Upcoming Events
Friday 6 March – British Library, London
In these fraught times, it has never been more important to hear the hidden diverse voices around us – particularly those of older black women, whose life experiences are frequently compelling and fascinating.
Join us to celebrate the launch of two powerful new books which showcase these stories via thought-provoking fiction and non-fiction: Yvvette Edwards’ tragi-comic novel, good, good loving, and Challenging Britannia, where creative entrepreneur Joy Francis interviews seven ground-breaking older black women in the arts. They are joined by broadcaster and author Andi Oliver, and our chair for the evening, the writer Bernardine Evaristo.
With music from Dominique Le Gendre and film clips from the Joy Francis interviews with Paulette Randall, Valerie Bloom, Ingrid Pollard, Sharon Watson, Anni Domingo, Verna Wilkins and Dominique Le Gendre.
Past events
Saturday 22 November – Push the Boat Out, Edinburgh
Women Speaking Volumes in Verse
‘Women have always been 50% of the population, but only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history’ (Bettany Hughes, 2016) — with only a tiny percentage being the stories of black and brown women. But women have long been telling the tales of our lives – from the triumphs to the tragedies – through poetry, challenging the stereotypes and politics that try to minimise our existence.
Come and hear noted playwright, poet and director Cheryl Martin, acclaimed poet, artist and filmmaker Raman Mundair and award – winning writer, broadcaster and academic Rommi Smith talk to editor and producer Sharmilla Beezmohun about their activist writing lives and read from their poetry.
22 November 2025 at 14:30-15:30
Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ
Tickets: £0 / £10 / £12
Saturday 18 October – Off the Shelf, Sheffield
The Stories That Women Tell
‘Women have always been 50% of the population, but only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history’ (Bettany Hughes), with only a tiny percentage being the stories of black and brown women. Redressing that invisibility are many older women, putting diverse stories down in some of the most compelling writing around today. Hear the work and thoughts of prize-winning author Jacqueline Crooks, noted playwright, poet and director Cheryl Martin and acclaimed novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, in conversation with Sheffield writer and journalist Désirée Reynolds.
18 October 2025 at 18:00
Millennium Gallery, 48 Arundel Gate, Sheffield S1 2PP
Tickets: £10 / £12
‘Women Speak Volumes in Conversation’ throws the spotlight on the work of pioneering creative older women whose stories need to be told. From now until May, we will present seven ground-breaking women who have forged careers across different art forms and whose stories are an inspiration to all.
Women Speak Volumes: Verna Wilkins in Conversation
On: Wednesday 30 April 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
Despite the appearance of the first Black British publishers in the 1960s, there was only so much they could do to represent the UK’s burgeoning black population. In 1987, Dr Verna Allette Wilkins FRSL decided to join that fight for cultural equality, founding Tamarind Books to redress the balance in publishing for children of colour. It was an act that has led, nearly forty years later, to having inspired generations of young and old alike.
Verna Wilkins was born in Grenada. Her father was a headteacher who was instrumental in introducing Caribbean History to a curriculum dominated by Britain’s past. She said: ‘He told us stories relevant to our lives. Stories from Africa and the Caribbean – stories that included people like us. He worked hard to give his children and his pupils self-worth.’ This experience came back to her when bringing up her own children in London in the 1980s, who couldn’t find any books with black and brown characters. Thus Tamarind Books was born, with Verna penning many of the titles she published. She is the author of thirty picture books and eight biographies. Her books have featured on BBC children’s TV programmes, on National Curriculum reading lists and have been chosen among Children’s Books of the Year. Her many awards include the British Book Industry Decibel Award for Multicultural Publishing (2008), the European Federation of Women Business Owners Award and a Successful Business & Pioneer Windrush Award (2000).
Come and hear about the life and work of this groundbreaking publisher who has made a real difference to children in the UK; during a school visit, a young black girl told her: ‘I always wanted to be an author, but didn’t think I could be one until I met you today!’ Verna will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Valerie Bloom in Conversation
On: Wednesday 14 May 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
Nowadays Caribbean English is often regarded as cool, but that wasn’t always the case. In Jamaica, icon Louise Bennett made Jamaican English popular from the 1950s on through her poems, recordings, radio and TV programmes. Valerie Bloom MBE, rightly seen as Miss Lou’s successor, has brought this rich tradition to UK audiences through her own writing over the last 30+ years, enabling ‘nation language’ – the term coined by the late Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite – to be celebrated as a vibrant and valid form of English.
