How do we render the feeling of collective struggle into something tangible for others?

Can writing convey the power and relationality experienced in collective action, in a movement?

What can we do to ensure that readers connect the world of the novel to the world around us?

Hear from authors Lola Olufemi and Yara Rodrigues Fowler on the role of literature, art, story-telling and the imagination in the struggle for liberation at this event organised by Books Against Borders. We will hear from both writers about their work and their approach, before participating in an interactive workshop.

Our art and our imaginations are vehicles that can evoke joy, sorrow, grief and the impulse to take action. We aim to explore the liberatory potential behind such work.

Lola Olufemi is a black feminist writer and Stuart Hall Foundation researcher from London. Her work focuses on the uses of the feminist imagination and its relationship to cultural production, political demands and futurity. She is the author of Experiments in Imagining Otherwise and Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power and a member of ‘bare minimum’, an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective.

Yara Rodrigues Fowler is the author of two novels, Stubborn Archivist and there are more things, which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Orwell Prize for Fiction. In 2023, Yara was listed by Granta among the ‘Best of Young British Novelists’. She also works as a part-time climate justice organiser.

Books Against Borders is a collective learning project exploring decolonial, abolitionist and anti-capitalist work. They view collective education as fundamental to any movement and aim to bring together theory and practice in their organising.

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance as spaces are limited.