#event #review
This was an ambitious and well thought out conference that started at HACK in Oldham, which utilised two floors serviced by a lift (for the disabled amongst us!). This is a wonderful space for a conference. There was tea and coffee and wonderful Danish pastries to start with. The panels were focused and specific, and questions were invited from the audience and thoroughly answered by the panels. My favourite panel had to be "You Are the Scene" which represented Najma Khalid -The Chai Women's Project, Karuna Mohandas - Oldham Libraries, Faiza Awan - Northern Roots and Jonathan McGrath - Oldham Coliseum. The panelists delved deep into their subjects.
I really enjoyed Dean Atta's book launch of Person Unlimited: An Ode to my Queer Black Body, of which I bought a copy which Dean kindly signed to my grandson, Declan. I will be reading it first, though! Dean Atta is charming with a bubbly personality, and in his interview with Cultureword's, Pete Kalu really made me laugh.
The other highlight of the day for me was Roger Robinson's presentation. It was full of wise advice for poets, writers, and artists; peppered with dry humour, which made me laugh out loud!
The evening at Tammie's Lounge rounded the day off nicely. Although when I arrived at 7pm all the food was gone! A very kind lady in the kitchen served me up a lovely plate of Nigerian food, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The entertaining Roger Robinson read his poetry of which I could have listened to more and other poets from Identity Live and a wonderful playwright and musician, Aday, really touched my heart with his song about grief.
A big thanks to Eric Steele and the volunteers at Hack Oldham, to the staff at Tammie's Lounge, to Cultureword's staff and the Ella Otomewo, who made the conference run so smoothly. Thanks must also go to all the poets, writers, and artists who took part and attended.
I had some very interesting conversations with some lovely people. All in all, it was an enjoyable conference.
Oh yes and I gave out lots of my cards!
©✍️CarolynCrossley
Links:
Cultureword:
https://share.google/M50svXUxU4mKFklyb
Hack Oldham:
https://share.google/EUYXGfgGPfEmDHy4k
Tammie's Lounge:
tetifoods.co.uk
VIXEN of VERSE 
You must be logged in to post a comment.