Lanre Bakare
Lanre Bakare is the Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent and also the author of We Were There: How Black culture, resistance and community shaped modern Britain, which was published last year. The book which looks at the rich history of black Britain outside of London has been described “Genuinely pioneering” and a “revelation”.
Keme Nzerem
Keme Nzerem is an award winning, BAFTA Nominated journalist and Broadcaster who has reported on major events from Grenfell fire to the election of Barack Obama. Recently Keme has been on a personal journey looking at his own families history which has been documented in the Long Juju, a feature documentary addressing the complex and enduring legacies of slavery through Keme’s own family history.
Diyora Shadijanova
Diyora Shadijanova is a writer, editor, and recovering journalist. She now works in political communications and is a books columnist for Hyphen, the leading media platform on Muslim life in the UK and Europe. She has written for a variety of publications, including The Guardian, Vogue, and The Independent. She is a co-founder of hothouse bookclub — a London-based digital and in-person climate change book club with over 300 members. Previously, she was a Senior Editor at The Lead and Opinion Editor at gal-dem magazine.
Almaz Ohene
Almaz Ohene is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary Creative Copywriter and Freelance Journalist. Almaz has built a following around honest writing in the sex and relationship space. She writes and speaks on sexuality, equity and anti-racism for a range of outlets and organisations, including BBC Radio 4, Black Lives Matter UK, and British Vogue among others.
Barbara Ntumy
Edem Barbara Ntumy is a long-time campaigner and activist for social justice. A recipient of the 2022 Olive Morris Memorial Award in remembrance of community leader and activist Olive Elaine Morris. She is the Chief Exec of Reproductive Justice Initiative (Formerly Decolonising Contraception).
Toni Murphy is the founder of Touch Grass, a community interest company with the stated aim of curated gatherings aimed specifically for queer women, trans and non-binary people of colour to see the outdoors as a space where they belong. Join Toni for a talk with Diyora Shadjianova on which looks at the importance of environmentalism, and why activism and passion for the environment needs to be taken on by a broader group of people than has traditionally been the case.
Winstan Whitter is an award-winning independent documentary feature film producer director, based in London UK.
He has a long career in making independent documentary features and shorts, for Cinema, TV and online.
Join him for a screening and Q&A around his film Save Our Heritage - a film following the battle to save the history in Hackney. 2007 saw an intense battle taking place to save the old theatre space in Hackney in the face of developers prepared to tear down the space with the stated aim of regenerate this part of Hackney. The film was made in 2007 and skip forward 20 years and many of the issues raised around regeneration and the fight to preserve heritage are still applicable today.
And more to be announced