Pauline reflects on an illuminating, inspiring Story Cafe, celebrating Black women writers. ..
Wendy introduced this year Black History Month theme – Reclaiming Narratives – “It’s time to take control of our stories, celebrate our heritage and ensure our voices are heard and make a lasting impact on how Black history is told and taught’.
In the Library space, there was a selection of books to mark Black History Month recommended by the GWL team, including works by Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Bernadine Evaristo and Andrea Levy.
In the first half we looked at the life and work of Jamaican Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison, now living in Canada. She explores big themes, including racism, social justice, friendship and love. Wendy read two pieces from her memoir Redemption Ground – Some poems that made me and The Caribbean imaginary, for Ifeona Fulani and I read two poems Aunt Rose’s Honey Advice and Love Song for Great-Grandmother Leanna.
After the break we looked at the life and work of Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) who was an award winning and much loved American poet and writer from Buffalo, New York, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and mother of six children, who have reclaimed their former family home and established it as a creative writing and activist space – a fitting memorial to their amazing mother.
We read a selection of her poetry: Daughters; Song at Midnight; Homage to my Hips (we loved the rhythm of this one); The Earth is a Living Thing and Haiku and finished with an extract from from Well Read Black Girl an anthology edited by Glory Edim called Space to Move Around in by Renee Watson describing her introduction to the work of Lucille Clifton.
As always, both these Story Cafes were made more interesting and enjoyable by the contributions of those present. This is a vital part of Story Cafe and it would be a much less rewarding experience without them.
Our next Story Cafe is on 28 November where we’ll be sharing extracts from Book Week Scotland’s free book on the theme of Hope. It features short stories, poems and 50 word non-fiction contributions. We hope to see you there!
