Way Wive Wordz

Lawrence Scott & Nicole-Rachelle Moore In Conversation
2024-10-09 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | The High Commission for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 42 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8NT, United Kingdom
Join us for an In Conversation with authors Lawrence Scott and Nicole-Rachelle Moore about the debut publication Memories, Musings and Unfinished Conversations (Way Wive Wordz, 2023).
We’re delighted to be hosted by the High Commission for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago as we learn about Nicole-Rachelle Moore’s inspirations and motivation for writing this polygenre book, which includes essays, poetry and short stories.
Please register here as soon as possible to secure your place. If you can no longer attend this FREE event please kindly let us know so we can offer the place to someone else.
Nicole-Rachelle Moore’s “Memories, Musings and Unfinished Conversations” draw us into the intimacies of a cancer recovering, surviving mother of sons, helped through the “Haven” of women and the “love warriors,” her sons. Iconic photographs illustrate this life. She welcomes us into the relationships of ancestors and their spirits, through their stories and the story-teller-poet, she herself has become, caught between Trinidad -her ancestral home – and London her birth home, her present home. Her consciousness is fed by the moment, the “Now” of Carnival, its history and mythology. As she says in one of her Haikus “Joy” inspired by “Women Who Run with the Wolves.”

Lawrence Scott is a prize-winning Caribbean novelist and short-story writer from Trinidad & Tobago. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Literary Award for his “significant contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago’s Literature” in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence, 1962-2012. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019. His most recent book is the poetry collection Looking for Cazabon ( Papillote People’s Press, July 2024). The University of the West Indies conferred upon him an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (DLitt ) on the 28th October, 2023.

Nicole-Rachelle Moore is the British Library’s Curator of its Caribbean Collections. She has co-curated courses on Andrea Levy and Toni Morrison, and worked closely with New Beacon Books and the George Padmore Institute. Nicole-Rachelle co-edited 2018’s Dream To Change the World on the life of John La Rose and contributed to the 2020 publication In Search of Mami Wata: Narratives and Images of African Water Spirits.

Introducing James Baldwin: Activism, Books, Civil Rights
2024-10-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Wimbledon Library, 35 Wimbledon Hill, London, SW19 7NB
Join us at Wimbledon Library this Black History Month for an interactive celebration and introduction of James Baldwin. Baldwin’s literary genius is immortalised in fiction and non-fiction form in books like Go Tell it on the Mountain, Giovanni’s Room, Notes of a Native Son, The Fire Next Time and Amen Corner among others. This presentation will introduce these texts while considering his activism and contribution to the Civil Rights movement. Baldwin was recently commemorated with a Nubian Jak Blue Plaque at the Hackney CVS, the previous site of the CLR James Library which he visited in 1985 boosting local activism.

The Spirit Of James Baldwin
2024-08-29 18:30 - 20:00 | CLR James Library, Hackney Square, London, E8 3BQ, United Kingdom
James Baldwin’s literary and prophetic brilliance, along with his grassroots activism were illuminated by Raoul Peck’s biopic I am not your Negro in 2016. It reminded us of Baldwin’s continuing influence and relevance as an inspiring force in times of struggle and deep despair. In this interactive essay presentation, we explore the role of Baldwin as a ‘witness’ which we link to Baba Esu, an important Orisa in the Yoruba Ifa spiritual system. Baba Esu/Elegba is a messenger deity, keeper of the crossroads, and is often misinterpreted as ‘the devil’ in Western terms. Esu is the one who opens the way by ensuring we make sound choices, which may require harsh truths to keep us aligned. We reflect on this interpretation of the devil/god duality in our consideration of Baldwin as an Esu figure. Join us as we celebrate Baldwin’s centenary at the CLR James Library. Bring your favourite quotations and personal impressions to share. Way Wive Wordz in collaboration with the CLR James Library, Hackney.

Presenter: Dr Michelle Yaa Asantewa
Award-winning author, independent educator, cultural consultant and publisher, Dr Asantewa’s publications include the young adult novel, Elijah, The Awakening and Other Poems, Guyanese Komfa: The Ritual Art of Trance and Something Buried in the Yard, published by Way Wive Wordz
Publishing, which she co-founded in 2014. She is the editor of the anthology In Search of Mami Wata, which centres on African and Caribbean water spirits. Mama Lou Tales, a biography of her mother Lucille Davis received a prize for the Guyana Literary Prize in 2022. Dr Asantewa is the course leader on The Amazing James Baldwin, African Women Resistance Leaders: Spiritual and Political and Afrofuturism Creative Writing short courses. She co-facilitates the Toni-Morrison: Her Life Her Work and Andrea Levy courses. Her first collection of short stories, Rupununi Affair will be published in the autumn of 2024.
