Finding Your South Asian Voice Poetry performance workshops with Saju Ahmed workshop 2

Two workshops to help you discover your poetry voice and explore different techniques to write and tell your South Asian story. There will also be a Showcase Event with the opportunity to perform work created on Wednesday 4 August (7pm-9pm, Festival Hub).

These workshops will document South Asian stories and examine our relationship with our South Asian heritage and culture. They will intertwine languages and cultures, the experience of living in the UK, the culture clash of food, fashion and faith. And they will help us to discover our poetry voices and to use different techniques to write and tell our stories. “Everyone has a story inside them. As a poet and workshop leader, it’s my job to bring these stories out into the light. As a child, I remember being told that children are meant to be seen but not heard. But maybe now it’s time that the children of the diaspora get to speak.

This is a chance to highlight that we exist and that we have something to say.” Saju Ahmed Saju Ahmed is a poet and performer based in Leeds. He is part of Leeds Young Authors and appears in the award-winning documentary film We Are Poets, following the group as they compete in an US poetry slam.