Celebrating nine female storytellers as contemporary muses and sources of inspiration for the launch of CLEAN PROSE’s co-working space for writers.
photography Derrick Kakembo creative & production Chinasa Chukwu, Elvira Vedelago styling Femi Ayo make-up Eliza Clarke, Michelle Leandra hair Shanice Noel, Shada Jenkins set design Ellie Koslowsky
To celebrate the launch of CLEAN PROSE’s new co-working space for writers, POSTSCRIPT’s upcoming exhibition, Muses, highlights nine female storytellers as contemporary sources of inspiration.
Female authors are still being pigeonholed today, facing challenges at every level - whether publishing, media coverage or literary recognition - so it feels of the utmost importance to continuously support women's stories. For women of colour, this is even more restrictive, as finding spaces in the media to discuss, comment on and express ideas outside of race is often limited. The photographs from this exhibition are a chance to champion those that are breaking the mould and creating space for more WOC writers to showcase their multiplicity as women and as people of colour.
Below, we ask our nine muses to share with us their most significant experiences writing as women of colour to date. We hope you feel as inspired by these women as we have been and continue to support their work in future.
alya mooro
/journalist/
“The feedback I'm receiving so far from friends, family and strangers about my debut book, ‘The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes’, has really shown just how needed this narrative is and it feels great to have the book starting some important conversations.”
ALYA MOORO is a Cairo-born, London-raised journalist. She has written for several magazines and newspapers on issues including culture, race, gender, sex, lifestyle and fashion. She is passionate about changing assumptions and preconceptions about Middle Eastern women, and believes the time is perfect to be having these conversations. Her recently released debut book The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes is a searingly honest, thought-provoking examination of the blessings, burdens, tensions and misconceptions which come with a life divided between two very different cultures.
sara collins
/author/
“being the first black woman to have a novel selected as Waterstones Book of the Month (in August) was pretty special, as well as receiving an endorsement from Margaret Atwood who is one of my literary heroes. But, from my perspective as a woman of colour, the most significant experiences have been meeting young women who aspire to be writers - a few of them show such tremendous potential that they have inspired me.”
SARA COLLINS obtained a Master’s degree in creative writing (with distinction) from Cambridge University. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton.
irenosen okojie
/writer/
“Working on my debut novel was a transformative milestone where I was able to write about the Benin kingdom and Benin history. Exploring this cultural inheritance gave me so much courage, joy and power. Making black lives visible, nuanced and rich with complexity reinforced the alchemy of a writer's imagination. I wanted this book to exist so I made it happen."
IRENOSEN OKOJIE is a Nigerian British writer. Her debut novel Butterfly Fish won a Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for an Edinburgh International First Book Award. Her short story collection Speak Gigantular, published by Jacaranda Books was shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. She was recently inducted as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature as one of the Fourty Under Fourty initiative. Her forthcoming books Nudibranch and Curandera have been signed by Little Brown's Dialogue Books.
khairani barokka
/writer/
“We are living in a toxic mess of signals to hate ourselves, to tamp down our self-love. Unapologetically proclaiming my own power, sense of humour, and sense of community as a disabled woman of colour in the world through writing, art and performance means the world to me.”
KHAIRANI BAROKKA (Okka) is an Indonesian writer and artist in London whose work has been presented extensively, in 15 countries. She was an NYU Tisch Departmental Fellow, is a UNFPA Indonesian Young Leader Driving Social Change, and is Modern Poetry in Translation's Inaugural Poet-in-Residence. Okka is most recently co-editor of Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches, 2017), author-illustrator of Indigenous Species (Tilted Axis, 2017), and author of Rope (Nine Arches, 2017). Her latest exhibition was Annah: Nomenclature (ICA, 2018).
stephanie yeboah
/blogger/
“I wrote an article about a specific dating experience and how it relates to women who live within an intersection of being plus sized and black, and the negativity one could experience from people there. It brought forward a larger conversation about prejudice and really opened my eyes to the thoughts of specific demographics of people and how they thought about people who do not look like them.”
