Event Programme
CORINNE BAILEY RAE: THE FREEDOM TO CHANGE
Venue : Barbican Theatre 15:00–16:00 | In conversation Chair: Gemma Cairney Twenty years after Put Your Records On made her a household name, Corinne Bailey Rae has spent every year since refusing to stay that artist. From that breakthrough
BARS AS LITERATURE: WRETCH 32 ON THE ART OF THE PEN
Venue : Barbican Theatre 17:00–18:00 | Wretch 32 in conversation | Chair: Suli Breaks Before there was a stage, there was a pen and a pad. Before there was a crowd, there were bars written in silence, rewritten, thrown away,
THE BLACK POETRY SHUTDOWN
Venue : Barbican Theatre 19:00–20:00 Featuring: Malika Booker, Jah Digga, SANITY, Kadija Sesay, Rachel Long, Casey Bailey, John Bernard, Ty’rone Haughton, Nick Makoha. Host: Stella Bee (Poetic Temple) This is not an event. This is a shutdown. Ten of the
THIS IS BRITAIN: Racism, Truth & Survival
Venue: Cinema 1Time: 13:00–14:00Featuring: Lee Lawrence, Stuart Lawrence and Keon WestChair: Dorcas Gwata Racism in Britain isn’t a headline. It’s a daily reality, one that gets debated in Parliament and lived very differently on the ground. In this essential panel, guided by Dorcas Gwata, Stuart
BLACK GIRL IN SPACE
Venue: Cinema 1Time: 15:00–16:00Featuring: Maggie AderinChair: Merisha Stevenson Maggie Aderin is one of Britain’s most celebrated space scientists: an MBE, co-presenter of The Sky at Night and a pioneering physicist who has spent her career building instruments that allow us to see deeper into space. From a
READ IT. RATE IT. DEBATE IT. — NAO × BBBF Live Book Club
Venue: Cinema 1Time: 19:00–20:00Led by: NAO Forget the polite book club where everyone nods and agrees. This is louder, faster, and entirely reader-led — because you chose the book, and now you get to say exactly what you thought. Led by NAO,
YOU’VE GOT A BOOK DEAL — NOW WHAT?
Venue : Pit Theatre 13:00–14:00 | Inside the Publishing Process | Powered by Hachette Featuring: Yassine Belkacemi: Deputy Publishing Director, John Murray Group Javerya Iqbal: Head Of Marketing, Orion Books / Hachette UK Claudine Sagoe: Senior Sales Executive, Hachette UK
CONFIDENT AND KILLING IT
Venue : Pit Theatre 15:00–16:00 | Workshop | Facilitator: Tiwalola Adebayo Tiwalola Adebayo is the founder of Confident and Killing It and one of the UK’s leading voices on confidence and personal power. In this hands-on workshop, she goes
The LIVE Murder Mystery Event: with Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Aleema Omotoni
Venue : Pit Theatre 17:00–18:00 | With Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Aleema Chair: Darran Griffith Guest Detectives: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Aleema Omotoni A wealthy family. A £20 million inheritance. A suspicious death. And a room full of potential detectives. In
HOW I GOT MY BOOK DEAL
Venue : Pit Theatre 19:00–20:00 | The real stories behind breaking into publishing Featuring: Salma Ibrahim, William Rayfet Hunter and Musih Tedji Xaviere Moderator: Lisa Bent A book deal can look like one life-changing email. The reality is usually
BLACK FUTURES, BURIED TRUTHS
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 1 Chair: Rochelle Saunders 13:00–14:00 | Kelechi Okafor and Jeffrey Boakye on power, suspense and Black imagination What if the stories that take us beyond reality are also the sharpest tools for exposing it? Kelechi Okafor
FROM ZERO TO WEALTH
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 1 15:00–16:00 | How to Build Money, Assets and Financial Freedom Featuring: Ken Okoroafor, Mary Okoroafor Chair: Tru Powell What if building wealth was never about earning more — but about building the right habits?
