The Amplify Project

The Amplify Project. Black writers in their own words. We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by the award-winning poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer, Inua Ellams. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell MBE. Author of sixteen novels, with her debut scooping The CWA’s John Creasey Dagger in 2005, the first time a Black British author has received this honour. She writes with her life partner, Ryan Carter. Her first psychological thriller, Spare Room, was an international bestseller. Lee Child, international New York Times Bestselling author, named her 2022 novel, Say Her Name his best book of the year. She is one of the twelve acclaimed international female authors of the Sunday Times Bestselling Marple, a new reimagined Miss Marple anthology. ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers​ Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk​ Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss​

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Ben Tagoe. In 2016, Ben’s episode of CBBC’s JAMIE JOHNSON was shortlisted for the Children’s BAFTA awards, International Emmys and Royal Television Society awards. He currently has various TV projects in development.   For the stage, Ben’s plays include WHEN WE WERE BROTHERS, THE THING ABOUT PSYCHOPATHS and COLD TURKEY AT NANA’s. In Spring ‘23, his one-man show BETTER DAYS toured the UK to critical acclaim. The production will be remounted at this year’s Edinburgh Festivals, before embarking on another UK tour in the Autumn. Ben is currently on commission with National Theatre of Scotland to write a new play – THE BLACK STAR BAND.  ​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers​ Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk​ Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss​ ​

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Dean Atta, a British author and member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen and a patron of LGBT+ History Month. His young-adult novel in verse, The Black Flamingo (Hachette Children’s Group / Balzer + Bray), won the 2020 Stonewall Book Award and was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, Jhalak Prize, Los Angeles Times Book Prize and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. ​ ​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers​ Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk​ Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss​ ​

The Amplify Project. Black writers in their own words. We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Roy Williams OBE FRSL, who began writing plays in 1990 and is now arguably one of the country's leading dramatists.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers​ Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk​ Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss​ ​

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by storyteller Yomi Sode who tells us about starting out as a musician and why he gave up being in a band so he could concentrate on his craft as a poet and theatre maker and why he thinks of himself as a malleable storyteller.​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers​ Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk​ Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  A special podcast from hosts Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker at the Common Threads: Black and Asian British Women's Writing International Conference Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  Hosts  Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker wrap up series 1 sharing some of their memorable moments from the series and looking forward to series 2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by playwright and academic Oladipo Agboluaje who talks about creating comic books as a child, the inspirations for his plays and why he’s an unapologetic writer. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by children’s writer and writer for theatre, TV, Radio and film, actress Trish Cooke, who tells us how winning a competition set her on the path to become a professional writer, the collaborative nature of writing pantomimes, and why writing in different forms keeps her writing fresh. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by poet Rachel Long, who tells us about being inspired by Jean “Binta” Breeze, wanting to write poems that sound and feel real and why she set up Octavia Poetry Collective. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by debut novelist Hafsa Zayyan who tells us about winning the #Merky Books New Writer’s Prize, how she researched her story about immigrants and why she’s reticent to call herself a writer yet.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers  Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk  Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss 

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by memoirist and biographer Colin Grant tells us about writing his memoir Bageye at the Wheel; how he was inspired to write about Jamaican greats Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer; and the importance of his platform, Writers Mosaic, which nurtures and mentors writers of colour. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk  

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Juliet Gilkes Romero who speaks about her revolutionary parents, starting out as a journalist before switching to playwriting and how her identity as a black woman writer is integral to her writing. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss

The Amplify Project.  Black writers in their own words.  We’ve invited writers for the stage, page and screen to tell us about themselves, their work, what inspires them and why they write. In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by novelist Alex Wheatle who discusses how reading became his saviour, when he started writing novels before moving into developing a successful career writing YA fiction and how his life was put on the screen in acclaimed director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_amplify_project/?hl=en-gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amplifywriters/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/amplify_writers Website: www.theamplifyproject.co.uk Subscribe to podcasts in the series: https://theamplifyproject.libsyn.com/rss