This Sh*t Is For Us: Part 2

In August, Fringe of Colour hosted two live round-table conversations as part of a series titled This Sh*t Is For Us. These talks featured creators and participants of community-oriented spaces that have radical approaches to expression, care and solidarity at their core. Both events were recorded and have BSL interpretation.

This is the second part of that conversation, featuring Hannah Lavery, Florence Kyohangirwe, Campbell X and Tomiwa Folorunso.

Hannah Lavery is a short story writer, poet and playwright. Her pamphlet of short fiction, Rocket Girls, was published by Postbox Press (Oct 2018) and her poetry pamphlet, Finding Seaglass: Poems from The Drift was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press (May 2019). The Drift, her autobiographical play, was produced by the National Theatre of Scotland for a nationwide tour in 2019.

Her most recent play, The Lament for Sheku Bayoh, was commissioned by the Royal Lyceum Theatre for the Edinburgh International Festival 2019. She was awarded a New Playwright Award from Playwrights Studio Scotland and was named as one on BBC Writers Room Scottish Voices of 2020. She was recently selected as one of Owen Sheer’s ten writers asking questions that will shape our future for the International Literature showcase, a project from the National Writing Centre and the British Council.

Florence Kyohangirwe is a freelance journalist, feminist and activist based in Kampala, Uganda. She is the co-founder of www.theeascene.com (EA Scene) an arts, activism and culture platform for East Africa and founder of A Queer Bookclub, a LBQ bookclub. Florence has been tirelessly involved in gender equality and queer advocacy, furthering causes of social justice through her position as a catalyst for the creative sector of Uganda.

Campbell X is a transgender writer/director who directed the award-winning queer urban romantic comedy feature film STUD LIFE. Stud Life was voted by the Guardian as one of the top 10 Black British feature films ever made. It was also in Vogue magazine as one of the best films to watch in 2020. Stud Life was also selected by the British Film Institute as one of the top 8 queer films to view while we were all on lockdown.

Campbell was one of the writers at the Royal Court for My White Best Friend theatre series in 2020. In 2015 Campbell was voted as in the top 50 LGBTIQ people in the UK by the Independent on Sunday Pink List.

Campbell is the Co-founder with Neelu Bhuman of Wahala Film Fund, a completion fund for short films by and about QTIPOC people.

Tomiwa Folorunso is a writer and producer based in Edinburgh. She has written for the Herald, tiata fahodzi, Black Ballad and is a contributor in Monstrous Regiment’s upcoming anthology, So Hormonal. Tomiwa is the creator and producer of the podcast, Sunday Rituals and recently presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary: The Art of Now: Black and Creative in Scotland. She is the sub-editor on the Fringe of Colour Responses project - a writing platform for responding to online performances.

Fringe of Colour's new online arts festival Fringe of Colour Films launched on 1st August 2020 and hosted over 50 films made by Black and Brown people/People of Colour throughout the month.

The platform streamed work exclusively commissioned by Fringe of Colour, as well as co-commissions with partnering organisations, and films that had been submitted to the festival by independent artists and performers (including work by Selina Thompson, Hannah Lavery, Sean Wai Keung, Arinzé Kene and Nish Kumar).

This conversation includes live BSL interpretation and closed captions.

The festival was hosted at fringeofcolour.co.uk.

To request access to the recordings of this event, please email us at fringeofcolour@gmail.com.

This Sh*t Is For Us: Part 1

In August 2020, Fringe of Colour hosted two live round-table conversations as part of a series titled This Sh*t Is For Us. These talks featured creators and participants of community-oriented spaces that have radical approaches to expression, care and solidarity at their core. Both events were recorded and have BSL interpretation.

This is the first part of that conversation, featuring Adebusola Ramsay, Andrés N. Ordorica, Jherane Patmore and Jess Brough.

Adebusola Ramsay is a member of Yon Afro - a collective of Black women and non-binary people based in Scotland focused on centring their experience of blackness through collective activism and collaboration with the purpose to create a sense of belonging. Adebusola is an abstract artist, whose practice has developed as a therapeutic endeavour over the last 20 years.

Andrés N. Ordorica is a queer Latinx writer and educator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of his published work includes We Were Always Here (404 ink), The Colour of Madness (Skiddaw Books), and Gutter Magazine. Additionally, he serves as the Community Development & Events Manager for The Scottish BAME Writers Network.

Jherane Patmore is a Jamaican reader and activist, best known for founding Rebel Women Lit, a three-year-old, queer, feminist and Jamaican literary space. Rebel Women Lit is an open book club with meetings online and across three cities designed to be a space for women, genderqueer, and non-binary people to feel welcome. The book club has recently created an online bookstore, library, podcast and Youtube channel which RWL hopes to use to continue exploring feminist ideas through literature, storytelling and sisterhood.

Jess Brough is the founder of Fringe of Colour, a multi-award-winning promotional platform and support network for Black and Brown people/People of Colour at arts festivals.

Fringe of Colour's new online arts festival Fringe of Colour Films launched on 1st August 2020 and hosted over 50 films made by Black and Brown people/People of Colour throughout the month.

The platform streamed work exclusively commissioned by Fringe of Colour, as well as co-commissions with partnering organisations, and films that had been submitted to the festival by independent artists and performers (including work by Selina Thompson, Hannah Lavery, Sean Wai Keung, Arinzé Kene and Nish Kumar).

This conversation includes live BSL interpretation and closed captions.

The festival was hosted at fringeofcolour.co.uk.

To request access to the recordings of this event, please email us at fringeofcolour@gmail.com.