An evening of readings from Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices with author & editor Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (Via Zoom)

Dami Ajayi studied Medicine and Surgery at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria where he co-founded the literary magazine, Saraba. Since then, he has co-founded The Lagos Review and most recently Yaba Left Review. His first volume of poems, Clinical Blues, was longlisted for the Melita Hume Prize and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. His second volume of poems, A Woman’s Body is a Country, was a finalist for the Glenna Luschei Prize. He co-edited the anthology Limbe to Lagos: Nonfiction from Cameroon and Nigeria. His essays on literature, music, film and popular culture have appeared in  Chimurenga Chronic, Guardian UK, The Africa Report, Lost in Lagos Magazine, The Elephant, Bakwa Magazine, Afropolitan Vibes Magazine and also in translation in Das Goethe (a Die Ziet
supplement). He works as a psychiatrist in London.

Ayesha Harruna Attah is a Ghanaian-born writer living in Senegal. She was educated at Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and New York University. She is the author of the Commonwealth Writers Prize-nominated Harmattan Rain; Saturdays Shadows; The Hundred Wells of Salaga, currently translated into four languages; The Deep Blue Between, a book for teen readers; and Zainab Takes New York, a rom-com. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Elle Italia, Asymptote and the 2010 Caine Prize Writers’ Anthology.

Fatima Camara is a writer and spoken word artist from Minneapolis, MN. Not only a TruArtSpeaks (TAS) program alumna, Fatima has worked as the ReVerb Open Mic host, Programs Associate and Be Heard Liaison for TAS. She currently serves as their Administrative Associate. She is a recent graduate of Metropolitan State University with a degree in Professional/Organizational Communications with a minor in Community Development &Organizing. Her chapbook, Yellowline, was published through Akashic Book and the African Poetry Book Fund. Fatima’s passion for writing comes from her desire to highlight the stories and experiences of first-generation people here in America. Through her creative work, she hopes for future first generations to have narratives they can reference and relate to. Follow her: @fatima.c1 (Instagram), @fatimac_1 (Twitter)

Reem Gaafar is a public health physician, writer, researcher, filmmaker and mother of three boys. A graduate of Juba University and the University of Liverpool, she has over fifteen years of experience in the Middle East, Africa, and North America and is currently working toward a PhD in Community Health at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology in Canada. Over the years she has accumulated nearly two hundred publications including blog posts, peer-reviewed and magazine articles, short stories, policy briefs and book contributions. Her fiction and non-fiction writing has appeared in African Arguments, African Feminism, Teakisi Magazine, Andariya, 500 Words Magazine, International Health Policies and Health Systems Global. Her short story “Light of the Desert” was awarded an Honorable Mention and was published in the anthology I Know Two Sudans, and she was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship in 2020. More on her work can be seen at reemgaafar.com.

Vanessa Walters is an author and playwright originally from the UK, now based in the US. She’s a fellow and former resident of Tin House and The Millay Colony. Her forthcoming novel THE NIGERWIFE will be published in June 2023 by Atria Books.