Valerie Bloom was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, in 1956 and came to the UK in 1979, attending the University of Kent. She is the author of several volumes of poetry for adults and children, picture books, pre-teen and teenage novels and stories for children, and has edited various collections of children’s poetry. She has also written articles for teaching periodicals and for newspapers such as the Guardian and The Independent. Valerie has presented poetry programmes for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and has contributed to various radio and television programmes such as Fine Lines, Woman’s Hour and The Verb. Her poetry has been featured on Poems on the Underground, included in the GCSE and Caribbean exam syllabuses and is in over 600 anthologies worldwide. Valerie’s awards include: Poetry Book Society Choices for Hot Like Fire (2002) and Whoop an’ Shout (2003); Nestle Smarties Bronze Award for Fruits (2000); and the 2022 CLIPPA Award for her poetry book Stars With Flaming Tails. She was awarded an Honorary Master’s Degree from the University of Kent and received an MBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours list. Valerie currently lives in Kent.
Come and hear about the life and work of this pioneering author whose captivating poetry and stories has enabled readers and audiences young and old to enjoy and value Caribbean English. Valerie will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Anni Domingo in Conversation
On: Wednesday 16 April 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
Back in the 1970s, seeing Black British actresses on mainstream TV programmes was a rare thing. So Anni Domingo’s 1977 appearance on the hugely popular action series The Professionals alongside actors Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins was a ground-breaking moment, one of many of this Shakespearean actress over her long career.
Born in London and educated in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Anni returned to the UK to attend college, graduating from Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama. Since then, her extensive acting career includes theatre, film, television and radio plays, from the sci-fi thriller film Outland (1981) to recent appearances on BBC’s EastEnders and in Three Sisters at the National Theatre. As a Shakespearean actor, Anni has toured Europe, the USA and Australia, as well as running workshops on the playwright in schools, youth clubs and theatres. She works regularly as a theatre director and lectures on drama. Turning to writing in later years, an extract from Anni’s novel Breaking the Maafa Chain won the 2018 Myriad Editions First Novel competition and was published in the UK (Jacaranda, 2021), the USA (2022) and in Portuguese translation in Brazil (2024). Her first screenplay Blessed Assurance has just been filmed and will be out later this year. Anni is now working on her second novel Ominira as part of her PhD at King’s College London.
Come and hear about the life and work of this pioneering actress, whose tireless pursuit of excellence has led her to become an award-winning author, and whose teaching has inspired generations of drama students. Anni will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Sharon Watson in Conversation
On: Wednesday 2 April 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
The world of dance can be seen as mysterious and elitist, closed to anyone outside the establishment. But that never deterred Sharon Watson MBE, DL, a trailblazing figure in the world of contemporary dance over three decades whose career also includes a steadfast advocacy for diversity and inclusion in the arts.
Training at the London School of Contemporary Dance in the 1980s, Leeds-born Sharon emerged as one of the first female Principal Dancers at the renowned Phoenix Dance Company. Her tenure with Phoenix Dance Theatre (1989-1997) saw her shine as a performer and choreographer in groundbreaking works such as ‘Never Still’. Sharon became Artistic Director at Phoenix Dance Theatre in 2009, captivating audiences with her choreographic brilliance in pieces including ‘Fast Lane’ and ‘Windrush: Movement of the People’, which resonated deeply worldwide. In May 2020, Sharon became the fourth Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance back in Leeds. As well as being a Trustee of various arts organisations and institutions in the north of England, Sharon became a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of West Yorkshire 2020 and her numerous awards include becoming 2016’s Yorkshire Woman of the Year and being granted an MBE in 2021.
