Decolonized Futures (BSL Interpreted)

This event will have a BSL interpreter 

In the silence I decided I wanted to write rice. How can poems be as useful as grains of rice in crisis? (lisa luxx)

How do writers and poets respond to a world dominated by new politics of dispossession, division and colonization?  

And yet narratives of solidarity, alliance and creating alternatives towards a future in which we are all free – outside of coloniality and racialization – seem more urgent than ever.   

Activist and playwright Tanushka Marah will be in discussion with author, film maker and aid worker, Saleem Haddad (Guapa), poet and activist,  lisa luxx (Fetch Your Mother’s Heart), multidisciplinary graphic designer and artist, and Marwan Kaabour (ed: The Queer Arab Glossary), as they hold space for difficult conversations – on queerness in times of genocide; on how the radical possibilities of decolonial queer imagination can gesture towards liberated futures; and on whether (or when) poems can be as useful as grains of rice. 

Saleem Haddad is a writer and filmmaker. His critically acclaimed novel, Guapa, was published in 2016, and was awarded both a Stonewall Honour and the 2017 Polari First Book Prize. He also writes non-fiction and short stories, and his story for the Palestinian sci-fi anthology ‘Palestine +100’ was selected as one of the best sci-fi stories of 2019. His directorial debut, ‘Marco’, premiered in March 2019 and was nominated for the 2019 Iris Prize for ‘Best British Short Film’. His work has been supported by institutions such as Yaddo and the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin. He is currently based in Lisbon, with roots in London, Amman, and Beirut.

lisa minerva luxx is a poet, playwright, essayist and political activist of British Syrian heritage.

Their work is broadcast on Channel 4, BBC Radio 4 and TEDx. Their poetry and essays are published worldwide, in anthologies and literary journals including by Penguin Books and New England Review.

As playwright and director they are behind the following theatre shows: Eating the Copple Apple, what the dog said to the harvest and The Moon is Listening from Dawn til Dusk.
In 2024, their short story collection Sun Son will be released by Comma Press.

luxx guest lectures on revolutionary poetics and queer theory, and works as a lyricist with LA-based Maison Arts. They are a patron of Huddersfield Literature Festival and is a doctoral student at University of Manchester under Jason Allen Paisant’s supervision. They are also a long-time transnational community organiser, having co-founded both eLaa Beirut and Nehna Hone, they now operate in the Palestine Action group. They believe in mutual aid and direct action as means of liberation.

Their name is decapitalised intentionally, to push back against the grammatology of the body politic; acknowledging that the colonial dominant literacy system is a way to force consent of the constitution onto policed populations.

Marwan Kaabour is an independent graphic designer and visual artist from Beirut, currently living and working in London. His work with institutions, brands and individuals in the art and cultural sector ranges from creating visual identities, publication and exhibition design, to marketing campaigns, wayfinding systems and art direction for both print and online projects.

Marwan moved to London in 2011 to pursue a master’s degree in Graphic Design from the London College of Communication, then joined Barnbrook – one of the UK’s most formidable and celebrated design agencies – as Designer and later Senior Designer. He founded his own studio in 2020.

In 2019, he launched Takweer, a platform that explores queer narratives in Arab history and popular culture.

Tanushka Marah is a theatre director, writer and campaigner. She has won two directing awards and has been nominated for many more.. She has worked as a movement director with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her work toured extensively in the UK. She has directed productions at international festivals in Europe and toured in the Middle East. She founded Thirdspace Theatre which is a Youth Theatre company in Brighton and Hove which platforms diverse young voices on professional stages. She also stood as an Independent Candidate in the last General Election.

This event is supported by The Centre for for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE), University of Brighton