Creative Writing Workshop with Numbi Arts
11:00 – 14:00
Saturday 7 October, Mild West Room at Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY

– Do you have a story to tell about your local neighbourhood?

– Are you interested in developing your creative writing skills?

– Would you like the chance to hear from experienced writers and poets on how to transform an idea into a piece of writing?

Then join us for this interactive writing workshop, where we explore ideas about the local and the global. By looking at local neighbourhoods, we discover ways to create stories from the connections that arise between our local and global networks. You will be presented with a series of writing exercises and will have a chance to receive guidance and direct feedback from the workshop facilitators and poets Elmi Ali and Mohamed M. Abdi, aka “Haykal”.

This workshop is open to all ages and writing experiences, and will be delivered in both English and Somali. We will produce a Numbi Cities Zine with materials from the workshop.

Registration: Sign up by email to ras_events@soas.ac.uk

Mohamed M. Abdi, better known as “Haykal” is a gifted poet, novelist, short story writer, and social activist who lives in Bristol, United Kingdom. His poetry expresses and motivates the different sides of life, entertainment and building a successful society. He wrote the famous book Masiibada Cagaaran which explains the problems associated with Khat use within the Somali community. Haykal loves to add to his skills on writing both critical and creative level in Somali literature. This year June, he published his second book Hanqadh which is about a cycle of life based on the Somali traditional everyday life, the ups and the downs.

Elmi Ali is a writer, performer/facilitator based in the North West of England. He writes poetry, short -fiction and drama. Ali has performed across the country including Westminster, The Southbank Centre & Contact Manchester. His work has been published in publications such as the Poetry Review and Scarf Magazine of which he is an Associate Editor. He facilitates Performance Poetry and Creative Writing workshops: both individually and in partnership with organisations such as Numbi Arts, Arvon Foundation, Young Identity and Wordsmith.

Part of Africa Writes Pop-Up: Bristol – the festival presenting an exciting series of events celebrating contemporary African literature and thought, 6-7 October. With book launches, film screenings, discussions, family activities, workshops, and a poetry night, the festival brings you a vibrant programme showcasing the best new writing from the continent and the diaspora.