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The Bare Lit Festival Showcases & Celebrates Diverse Writers
The Bare Lit Festival London will be the first literary festival focused exclusively on Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) writers, who are often the most underrepresented group in the mainstream book world.
The festival is happening in London on February 26th–27th. It will be the first festival of its kind to cater to writers of colour who are sick and tired of "the homogenous literary scene." It's a welcome change from many literary festivals, where writers of colour are often placed on the diversity panel. The Bare Lit Festival is deliberately steering clear of this approach!
The Poets in Exile Panelists, Malika Booker, Jane Yeh, Dean Atta, Selina Nwulu and Khairani Barokk
Photo Credit: BareLit
Photo Credit: BareLit
The Bare Lit Festival was sparked by writers Courttia Newland and Sunny Singh, who were "rarely invited to literary festivals" and who conveyed their frustration to Media Diversified founder Samatha Asumadu. Media Diversified is a nonprofit that's dedicated to promoting writers of colour. They soon jumped aboard with the idea of creating a festival that showcases the writers out there who aren't the Jhumpa Lahiris or Chimamanda Adichies, rare authors who have managed to bridge that gap of mainstream attention.
"It is a celebration of these authors and poets. We want to give them a platform for increased visibility…Festivals need to attract more diverse audiences. The onus is on the organisers to reach out," said Samantha Asamadu to the IBTimes.
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Liberation in Literature Panelists Leila Aboulela, Sareeta Domingo, Radhika Swarup, Robin Yassin-Kassab and Xiaolu Guo
Photo Credit: IBTimes
Photo Credit: IBTimes
Author Sunny Singh, whose book Hotel Arcadia deals with terrorism and political unrest, hopes the festival will get more of the public interested in reading books from writers of colour.
“As a writer and reader, my hope for Bare Lit is that it will not only showcase British writers of colour, but also provide a space where we can focus on writing, literature and conversations that are wide-ranging, comprehensive and literary. I also hope that it will provide a visual and literary inspiration for upcoming writers, who do not often see themselves between the pages or in the literary world," said Singh to Desi Blitz.
Author Sunny Singh
Photo Credit: www.desiblitz.com
The festival hopes to run more events and has a current campaign on Indiegogo to encourage donations from the public. And there's a dire need for this funding, especially since Spread the Word, which did a report on diversity in publishing, found that only 4% of authors at major literary festivals across England were BAME.
“If we don’t value writers of colour and they are not seen and heard with their white peers, they are even less likely to get published. I can’t imagine my life without having read Buchi Emecheta and Toni Morrison as a teenager. That future titans of writing may not get their chance to be read widely because of institutional discrimination in publishing is heartbreaking," said Asumadu to The Bookseller.
For now, we're excited that Londoners get to check out some amazing panel events like Second-Generation Poets in Exile, What Does Liberation in Literature Look Like? and (Re)writing Pasts and Futures. Here's hoping that they reach their funding goals and expand globally to different cities!
Main Image Photo Credit: www.myinforms.com
Rumnique Nannar
Author
Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...
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