EGA School Visit

On 30th November, as part of research for my new collection of poems and personal essays, I visited my old secondary school, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Language School for Girls http://www.egaschool.co.uk/ formerly called Starcross.

I was given the opportunity of a 50-minute session with Year 9 students, aged 13, during their English lesson, courtesy of English teacher, Teresa Osubonsu. I began by discussing my school life experiences with the students, particularly the stark difference in opportunities that I was challenged with when I moved, at the age of 13, to Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. I went on to discuss my past and current writing projects.

The visit was a great experience with lots of student participation. One bright spark asked me whether I would be paying a visit to do research on the secondary school I attended in Wellingborough, so as to compare both schools, which I had thought about but was hesitant, wondering what it would achieve. However, I now think it would be of interest just to have a fair and up-to-date perspective on both schools.

To show my appreciation for this opportunity, I donated a copy of my recent anthology Hair Power Skin Revolution to EGA's school library.

Small Publishers' Fair 2010

On 13th November, as part of the Small Publishers Fair 2010, I was invited to participate in an afternoon of readings, held in the Brockway Room at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London. The Small Publishers Fair is an international fair celebrating books by contemporary artists, poets, writers, composers, book designers, and their publishers.

I read extracts from Hair Power Skin Revolution’s Introduction: The Journey So Far, and contributor Fiona Joseph read her personal essay Hair Wars: Growing up Frizzy followed by Pauline Walker who read her personal essay ‘Your Hair is Your Beauty’. I ended the reading with two of my poems from the book’s skin section – SKIN and Lost for Words.

I met some lovely people, Yasmin, who is studying at Kings College, London and who wants to write a dissertation on the subject of Black women and hair and I look forward to our dialogue developing soon; also Sophia and Valerie who had heard about the event through CatchaVibe’s website and who were keen to discuss the book’s themes further.

The event went well despite a small audience and with only a 30 minute slot, the usual interactive debate developed quite naturally in the lobby area where refreshments were available. As usual, I felt inspired by meeting such dynamic individual women and feel sure we will meet up again soon either on the net or at another event.

Thanks must go to contributors Fiona Joseph and Pauline Walker and to the Small Publishers Fair organisers Martin Rogers and Alan Halsey for supporting this event.

For more information about the Small Publishers Fair,

please visit: http://www.rgap.co.uk/

Photos in ascending order:

Pauline Walker, Nicole Moore & Fiona Joseph (courtesy of Yasmin)

Fiona Joseph

Pauline Walker

Spread the Word 15

On 12th November, I was invited, courtesy of Patsy Antoine, to Spread the Word's 15th Anniversary Party at Brixton Library, South London. This was a party to celebrate 15 years of looking out for London's writers. Hosted by Malika Booker, our entertainment included an opening presentation by Bernadine Evaristo, author and former Director of Spread the Word; writer Karen McCarthy Woolf who did something weird in the weird corner! Stacy Makishi performed 'There's a Hole in My Heart That Goes All The Way to China' and Patsy Antoine & Nathalie Teitler answered questions on the Wall of Sound...

I met some new contacts, including Barra pictured with me celebrating above, and some old contacts including Olu, who has won several prizes for short stories, and is an inspiration to be in the presence of. It was just a lovely way to party, literary style of course!

Oh and as I was leaving, I was presented with a wonderful goody bag, which included a copy of Stephen King on Writing, which I have heard is a must read memoir of the craft, a copy of Poetry London and a copy of Home from Home, which presents a snap shot of the Elephant & Castle at the beginning of the 21st Century, by Eva Sajovic (photos) and Sarah Butler (text).

Spread the Word is a catalyst for developing writers. They provide a dynamic range of services and opportunities for all levels of writers including advice and information, networking, mentoring, events and work in the community. For more information, please visit: http://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/

As always, I felt so inspired by this event, that during my tube journey home, I got busy jotting down notes for my new collection of creative writing (poems & personal essays) and that is what it's all about...

Photos in ascending order:

Nicole Moore & Barra - courtesy of Patsy Antoine

Patsy Antoine

Nicole Moore

Streetlife FM - Waltham Forest

Another great start to the month, today, I was invited by Gillian Lawrence as a guest on Streetlifefm radio show, with presenter Mary Blue, based at a new space in Waltham Forest College, East London.

I have to admit I love participating in radio shows; its the spontaneity that inspires me, and this community show was fun! I even got to select a playlist of 3 of my favourite songs, which included Exodus by Bob Marley and two tracks from The Diary of Alicia Keys CD (If I was your woman; If I ain't got you).

My slot lasted about 25 minutes and included me discussing my background as a writer/poet and reading extracts from my book Hair Power Skin Revolution's poems: My Hair and Lost for Words.

As luck would have it, I have been invited to appear on Mary Blue's show again on Thursday, 2nd December. Watch this space...

Photos courtesy of Gillian Lawrence in ascending order:

Nicole Moore & Mary Blue

Nicole Moore

For more info about Streetlifefm visit:

http://www.streetlifefm.com/

Writing Our Legacy - Brighton Black History Month

As part of Black History Month, I was invited to participate in Writing Our Legacy, a Brighton & Hove Black History Month literary showcase held on 21st October 2010, at the Redroaster Coffee House, St James Street, Brighton.

