CSL poets Emily Zobel Marshall, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan and Testament read on this theme.

Emily Zobel Marshall

Emily Zobel Marshall is of French-Caribbean and British heritage and grew up in North Wales. She is Professorin Postcolonial Literature at Leeds Beckett University. Her research specialisms are the cultures and literatures of the African Diaspora, with a focus on the folkloric trickster figureand Caribbean carnival cultures,and she is widely published in thesefield. She has published two academic books, Anansi’s Journey: A Story of Jamaican Cultural Resistance(UWI Press, 2012) and American Trickster: Trauma, Tradition and Brer Rabbit(Roman and Littlefield, 2019),and is Co-chair of the anti-racist charity the David Oluwale Memorial Association (DOMA). She develops creative work alongside her academic writing and her poetry collection,Bath of Herbs(2023), was published by Peepal Tree Press. Her forthcoming collection,Other Wild, will be published by Peepal Tree Press in Autumn 2025.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a poet, writer, playwright and educator whose work confronts racism, empire and Islamophobia, while imagining liberatory futures rooted in faith and justice. Her poetry and prose challenge dominant narratives and invite collective resistance and reimagining.

She is the author of Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia(Pluto Press, 2022), described as “brave” and “necessary,” and Seeing for Ourselves(Hajar Press, 2023), a collection of essays, memoir and poetry exploring visibility, representation and the gaze. Her debut poetry collection, Postcolonial Banter(2019), established her as “one of Britain’s most promising young voices” (Priyamvada Gopal).

Her viral poem This is Not a Humanising Poem has been viewed over two million times and remains a landmark in contemporary spoken word. Her debut play Peanut Butter and Blueberriespremiered at the Kiln Theatre in 2024. Suhaiymah also co-founded The Nejma Collective, supporting abolitionist solidarity with Muslims in prison.

Testament

Testament is a writer, rapper, educator and world-record breaking beatboxer.

Testament is writer of awards nominated play BLACK MEN WALKING(UK Theatre Awards, Writer’s Guild of Great Britain) and ORPHEUS IN THE RECORD SHOP which was broadcast on BBC Four TV.

Testament’s diverse work includes spoken word, composing music for award winning adverts, writing musicals, performing poetry at Downing Street, making radio history documentaries, nature essays and freestyle rapping for Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Testament has had numerous TV appearances on BBC, ITV and Sky Arts and has been the guest host on Radio 4poetry show The Verb twice. His poetic radio drama DAUGHTER won Special Commendation at the BBC Audiodrama Awards 2022and was nominated forthe Prix Europa.

He was 2019 Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence for THE ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE Manchester and was Black Nature Writer-in Residence for the Yorkshire Dales 2024, and part the HOT POETSeco-poetry collective.

As a facilitator, Testament runs the HIP-HOP CLINIC-a workshop that company that runs rap, poetry and beatbox workshops around the world.He has also worked with BBC Bitesize and presented GCSE Poetry podcasts.

Currently, he is a writer on the hit NETFLIX animated show CASTLEVANIA NOCTURNE.

Please note: line up subject to change.