Speaking Volumes

Speaking Volumes is a live literature organisation specialising in getting underrepresented voices heard, reaching diverse audiences and finding exciting ways to present the work of writers.

Speaking Volumes is proud to have produced Breaking Ground Ireland – a new resource celebrating 80 writers and illustrators from ethnic minority backgrounds – in association with Cúirt International Festival of Literature and National University of Ireland Galway. Learn more here.

Not Quite Right For Us

To mark our 10th birthday, Speaking Volumes has published an anthology of forty writers whose work challenges the mainstream, responding to the theme ‘Not Quite Right For Us’, with events and a podcast series – find out more here.

Not Quite Right For Us – PODCAST

There is an episode exploring each chapter of Not Quite Right For Us. Listen to all of the podcasts here.

Anthony Joseph: The Frequency of Magic

Over a number of in-person events, Anthony Joseph performs from his novel, The Frequency of Magic, with live improvised jazz, accompanied by some of the UK’s finest musicians.

Find out where you can see him here

Watch the writers who are part of the anthology give a taste of their work and the overall themes of the book.

New and Current Projects

  • Crop of the Breaking New Ground booklet cover

Find out what we are currently working on and what is coming up.

Epic Conversation: Bernardine Evaristo and Roger Robinson

For the final event of the A Portable Paradise Tour, TS Eliot Prize winner Roger Robinson was interviewed by Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo. This Epic Conversation took place at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, with a special invited audience of established and emerging writers, producers and supporters who have been part of Roger’s journey to his book and who he wanted to celebrate with. This is a short extract bt you can watch the full conversation here.

Past Projects

Linton Kwesi Johnson

About Us

Meet the Team

Today we are shining a spotlight on the fabulous Helen Thomas and her wonderful poetry collection entitled, 1562. Within this collection, six black female voices from the C16th and C17th speak from six significant ports of entry into the UK. As Helen explains, “I’ve tried to imagine six female lives – young, old, mothers, lovers – and endeavoured to creatively fill some of the gaps in our official, archival records by voicing these women’s sense of their own past and new present on the British Isles, their despair, their laughter, their anxieties, their sense of sexuality, and their sense of agency and legacy.” We are delighted to be partnering with @literature_works on their #WordSpace online talent development programme for emerging voices in the South West of England. Literature Works seeks to open up poetry and story, creative writing and reading to the benefit of all in that region. Through its Word Space programme, it aims to nurture writing potential and talent, and develop a supportive and connected sense of community amongst new writers and with the established writers who will support them. TODAY is your LAST CHANCE to watch our two very special films that mark the end of our year of celebrations for our Not Quite Right For Us anthology, so watch them NOW while you still can! ⏰ See more details below. TOMORROW is the last day you can watch our two very special films that mark the end of our year of celebrations for our Not Quite Right For Us anthology, so watch them NOW while you still can! See more details below. Olive Senior, the prize-winning Poet Laureate of Jamaica, reads an excerpt from her brilliant ‘I’m quite alright with that’ in our special new film, ‘Not Quite Right For Us – Exploring Non-Fiction’. It was such an honour and a privilege to have Olive included in our anthology and this reading by her is certainly not to be missed! Olive explains why the ‘quite’ in the phrase ‘not quite right for us’ annoys her and speaks of her ‘lifelong impulse to subvert authority, to challenge fake respectability, to shrug off the gatekeepers of personhood, history and story’. Olive offers such a defiant but also positive note for the future, with writers likened to ‘wannabe alchemists’ and ‘sage magicians’ for whom ‘‘not quite right for us’, it is not the end; merely the beginning.’ The fabulous Kerry Hudson confronts the filthy ‘C’ word (CLASS!) in ‘Exactly as I Am’ in our special new film, ‘Not Quite Right For Us – Exploring Non-Fiction.’ Is change moving in the right direction? This is one of the key questions raised by Razia Iqbal in her discussion with Paul Burston, Colin Grant and Catherine Johnson in our new film, ‘Not Quite Right For Us: In Conversation’. Watch their fascinating conversation in full at https://speaking-volumes.org.uk/2022/05/23/on-film When has the world stood still for you? Nick Makoha reflects on such times in his life in an excerpt from his deeply powerful essay, ‘The Days the World Stood Still’ in our special new film, ‘Not Quite Right For Us – Exploring Non-Fiction’. This film also features other acclaimed Not Quite Right For Us authors, including Xiaolu Guo, Kerry Hudson, Nazneen Khan-Østrem, Olive Senior, Jethro Soutar and Byron Vincent. While you still can, don’t forget to watch our new and very special film, ‘Not Quite Right For Us: In Conversation’! Such a fascinating discussion between the acclaimed Not Quite Right For Us authors, Paul Burston, Colin Grant and Catherine Johnson led by Razia Iqbal. The authors offer really valuable advice to new writers too. Watch this film now at https://speaking-volumes.org.uk/2022/05/23/on-film

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