Windrush writing project collects stories for online event
We Are Windrush event hosts: local award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus, Hackney Empire's youth talent show finalist Phoenix and writer Colin Grant. Picture: Hackney Council - Credit: Hackney Council
A writing project is underway bringing together stories from Hackney Caribbean migrants of all ages to share at an online Windrush event.
Local poet Raymond Antrobus is one of several hosting Hackney Council's online Windrush storytelling event. - Credit: Hackney Council
The project We are Windrush asks people to submit poems, stories and factual accounts of migration as well as welcoming tales from the younger generation.
The stories will be read out at a virtual event on June 29 at 6pm hosted by writer and historian Colin Grant, local award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus and Hackney Empire’s young Alter Ego spoken word finalist Phoenix.
Colin Grant, author of Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation, said: “What are we without story and memory? Windrush stories anchor us in the past and present and they remind us that we matter and have a place in this country.
“Windrush stories speak to Marcus Garvey’s assertion: ‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots’.”
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Colin says the legacy of the Windrush Generation has made him who he is – “the son of Ethlyn and Bageye who came from Jamaica in 1959”.
“It informs my outlook, seriousness, bids me never to forget the adventure of the Windrush Generation but also the many slights that they weathered in this country. It explains my yearning for the better that must come, and my hope that it won’t be long now,” said Colin.
READ MORE: Clapton family celebrates the life of 101-year-old Windrush nurse
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Submissions can be factual accounts, fiction based on true stories, poems or spoken word. They should be around 500 word maximum.
The deadline to enter is June 26 and winners will be invited to read out their stories at the online event on Monday June 29 or literary works will be read by one of the event’s hosts.
The online event forms part of Hackney Council’s annual Windrush Festival.
READ MORE: Hackney Council’s Windrush Generations Programme comes second in global competition
For more information and to register for a free ticket click here
To submit your story click here
