sustained theatre

"Literature is the most beautiful of countries." Jose Marti, Cuban Poet and Essayist, 1853-1895

'Black British Perspectives' is a series of interactive themed conversations exploring the notion of a Black British canon of work. They examine the creative process, and the environments needed for creativity to flourish and thrive, ownership, and future development; highlighting excellence, and innovation.

In December, SableLitMag will be hosting the final event in the series of 'Black British Perspectives' conversations. More on the work of SableLitMag below, but first have a read of their current programme.

"The past should not just form the basis of conversations and discussions but serve as the foundation for future artistic works and as the crust of work that organisations use to communicate theatre to schools and further education." Michael McMillan.

Date: Monday 30 November
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: North Light Gallery, Brooke's Mill, Armitage Bridge,
Huddersfield, HD4 7NR 
T:01484 340003

http://www.northlightgallery.org.uk

Michael McMillan, stage writer, artist and scholar, along with invited guests, actor and Artistic Director of Tiata Fahodzi, Femi Elufowoju jr. and choreographer and Artistic Director of Jonzi D. Productions, Jonzi D, discuss this, and other issues, such as the need to find new creative approaches to looking back into history and the lack of a suitable discourse on black stage performance and how the matter can be tackled.

Literature and Publishing

Date: Monday 7 December
Time: 2-4pm
Location: City Inn, Granary Wharf, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR
T:0113 241 1000

http://www.cityinn.com/leeds/leeds-hotels.htm

Nii Parkes, author and publisher, along with invited guests, writer and publisher, Margaret Busby and author, Diran Adebayo will discuss the dual needs of writers and publishers to retain an independent voice, and discuss the best means to express that voice.

SABLE Lit Mag - The Literary Magazine for New Writing 
The idea for SableLitMag was conceived by Kadija George after she left the Centerprise Literature Development Project as their Black Literature Development co-ordinator, where she set up the broadsheet paper, Calabash, in 1998.

The SABLE LitMag spark grew from various ideas; from the writers that she worked with who needed a space as developing writers to publish a body of work, a feature on Rita Dove published by the Washington Post in 1999, the difficulties that she herself faced in getting her work published in Britain (even though she had published work in the USA and Africa). Writers of African descent in Britain needed a quality publication that would publish a variety of genres; a publication that said, writers of African descent in Britain would not be confined to the margins of the established literary world who considered them not good enough to be published.

Kadija also started the Writers Hotspot trips in 1996. The first one of these to The Gambia. After the 5th Writer’s HotSpot to Cuba in 2001, an important yet significant change took place. SABLE LitMag became a litmag for writers of 'colour' rather than a litmag for writers of African descent only. With the diversity of ethnicities in cities like Havana, and London, it was clear that not opening the magazine to people of colour globally, would be limiting - after all, people of African descent live and work in the world of a broad diversity of literature, and Black people in the diaspora can be found on every continent, speaking every conceivable language.

The name SABLE, was chosen to reflect the colour of the diversity of the people - a mixture of blacks and browns, reflecting the various shades of people of colour. It is a name that carries the same meaning in English, French and Spanish, too.

The first three years and three issues, were spent developing content. The fourth issue became the official launch issue, because by this time, it had grown its original 62 pages, to its current 132 pages. It also featured, one of the most prolific African women writer’s of our time, Buchi Emecheta on the cover, who attended the launch party at Manjaro’s, aWest African bar and restaurant in North London

SABLE LitMag was set up by S.A.K.S, Media, a not for profit organisation set up by three women, Saffiatu, Kadija and Stella in 1994. The publishing side began with publishing the anthologies, Burning Words, Flaming Images and Playing Sidney Poitier, but Kadija felt that more could be realised for offering exposure to more writers, through a magazine rather than with books.

SABLE currently has three editorial advisors, internationally known writers, Kamau Brathwaite, Buchi Emecheta and Ngugi wa Thiongo, a group that is set to grow to reflect the diversity of the LitMag.

SABLE Issue 1 put the cover ‘spotlight’ on Linton Kwesi Johnson. This was significant for SABLE as LKJ, an icon himself, reflects what SABLE is about - literary activism, support-ism, and love of the written word.

Source: SableLitMag. A Sustained Theatre Thanks to Kadjia George for her support in this article.