Notes About Now

The world has changed immeasurably in the last year, with much collective soul searching to find a sense of identity amid lockdown and tragedy, and hope through humanity, kindness and the vaccination programme. Notes about Now features new songs commissioned by London Sinfonietta from composers setting texts created by poets from our projects in collaboration with different communities, just before and in the recent months of the pandemic.

In a performance that mixes the new songs with live readings of new poetry, the evening is a chance to reflect on what unites and connects us, from the joys of local dialects, and experiences of isolation and the myth of the outside world, to anticipating motherhood in a pandemic.

Poets include: Nazneen Ahmed, Kayo Chingonyi, Joe Kriss and Fathima Zahra
New songs from composers including: Kerry Andrew, Gavin Higgins, Robert Mitchell, Larry Goves

Book your ticket via Kings Place website
 
Or join us on the live-stream here

Artist Biographies

Nazneen Ahmed

Nazneen Ahmed is a writer, historian and creative writing facilitator who lives in Southampton.
She writes fiction for children, creative non-fiction and poetry for adults, all of which are often inspired by the theme of migration, which was the topic of her work as an academic researcher and historian at University College London and the University of Oxford.
She is currently Writer in Residence with the Southampton Stories project at Southampton City Museums and has held residences at John Hansard Gallery and Southampton City Libraries in the past.
She runs writing workshops in schools, libraries and community settings. She was selected for the 2016/17 round of Penguin Random House’s Write Now mentorship scheme for underrepresented writers for her historical fantasy novel in progress which is aimed at readers aged 11 upwards. She is represented by Louise Lamont at LBA Books.
 
Kayo Chingonyi
Kayo Chingonyi is a poet and former Sheffield resident, whose work spans coming of age, grime, roots and origins of language, and identity in all of its forms. His debut collection was Kumukanda, and he’s an educator, prize-winner, emcee, DJ, and regularly collaborates across art forms to find new sounds for his work. It is this approach which has informed his astounding new commissions in Sheffield, which investigate local dialect with the people of Firth Park and its historic connections.
 
Joe Kriss
Joe Kriss is a poet and the director of literature organisation ‘Wordlife’ in Sheffield who has performed and been published across the UK. Joe is widely known to gather the biggest crowds for poetry in the region. At a crucial moment in our history as UK people, Joe’s commission explores how the formation of kingdoms in the early medieval period prompts us to consider the notion of national identity today.
 
Fathima Zahra
Fathima Zahra is an Indian poet based in Essex. She is a Barbican Young Poet and a Roundhouse Poetry Collective alum. Her work has won the Bridport Prize, Wells Fest Young Poets Prize and the Asia House Poetry Slam. Her debut pamphlet is forthcoming with Ignition Press (August, 2021).