I was born in London but whisked away at the tender age of five months to be looked after by an aunt in India until my parents came back 18 months later. I returned at the age of 19 – with a brief sojourn between the ages of 11 and 13 for a taster experience of comprehensive schools – and have lived here ever since. London is more in my bloodstream than I care to admit.
In 1997, I gave up my day job, managing the publications department at Shelter, and opted for a writer’s life, financially precarious though it is. I learned enough about design, typesetting, layout and editing at Outwrite Women’s newspaper and then at Shelter, along with the odd training course, to take on print and publication of books, magazines, posters, leaflets to provide me with an alternative income stream.
I was writer in residence at Bromley by Bow Centre from 2000-2003 and a Royal Literary Fellow attached to Queen Mary College, University of London from 2006-2009 and again from 2018-2019.
Projects
- The Nihal Armstrong TrustI am chair of the Nihal Armstrong Trust, a charity I set up in the name of my disabled son who passed away. We give grants to families of disabled children for cutting edge equipment and services not normally provided by the state. I also wrote a book in verse about our life together called Don't Wake Me: The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong. the paperback version is out of print and I am currently in negotiation with publishers about reprinting it. It was turned into a stage play which toured UK, N
- Southall Black SistersI 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
- Rojava Women’s Revolution: Poetry Reading + Live Exchange with Kongra StarA women's revolution is taking place in Rojava, a self-governed region located in Northern Syria, bringing about a new bottom-up, stateless and democratic political model referred to as democratic confederalism. Groups of women are leading systems of communal social life involving councils, parties, cooperatives, academies and defence units, to structure society according to anti-sexist and non-patriarchal principles. Organised as part of In formation III, a conversation was held at the ICA in
Projects credited in
- This International Women’s Day 2019, meet 100 trailblazers redefining the creative industryDiscover our 2020 list here This International Women’s Day, we’ve launched our latest ‘10x10’ – asking 10 influential industry icons to each nominate 10 trailblazing women and non-binary people who they believe are redefining the creator landscape. The result? An incredible list of 100 trailblazers inspiring change. Our list will be accompanied by a takeover on The Dots – look out for brilliant profiles and projects on the platform as we aim to inspire, as important as ever when considering ‘88165
Skills
- Activism
- Campaign
- Writing