving in Scotland via the USA.

Inbetweenness, physicality and emotionality expressed in poetry