Unfortunately, the Somali poet Weedhsame will not be able to attend this event.
Bristol Somali Festival is the sister festival to Somali Week in London. This year’s festival focuses on the concept of Identity, belonging and role of culture within the diaspora community.
Weedhsame and his bridge translator Dr Martin Orwin will give a bilingual reading of ‘Catastrophe’ as part of the launch of Bristol Somali Festival. This powerful narrative poem, composed by Weedhsame in response to the mass migration of the Somali people, has been given new life in English by Martin, working in collaboration with BBC Radio 4 poet-in-residence Daljit Nagra.
Other speakers include the founder of the Somali Museum in Minnesota (the first Somali museum outside of Somalia), Osman Mohamed Ali, SOAS senior lecturer Dr Idil Osman, author and critic Artan Mohamed, Transforming Archive trainee Abira Hussein, and community activist Zohar Kosar.
This event is part of our Catastrophe Tour, which brings contemporary Somali poet Weedhsame to venues across the UK. We are particularly keen to meet all those that supported and contributed to the crowdfunding of our special edition poster of ‘Catastrophe’.
You can order a copy of the Catastrophe poem poster, illustrated by artist Bryan Talbot, here.