It was a real privilege to take part in this fabulous event, well attended by over 70 people, which showcased a dynamic mix of poetry, prose, dance, music, arts and literary greatness.

I met key people: volunteers on the Black History Month project http://www.brightonblackhistorymonth.org.uk/ part of Brighton & Hove Black History project http://www.black-history.org.uk/ the Positive Hair Day project http://www.positivehairday.org.uk/ and the Mosaic project http://www.mosaicequalities.org.uk/ a Black & Mixed Parentage Family Group.

More importantly, I received 5-star treatment from the Black History Month organisers, namely Amy Riley, who came across my anthology, Hair Power Skin Revolution, on http://www.itzcaribbean.com/ while searching for authors to read at the event; Bert Williams, Chair of the Black History Month project, who met me at Brighton station and gave me a quick tour and information guide of the very important and impressive Black History Month project, which continues to develop on a daily basis all year round; Sarah Lee, who set up the Positive Hair Day project, Edi Mandala, our MC for the night, and Tony the DJ who took care of the sound/mic checks, and Kat who took the photos above.

And as if that wasn’t enough, I was treated to a pre-show meal with the Black History Month crew, at Sing-Tong Thai Cuisine, above the Pond Pub in Gloucester Road, where I ate the most delicious food that I had to find the chef and pay him my compliments!

The showcase line-up was impressive and included Margaret Busby OBE, Woodrow Phoenix, Monica Akila, Rounke Williams, Uschi Gatward, Spliff Richards, Ed Siegle with short readings from the Positive Hair Day project.

I read extracts from Hair Power Skin Revolution’s Introduction: The Journey So Far, extracts from Our Crowning Glory, a hair essay by Dr Valerie Mason-John and my hair poem, My Hair and judging by the loud applause and feedback received during the interval from such a conscious, cultured and appreciative audience, I just know that I’ll be visiting Brighton again very soon!

Hair Power Skin Revolution - Millfield Arts Centre

As part of Black History Month, I was invited to host a Hair Power Skin Revolution book reading event on 13th October 2010 at Millfield Arts Centre http://www.millfieldartscentre.co.uk/ based in Edmonton, North London. The event was well attended by over 80 people and two contributors read their hair story and performed a poem and I read extracts from my hair story and personal essay.

The audience participation was particularly encouraging and interactive with thought-provoking and inspiring questions being raised about the issues of hair and skin. Natural hair tips were discussed and shared and the discussion about the increasing use of skin lightening creams within the Black (and Asian) community here and in the Caribbean was informative and enlightening. (The above collage was displayed).

The line up went as follows:
Nicole Moore read extracts from The Journey So Far: An Introduction.
Daniella Blechner performed her poem Hair We Are accompanied by Amelia Parillon.
A short film, Hair We Are, made by Daniella Blechner, was screened: a poetry based comedy that follows two young girls who explore their black identity through hair.
Colette Machado read her hair story Naturally Relaxed!
Nicole Moore read extracts from a personal essay from the skin section, Are You Black or White?

Many thanks to the contributors who made the evening a great success. And of course, many thanks to the Millfields Arts Centre staff, Paul Everitt, Arts Centre Manager and Nick Coult, Customer Services Team Supervisor, who supported the event in a professional and helpful way. The venue, Millfield Cabaret, is a lovely space and I thoroughly enjoyed hosting the event there and hope to be back again sometime soon!

Photos in ascending order:
Group photo:
L to R: Colette Machado, Nicole Moore, Daniella Blechner & Amelia Parillon
Contributors:
Daniella Blechner & Amelia Parillon
Colette Machado

Skin-lightening cream adverts

Natural Lounge Meet Up - 4th Book Reading

What a great start to the month. Today, I was invited to read extracts from my book Hair Power Skin Revolution at The Natural Lounge Meet Up http://www.thenaturallounge.com/ at the Traffic Bar in Holborn, London. This is the 4th book reading that has been held. I talked about how the idea for the book evolved from a Black History Month project in October 2008, where I collected and edited black women's Africentric natural hair stories to post on a new Hair Stories Blog http://www.hairjournal.blogspot.com/ I read my hair story, A Journey to Natural Hair and ended with a poem Settling In from Louisa Adjoa-Parker, one of the book's contributors.

The agenda included an official welcome from Jennifer Jumbe of Big Idea's Networking, http://www.bigideasnetworking.com/ who also hosted the event. Girl in a Thunderbolt, http://www.girlinathunderbolt.com/ performed two of her latest tracks from her new album Seven Sisters.

After the break, Michelle Olorunda gave a talk, Caring for your Hair - The Natural Way with Naturally Nubian who also has a popular You Tube Natural channel www.youtube.com/user/NaturallyNubian.

The event was well attended by over 100 people, which generated alot of inspiring and thought-provoking debate, including Natural Hair in the workplace, which focused on one of the main reasons why people don't want to go natural is because they are afraid it is perceived as not professional for the work place. I felt that most of the commentary was positive in that women shared that often it was other black women who questioned their decision to go natural and that in most cases, natural hair is embraced rather than frowned upon.

Thanks must go to Angel Smith who set up the natural lounge website and organised the event. I'd also like to thank Anduosjahla James-Wheatle, one of the book's contributors, for her support by accompanying me and taking the photos posted above.