HOW TO TAKE OVER THE INTERNET
Venue: Frobisher Auditorium 1 17:00–18:00 | Chair: Claire Linney Paige Lewin & Brian Kapuku (ReadWithKapz) on building an audience that cannot ignore you. Going viral is easy. Staying relevant is the actual game. Paige Lewin and Brian Kapuku didn’t get
BLACK LOVE, BUILT TO LAST
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 1 19:00–20:00 | Chair: Afua Hagan Adrian and Tara Thorpe on 20 years of connection, commitment and choosing each other. What does it really take to love someone for more than 20 years? Adrian and
GIVING FLOWERS: The Women Who Built Black Publishing
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 2 13:00–14:00 | Chair: Jasmine Richards Featuring: Verna Wilkins (Tamarind Books), Bibi Bakare-Yusuf (Cassava Republic Press), Valerie Brandes (Jacaranda Books) Before the spotlight. Before the bestseller lists. Before the industry even thought to pay attention, there
COULD YOUR BOOK BE NEXT?
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 2 15:00–16:00 | Inside the new Black British Book Festival × Pan Macmillan publishing collaboration The Black British Book Festival and Pan Macmillan are launching a groundbreaking, community-led publishing collaboration designed to discover, develop and
THE GREAT SCIENCE SHOW
Venue : Frobisher Auditorium 2 17:00–18:00 | Live science experiments with Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu is one of the most decorated scientists in Britain — a nanotechnology pioneer, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire,
BLACK WOMEN AND THE THRILLER
Venue : Conservatory Terrace 19:00–20:00 | Secrets, suspicion and stories that refuse to let go Chair: Fee Mak Featuring: Imani Thompson, Leodora Darlington and Yemi Dipeolu The perfect marriage. The respectable family. The friend who knows too much. Behind every
PUT THE CHILD FIRST: A Toolkit for Successful Co-Parenting
Venue : Conservatory Terrace 13:00–14:00 | Aaron Dale in conversation Separation may end a relationship. It does not end the responsibility to raise a child together. In this honest, in-depth conversation, co-parent Aaron Dale (known online as @raisingboys2men) gets into
SEX, PLEASURE & FREEDOM
Venue: Frobisher Auditorium 2Time: 19:00–20:00 | Adults onlyFeaturing: Nana Darkoa SekyiamahChair: Marcelle Mateki Akita An intimate, judgment-free conversation with Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah. What happens when Black women are given the freedom to speak honestly about sex, desire and their bodies? Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah,
WRITE IT OUT: HEALING THROUGH STORY
Venue : Conservatory Terrace 17:00–18:00 | Workshop | Facilitator: Marcia Hutchinson Writing can give shape to experiences we have carried silently—and sometimes help us release them. Marcia Hutchinson, author of the Women’s Prize-shortlisted The Mercy Step, leads a gentle, practical
CAVE CANEM PRESENTS: THE SOUND OF BLACK BRITISH POETRY
Venue : Conservatory Terrace 15:00–16:00 Featuring: Raymond Antrobus, Courtney Conrad Moderator: Rommi Smith Two of the most distinctive voices in Black British poetry take the stage — not to talk about poems, but to read them, live, the way
HEARTLESS CREW
Venue : Level G Freestage 15:15–16:00 | Level G Freestage Legendary UK garage and grime pioneers Heartless Crew bring a full-throttle 45-minute set to the Level G Freestage — a shot of pure sound-system energy in the middle of the
RASTA GRANNY’S RAINBOW
Venue : Fountain Room + Foyer 13:00–13:30 | Storytime with Jessica Wilson | Ages 3–7 and their families Can Granny’s delicious Jamaican cooking turn Dylan’s gloomy day into a rainbow? Join award-winning poet and author Jessica Wilson for a
MAYA & MARLEY: THE FRIENDSHIP ADVENTURE
Venue : Fountain Room + Foyer 14:00–14:30 | Interactive storytime with Laura Henry-Allain MBE | Ages 3–7 and their families Join award-winning author and creator of JoJo & Gran Gran, Laura Henry-Allain MBE, for a joyful reading of Maya &