Emma Ofosua takes West African spoken word to three UK cities

Ghanaian poet Emma Ofosua will appear at three literary events across England this September, from Nottingham to London and West Yorkshire.

Ghanaian poet, speaker and cultural architect Emma Ofosua will present, headline and join a panel discussion across three literary events in England this September, tracing a route from Nottingham to London to West Yorkshire.

Ofosua, founder and executive director of Tuniq Africa and the All African Women Poetry Festival, and managing editor of Hadithi Magazine, opens the run on 12 September at the D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum, 8A Victoria Street, Eastwood, Nottingham, where she presents at The Optimist’s Incomplete, staged by Sevhage.

On 17 September, she headlines Big Mouth Poetry’s open mic spoken word night at The Village Table, 40 Park Lane, Croydon, London.

The run closes on 26 September at the Old School Room, Church Street, Haworth, where she joins fellow writers Tabitha Bast, Barsa Ray and Priscilla Adepa on a panel for Literary Sisters from Accra to Bradford at the Brontë Women’s Writing Festival.

“Poetry is the cell of all art forms,” Ofosua said, “and gives language to our shared human experience.”

The three appearances reflect Ofosua’s continuing engagement with West African literary and cultural tradition on international stages, following her participation in the Literary Sisters Residency, which paired writers across Accra and Bradford in dialogue with the works of the Brontë sisters.

Event details

12 September, 11:00am: The Optimist’s Incomplete, D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum, 8A Victoria Street, Eastwood, Nottingham.

17 September, 6:30pm to 10:00pm: Big Mouth Poetry Open Mic, The Village Table, 40 Park Lane, Croydon, London.

26 September: Literary Sisters from Accra to Bradford, a panel with Tabitha Bast, Barsa Ray, Priscilla Adepa and Emma Ofosua Donkor, Old School Room, Church Street, Haworth, as part of the Brontë Women’s Writing Festival.

About Emma Ofosua

Emma Ofosua is a West African writer, performance poet, cultural curator and speaker whose work centres on identity, culture and memory, highlighting the resilience and courage of African women.

She is the author of I Wish You Courage in the Night Season and directs the All African Women Poetry Festival, a UNESCO- and British Council-partnered platform that convenes a four-day conference hosting 6–10 poets from six African countries and the diaspora annually.

As managing editor of Hadithi Magazine and creative lead of Tuniq Africa and its foundation, she champions cultural entrepreneurship and has built literary infrastructure across the African literary landscape for over half a decade.

She was named among 100 top writers and received the Most Promising Writer Award from Pa Gya!, sponsored by the EU Delegation to Ghana. Her poem “Reclamation”, published in Decolonial Passage, was nominated for Best of the Net in 2024, and her debut fiction appeared in the Perfect Place Anthology (Smartline Publishers, 2025).

She is a recent recipient of a EUNIC Spaces of Culture grant for her project Poetry as Civic Space, and was selected as one of 42 Sub-Saharan African delegates to the Momentum Edinburgh International Delegate Programme.

Alongside her speaking and programming work, Emma Ofosua is releasing her debut spoken word album, Mid-Shed, in October 2026, a well-curated project moving between reflective literary poetry and live spoken word performance, adding a recording-artist dimension to her UK appearances.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.