Come and hear about the life and work of this award-winning dancer and choreographer whose tireless advocacy, innovative choreography and visionary leadership continue to shape the future of contemporary dance for both artists and audiences alike. Sharon will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Ingrid Pollard in Conversation
On: Wednesday 19 March 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
‘I do not remember the first time I took a photograph, but I did grow up in a house of family photo albums and the stories that went with them.’ So wrote photographer Dr Ingrid Pollard about her early inspiration. Over fifty years, this groundbreaking multimedia artist has carved out a space in the white, male-dominated world of art, making the invisible visible and revealing ‘what we always knew was there’.
Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Ingridcame to London at a young age. As a teenager she used her father’s camera to take pictures of the river Lea for a school geography project, foregrounding some of her interests seen in later compositions. Trained in printmaking, film and photography, Ingrid’s work centres on community arts, using portraiture and photography and challenging traditional notions of landscape imagery to explore social constructs such as Britishness or racial difference. She was one of twenty founding members of Autograph ABP (the Association of Black Photographers) in 1988. Some of her well-known works include Pastoral Interlude (1987–1988), Seaside Series (1989) and Self Evident (1995), which explore the presence of black people in the English landscape. Ingrid’s work has been widely exhibited, from Tate Britain to the National Art Gallery of Barbados. Among her many awards, she received the Royal Photographic Society Centenary Medal 2024 and the 2024 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, considered the most prestigious in the world, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the art of photography.
Come and hear about the life and work of this visionary artist whose work has opened up art spaces for black and brown women everywhere. Ingrid will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Dominique Le Gendre in Conversation
On: Wednesday 5 March 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
Think of classical music and most of us picture white European men who lived a very long time ago. But just imagine what the presence of black women might do to shake up the staid image of this genre – and what challenges they would have overcome along the way.
Dominique Le Gendre, born in Trinidad and Tobago and living in London since the late 1980s, is a groundbreaking composer who went from playing in church and composing calypsos as a teen to training as a classical guitarist in Paris. Dominque has worked with theatre companies and film collectives and, with her arts charity StrongBack Productions, combines literature and music in innovative projects. Her music commissions read like an international Who’s Who of organisations, from writing pieces for the BBC Radio 3 Proms to Canterbury Cathedral, from the Ensemble Du Monde (USA) to the Coro De Madrigalistas (Mexico). She has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including directors Adjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton at Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2022, she co-wrote the music and lyrics for the Birmingham Rep’s reboot of Mustapha Matura’s play The Playboy of the West Indies, hailed by the Guardian as a ‘bright calypso musical’ with ‘sweet duets’.
Come and hear about the life and work of this pioneering woman who has changed the face of classical music through her Caribbean heritage. Dominique will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
Women Speak Volumes: Paulette Randall in Conversation
On: Wednesday 19 February 2025 from 7.00-8.30pm
At: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT
Most of us remember London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony for its gloriously creative celebration of Britain’s multicultural history, but few know that working alongside acclaimed director and producer Danny Boyle on that event was a pioneering black female Associate Director.
Theatre, film and television director Paulette Randall was born and grew up in south London. Working in Brixton market from an early age inspired her love of theatre through the characters she met and the stories she heard. She attended the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and subsequently set up the Theatre of Black Women with two fellow students, Bernardine Evaristo and Patricia Hilaire, in response to the lack of roles for black actors. Since then, Paulette has continued to break down barriers, from producing iconic TV comedies Desmond’s and The Real McCoy in the 1980s-90s to being the first black female director to bring a production to London’s West End (August Wilson’s play Fences in 2013). As well as a long career in theatre and working on the Olympic opening ceremony, more recent TV work includes directing Coronation Street and Death in Paradise. For her work, Paulette has received an MBE (2015) among her numerous awards.
Come and hear about the life and work of this ground-breaking woman who has opened up the world of directing and producing to generations of younger people through her innovative approach. Paulette will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
These conversations are part of a wider project: Women Speak Volumes Between Generations. Produced in collaboration by Speaking Volumes, Words of Colour and the George Padmore Institute, in association with 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning and the University of Coastal Carolina. This is the first of seven conversations running from 19 February to 14 May which will throw the spotlight on the work of pioneering creative older black women whose stories need to be shared. The Women Speak Volumes project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
