Tag Archives: Anton Nimblett

Fruit and the Labour of love

9 April

I arrived in NY around 1pm ish and headed first to meet my filmmaker friend Zina Saro-Wiwa in Brooklyn, to collect some footage she had shot of myself, Dorothea, Koye Oyedeji at the Harlem bookfair and interviews with us and Anton Nimblett. and just to catch up on London life (which neither of us are really v. interested in anymore) and West Africa (which excites us both a lot more). Africa is really where things are happening for artists and we both want to be in the thick of it- creating for ourselves and giving back where we can. Zina has some great ideas that I hope she can bring into fruition, Inshallah.

I arrived at Medgar Evers College early to meet Kadijatu Jalloh. Out of the blue, I received an email from her, a student at Medgar Evers from Guinea. She and her family had left Sierra Leone because of the war, lived in Guinea for awhilebefore moving to the USA for refuge. She has lived in NY for 13 years, since she was 10 years old.

She said she jumped up and down when I responded to her email – I didn’t tell her I did a (mental) jump up and down when I received hers!

Here’s the email she sent me,

Hello I am a student at Medgar Evers College, I have a issue that I believe is very important to cover at this moment, and I am also interested in any internships that your organization might have available for students during the summer or any other time in the year.

The issue that I would like to help cover is the violence that is talking place back in my home place Guinea Conkary, since our president passed away a few years back, Continue reading →

Good chocolate, good friends

New York (Manhattan) 27 March

The reading at Cornelia Street Café  – it was the last place where I met Jayne Cortez, almost a year ago with Rosamond King, when they asked me to be involved with Yari Yari.

http://www.sablelitmag.org/jayne-cortez-10-may-1936-28-december-2012/

Before arriving at Cornelia St café, I had my first experience of a Manhattan ‘cross-town bus’; something I won’t be doing again! I was on my way to meet Melanie Goodreax at Steve Collin’s house and gallery on the east side, near the Nuyorican Poetry Café – which I’m told, sadly, is not what it used to be. We forgot to ask Steve, about it or maybe we just ran out of time.    Steve is  – what can I say – quintessential new york art scene –– his space is used for anything from poetry readings, artist launches; floor sleeping space for Icelandic hiphop artists… his door is always open so that people can drop in and out . On our way in, Melanie and I met a theatre practitioner friend of Steve’s who shared her Green and blacks chocolate with me  – on our way out  – students from Sarah Lawrence College  and a traveller who’d just published her first novel.

I had heard about A Gathering of the Tribes but never seen it, so was pleased to have the opportunity to see where it is birthed. It’s published once a year; with a new team each issue, then they have a big party to celebrate…  It has made me do some re-thinking around SABLE. It’s good to talk.

Sharing the stage were Marc Jaffee – a founding editor of Box of Jars, an online journal of art and literature started about a year ago, Mukoma wa Ngugi and Libby Hodges, the publisher, herself of the St Petersburg Review. Mukoma and I met several 10 years ago online – we finally got to meet in person – both of us excited – yeah! Even though he had to go straight back to Ithaca the same night so I was SO pleased, that he made such a massive effort to come. It was only that evening I realised he had a collection of poetry published with Africa World Press, Hurling Words at Consciousness.

Maria Snelling now at SLC was there – she was in a class of Ellington High School in DC when I did a session there a few years ago. She’s working with an interesting journal,untapped cities, a web magazine dedicated to art, architecture and design that helps people rediscover their city.

http://untappedcities.com

Friend and fellow writer Anton Nimblett came too, with a couple of friends and flowers!

kadija and mukoma
Mukoma wa Ngugi and Kadija Sesay