STEPHANIE YEBOAH is an award winning plus size style blogger, writer, public speaker and body image activist who has been active within the space via her blog, Nerd about Town, since 2008.
Stephanie frequently speaks on issues surrounding body positivity, body image and mental health, as well as a range of lifestyle topics such as fashion and dating. She has written for publications such as: Elle, GQ, Stylist Magazine and Who What Wear, and is an opinion columnist for Metro.co.uk
anjali ramachandran
/director/
“My most significant experience writing has been that of always feeling the importance of being empathetic to people of different cultures, and women with different experiences, no matter if their opinions and thoughts don't match mine. It's so easy to be in a bubble of your own in today's world that it takes an extra effort to make sure that your voice and projects are truly representative of who you are and what you think, but it is always worth it. More than that, it is important to act on.”
ANJALI RAMACHANDRAN is a Director at Storythings, a narrative content studio in London that produces podcasts, editorial journalism, animated and documentary video, graphic art and events. She is Executive Producer of Nevertheless, a podcast for less-heard voices in technology. She is also the co-founder of Ada's List, a global community of women in tech, with over 7500 members. She writes the Other Valleys newsletter about tech in emerging markets, is a Fellow of the RSA, Trustee of visual arts charity Photoworks and on the advisory board of Angel Academe, a pro-female angel investment group.
lady nade
/singer/
“In partnership with Ujima Radio, I was invited to perform and share a social activism personal testimony. I spoke passionately about the importance of inclusivity within a community regardless of race, and how important music is in bringing people together."
Bristolian musician LADY NADE is a blues, soul and folk-influenced singer-songwriter. As a dedicated food aficionado, Nade pours her creativity in to every song, and lavishes them with a recipe to match. The finished results are deeply evocative and emotive songs, filled with wonderful words that nourish both body and soul.
Lady Nade’s follow up to her Hard To Forget Debut Album Safe Place is out now on Mintlime Records.
kafayat okanlawon
/advocate/
“It was very important when working on this project that I included women and girls who do not see themselves as writers, which was the same for my mother and grandmother. For them to contribute to ‘This Is Us’ and become published writers in a book that their daughter and granddaughter created is very special to me.”
KAFAYAT OKANLAWON is a Women’s Rights Advocate who has a wide range of experience in the VAWG sector. In addition to this, she is the creator of FemFocus, an online learning resource that aims to educate and inform on VAWG, Feminism and Women’s Rights.
Kafayat has recently published her latest project This is Us: Black British Women and Girls. This is Us captures a lifetime of lived experiences from Black British Women and girls, ages four to 69, retelling stories of challenges, hardships, triumphs and strengths.
ria lina
/comedian/
“It was really eye opening to find out that one of the barriers I face as a woman of colour is being not 'too' ethnic but not ethnic enough. I was told I was too ethnically ambiguous for television because "Who would watch me?". The idea that we are only of interest to our demographic or perceived diaspora is limiting, insulting and naive. Of course the only response to such an outrageous question had to be, "I don't know, women? The educated? Pretty people? I tick so many other boxes..."
RIA LINA is an award-winning stand-up comedian, actress and writer. Half Filipina, half German, born in the UK but raised in USA and The Netherlands, today she is the only internationally touring Filipina female comic. She has appeared in shows on Comedy Central, written for BBC3 Comedy and hosted her own Radio 4 show School of Riason. She has brought 5 shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, Taboo Raider is currently available on Amazon Prime, via NextUp; and her last show Dear Daughter won Best Comedy at the Manchester Fringe. Her current project, a short film called Prodigirl, will be released later this year.
The portraits will be will be on display at Clean Prose until 15th December. They are also available for auction, where sales will fund a POSTSCRIPT fellowship for a woman writer of colour. If you are interested in bidding on an image or would like to apply for the the residency programme, you can find further information at www.cleanprose.com.