Readings - March 20 & April 13

Great news! I'll be reading from my novel at two events in the next few weeks - Thursday March 20 2008 at the Poetry Cafe for the African Writers' Evening (a whole 30 minutes!) and Sunday April 13 2008 for the PEN International Literature Festival at the Royal Festival Hall. Please join me - they are both cheap entry £4 and £5 respectively...

Thursday March 20 2008:

For the month of March, the month of Ghana's independence and the most recent national assembly elections in Uganda, we are proud to present the two AWE hosts from last year - Nick Makoha of Uganda and Nii Ayikwei Parkes from Ghana. Under the banner of Old Faces, New Work, Nick will be reading exclusive new material from his forthcoming debut poetry book, which builds on the success of his acclaimed chapbook The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man, while Nii will be reading from his debut novel, Tail of the Blue Bird,which will be released in April 2009 by Jonathan Cape. Nii will introduce Nick Makoha and host the first half and Nick will introduce Nii and host the second half. We hope you'll join us for what promises to be a brilliant evening of poetry and prose.

Author Biographies:

Nick Makoha: Nick Makoha is an hugely gifted poet of Ugandan origin, with an uncommon talent for loaded one-liners. Original poet-in-residence with London's revered performance showcase, Kindred Spirit, Nick (perfoming under the moniker urbanspirit) catapulted himself to legendary status by disappearing off the poetry scene for two years. He re-emerged in early 2005 with The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man and is now working on a new collection to be released in 2008 by flipped eye publishing.

Nii Ayikwei Parkes: Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian writer of poetry, prose and articles who has published three poetry chapbooks: eyes of a boy, lips of a man (1999); M is for Madrigal (2004), a selection of seven jazz poems; and shorter (2005). His is also a contributing editor to The Liberal, and runs the African Writers' Evening series at the Poetry Cafe, in Covent Garden, London. Nii's poem, Tin Roof, was selected for the 'Poems on the Underground' initiative in 2007 and his debut novel, Tail of the Blue Bird, will be released in April 2009 by Jonathan Cape.

Sunday 13 April 2008:

International Futures in association with Pen International Magazine Mohamed Magani, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Selma Dabbagh & friends

Sunday 13 April 6pm
Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre

International Futures gets right to the heart of International PEN's work, celebrating the great writers you know and the great writers you don't. Compère and contributor Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanian novelist and performance poet; Mohamed Magani, an Algerian novelist and short story writer, is applauded as one of Maghrebi literature's most prominent voices; and Palestinian Selma Dabbagh was shortlisted for the David Wong Short Story Prize. They will share the platform with Maria Francesca LoDico and Niki Aguirre.

Tickets: £5