Hello Mum

A Quick Reads novella about teenage knife crime told through the voice of a fourteen year old boy. Suitable for adults and teenagers – boys and girls  (Get them reading). Published by Penguin on March 4th, 2010.

Super Photos by Naomi Woddis

Tim Wells & Ash Sarkar, Poets

Katrina Naomi, Poet

Rowyda Amin, Poet

Dzifa Benson, Poet, & Gordo

Ditto.

Esther Poyer, Poet & Kyle

Heather Taylor, Poet, Screenwriter

Bob Boyton, Poet, Performer

Dean Atta, Poet

Tim Wells & Ash Sarkar. I love the photos of these two. So much attitude.

Denrele Ogunda, Poet

Yemisi Blake, poet, writer…

If I don’t smile for the camera, I look fierce. Sometimes I catch myself in a mirror or shop window and I scare even myself. I look angry, even when I’m not. It was a bleak January day and I wanted Naomi to take unsmiling pictures of me. This is probably my default facial expression when I’m writing.

I said to Naomi, get one of me wellies in.

Naomi Woddis is both a London-based photographer and a poet. She has started taking a series of photographs of writers but she is available for all kinds of commissions. (Naomi.Woddis@btinternet.com)

If you want some striking, unusual, interesting photographs of yourself and others, taken by a professional but very different to the usual bland, glossy studio shots, then Naomi’s your photographer, and her prices are competitive. Also,  Naomi is very relaxed and friendly so it will be fun to do.

You also can find Naomi on Facebook and you can also check out more of her lovely photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naomiwoddis/collections/72157622849627811

Naomi’s poetry can be seen at http://poetrymosaic.wordpress.com/

Blonde Roots USA Paperback

Blonde Roots is published in paperback by Penguin USA this January. It came out in hardback in January 09. I love this cover. I love the UK cover too but this is equally as stunning. My biggest dream is for one of my books to hit the big time and introduce a massive readership to my other books as well. This is not vanity or greed, it’s about survival and readership. When you spend years working on a novel you want it to get out there and you want to get it noticed and read. Your publisher wants to get it read too. They have to pay the bills. A publishing house cannot survive on philanthropy. Not many literary books gain a huge readership but wouldn’t it be wonderful to be one of those writers who do. There are many issues involved but compromise is an important one for me. I can’t. I really can’t. I am totally uncompromising in my creativity. If I had to tone down what I do or write for a market or to fit a mold, I’d rather do something else as a career. Yet there’s nothing else I want to do. This is it.

Blonde Roots is important to me because it really challenges a lot of the fundamental assumptions we make about race and through satire I ridicule the racism that pervades our societies, both in the past and in the present. It also takes risks – I like to write on the edge, to do things differently, to imaginatively re-shape our world, to probe and challenge. As a writer, I have the power — and I have to say, that’s quite intoxicating.

Michael McMillan’s ‘Front Room’

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

At the beautiful Novello Theatre in London’s West End. It’s running until April and if you’re lucky there might be some tickets left.
It’s stars  James Earl Jones as Big Daddy (Yes, he), Phylicia Rashad (of the Cosby Show) as Big Mama, Sanaa Lathan as Maggie, our very own Brit Adrian Lester as Brick and our very own Nina Sosanya as Mae. I saw it on Saturday and thought it was a fantastic production of a fantastic, thought-provoking, suspenseful and psychologically-penetrating play (Tennessee Williams), directed by Debbie Allen (of Fame). It originally played on Broadway to sell-out audiences with Jones and Rashad in the cast.)

Blonde Roots/ Audio Book

Blonde Roots is now available as an unabridged audio book.
Published by Whole Story Audio Books on 1/12/09.
http://tinyurl.com/blonderootsaudio

My Grandmother: Zenobia Evaristo

Zenobia Evaristo, second wife of Gregorio (below). Born Zenobia Sowemima in Ibadan, Nigeria. Died 1967, Lagos, Nigeria.

Brought back to life as ‘herself’ in the new LARA. (Love the hair-do!)
Bloodaxe Books, October 29, 2009
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248319