I am a member of Southall Black Sisters.
2019 is our 40th anniversary year. I am organising a number of events. A mini-film festival (30 March and 6 April) showing 4 films to mark the 4 decades of our work in conjunction with Tongues on Fire who organise the UK Asian Film Festival.
One of the films we are showing Provoked, is one I co-scripted and is based on the life of an abused woman who set her husband on fire and was released from prison by Southall Black Sisters.
I am also organising a poetry evening in November where the survivors who use our services will read from their poems and short stories alongside well known poets like Jackie Kay, the poet laureate of Scotland, & award winning poets like Mona Arshi, Meena Kandasamy etc.
I have been supported by the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) to run writing workshops with the women for the last 6 months and will be publishing a book of their writings subject to funding from the Arts Council. I am also an RLF fellow and currently attached to Queen Mary, university of London.