DesignMonster
Publication Day At Last
At last, publication day is upon us: 1st October 2020, National Poetry Day! Locating Strongwoman is a portrait of unperformed femininity. Eschewing the stereotypical portrayal of the “Strong Woman” and the even more loaded “Strong Black Woman”, these poems invite […]
BRITISH VOGUE
Of all the things I though would give me bragging rights when I’m old and boring my niece and nephews with ‘when I was young’ stories, being featured in British Vogue wasn’t one of the things I thought would happen. […]
May I Never Be A Slave to Speed
Tjawangwa Dema(hereinafter “TJ”) is a force — the best kind. When the trifecta of her words, presence and wit hit you, being spellbound is your only option. If we are talking titles, TJ won the Sillerman Prize for African Poetry […]
Remember the Lessons Don’t Waste the Pain – Ozoz Sokoh
Ozoz Sokoh, also known as Kitchen Butterfly, is modestly described in her bio as a Nigerian Food Explorer. That title functions like a good poem title — it gives you a hint about the world you are entering, but […]
Locating Strongwoman
Growing up, I often heard my mother say ìwá kú ìwá ná nwa nkan tó sọnù which translates loosely from Yoruba as ‘when you are searching for something that is lost, you search high, lo and in between’. I can’t recall when […]
Translating Academia through Creative Writing
Poetry is how I make sense of the world. This the one answer that never goes away when I’m asked about my relationship with poetry. It should be no surprise then, that I keep looking for new things to explore […]
Mama I’m in the Guardian! & I’m going to be publsihed!!
For close to a decade now, people have been asking me if and when I’m going to publish a collection of poetry and my answers always have some tinge of; when the time is right, when I find the right […]
White Review Poetry Prize 2018
Photo by Carrie Mae Weems (part of the Kitchen Table Series)Christmas came early in 2018 when I was shortlisted for the White Review Poetry Prize, one of only 8 people that made it that far. As part of that privilege, […]
Ilé La Wà promo on London Live
With less than a week to go before the 4 show run of Ilé La Wà at Stratford Circus, Tolu stopped by the London Live studio to discuss her debut play.
Fighting To Be British
I wrote a blog for Refugee Week which begins: “Men the age of my father don’t cry in public, don’t watch helpless whilst others speak for them. Not in my community—where women of this same generation raised children not to […]